Experts at Dolman Law Group conducted research to rank the most stressful jobs in the United States (US). The study includes median salary, average work hours as well as unemployment rate and percentage of people changing jobs after the first two years. The score for the ranking was made, taking into account data as well as unique stress factors.

Steelworkers: Steelworkers lead the ranking of the most stressful jobs with a 9.94 score which reflects high physical demand of the occupation, work hazards and long shifts. In addition, the steelworking industry has the highest unemployment rate of 10.5% and lower median salary around $58.5K a year. Steelworkers are one of the three jobs on the list that require only a high school diploma.




Surgeons: Surgeons take the second place in the ranking of the people with the most stressful jobs. The score of 9.26 includes long working hours and 12-28 hour shifts and responsibility for patients’ health and life. Surgeons have the highest salary out of all the jobs in the ranking, summing up to $239K a year.

Anesthesiologists: Anesthesiologistsare is third with a score of 8.97. Another medical profession in the list, it is similar to surgeons in terms of salaries but the unemployment rate for anesthesiologists is three times lower than for surgeons with only 0.61%. As for many medical professions, the stress factors involve long shifts, over 60 work hours a week and patients’ health to care about.




Paramedics: Paramedics claimed fourth place, scoring 8.45 out of 10 for stress. Just as surgeons and anesthesiologists, paramedics have to deal with long shifts and care for people’s lives but their salary is much lower, summing up to $46.7K a year.

Firefighters: Firefighters follow closely with the fifth place in the ranking of high stress professions. Major stress factors include proximity to physical danger and 24-hour shifts. Firefighters have the lowest unemployment rate in the ranking with only 0.36% even though their median salary is relatively low. In addition only 24% of firefighters change jobs after 1-2 years, another lowest number for all the jobs in the list.
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