Best Jobs for Working Parents
Being a parent is hard work, especially when you have a full time job on top of it. However, some jobs offer high pay, low stress and job flexibility, making them ideal for anybody who wants to support their family and still spend time with the kids. PayScale ran the numbers to determine the 10 best jobs for working parents – just make sure you have a STEM degree, because almost all the jobs on this list require skills in science, technology, engineering or math.
Becky Brown / Flickr
Being a Data Scientist is the perfect profession for left-brained moms and dads. Not only was it named the “Sexiest Profession of the 21st Century,” it has a median salary of over $100,000, tons of job flexibility and relatively low stress (provided long division isn’t a stumbling point for you).
When your job involves pouring over charts and tables and analyzing data, it doesn’t really matter if you’re in the office or working from your living room. Sixty percent of Actuaries report low stress levels (evidently risk assessment isn’t as stressful as it sounds) and earn a median income of $85,500 annually. Add in high levels of job flexibility and you’ve got a pretty sweet gig for a working parent.
Ninety-one percent of Research and Development Engineers say that their jobs offer tons of flexibility and 61 percent rate their jobs as low stress. Those stats, combined with a median salary of nearly $80,000, make it a no-brainer to include R&D Engineers on our list of best jobs for working parents.
Healthcare Consultants report tons of job flexibility, relatively low stress and a median salary just under $80,000 – that’s a great recipe for working parents. It’s also one of the few jobs on our list that is also overwhelmingly held by women.
Research Scientists earn a median salary of $77,700, enjoy flexible schedules and more than half say their job is low stress. In addition, wearing a lab coat means you don’t have to put much thought into your wardrobe, making it the perfect job for busy parents.
Idaho National Laboratory / Flickr
Businesses run on big data, and Information Security Officers keep all that data safe and secure. In return, they earn a median salary of $87,800 and enjoy flexibility in their hours, making this a great job for working parents who love numbers.
When nearly all of your job responsibilities involve pouring through thousands of lines of code, you can work from just about anywhere you want. This job is in high demand and gets high marks for flexibility and the ability to telecommute. So bone up on your coding skills!
User Experience (UX) Designer is one of the hottest jobs in tech right now, and it’s a great job for working parents. You can easily work from home while you’re designing elegant ways for people to interact with software, and you earn a median salary of over $70,000.
Ninety percent of Environmental Engineers say their job is highly flexible, and more than half report low stress. That makes Environmental Engineer a natural job title on our list of the best jobs for parents. Bonus karma points: the work you do with this job title actually helps make the world a better place for your kids.
Business Intelligence Analysts use a lot of skills that are key in good parenting, like fostering communication between departments and aiding in cross-team collaboration. If you’ve ever settled an argument between feuding siblings, you can see the connection. With high job flexibility and low stress to boot, BI Analysts earn their place on our list of best jobs for working parents.
