Top 14 Jobs That Don't Require a College Degree

May 21, 2013 — -- intro:

While one's earning potential increases with a college degree, you don't necessarily need to spend $40,000 a year for a diploma for a job that pays as much.

Jobs search site CareerCast.com released a list of 14 of the best jobs without a college degree.

Tony Lee, publisher of CareerCast.com, said opportunities for high school grads and post-high school training are increasing.

CareerCast.com pulled the 14 jobs from its 200 Jobs Rated Report, which uses data from the Department of Labor and Bureau of Labor Statistics. CareerCast judged the jobs on aspects including environment, income, stress and outlook, or expected employment growth through 2020, as forecast by the Labor Department.

The highest-paid job by median salary in this year's list is web developer, which has median salary of $75,660.

"Web developer has really taken off as a career for computer-savvy job seekers who either are self-taught or took a few college-level courses but didn't graduate, and who are comfortable enough with their skills to make a meaningful contribution," Lee said. "Demand is so great in this field that not having a college degree isn't a huge turn-off to many employers, especially the smaller start-up firms."

Who knows? Maybe you could be the next David Karp, 26, the founder of website Tumblr? Search engine company Yahoo just bought Tumblr for $1.1 billion. Instead of finishing high school, Karp was home-schooled.

"The trend continues to be that college graduates will experience a lifetime of higher earnings than non-graduates, but we also still see that non-college grads can have a bright job future in a wide range of fields," Lee said.

Here is a list of CareerCast.com's best jobs that don't require a college degree, in order of median salary.

quicklist:category: Median Salary: $75,660media: 19217694title: Web developertext: Outlook: +22%

quicklist:category: Median Salary: $54,710media:title: Communications equipment mechanictext: Outlook: +15%

quicklist:category: Median Salary: $48,250media:title: Electrician text: Outlook: +23%

quicklist:category: Median Salary: $46,680media:title: Paralegal assistant text: Outlook: +18%

quicklist:category: Median Salary: $46,660media:title: Plumber text: Outlook: +26%

quicklist:category: Median Salary: $44,160media:title: Industrial machine repairertext: Outlook: +19%

quicklist:category: Median Salary: $36,640media:title: Glaziertext: Outlook: +42%

quicklist:category: Median Salary: $34,660media:title: Automobile body repairertext: Outlook: +17%

quicklist:category: Median Salary: $34,660media:title: Administrative/executive assistant text: Outlook: +12%

quicklist:category: Median Salary: $34,040media:title: Bookkeepertext: Outlook: +14%

quicklist:category: Median Salary: $30,340media:title: Pest control worker text: Outlook: +24%

quicklist:category: Median Salary: $28,920media:title: Skincare specialist text: Outlook: +25%

quicklist:category: Median Salary: $ 25,240media:title: Receptionist text: Outlook: +24%

quicklist:category: Median Salary: $22,500media:title: Hair stylisttext: Outlook: +14%