If money is your No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 priorities when it comes to work, you might want to make sure you’re qualified to work in technology or management consulting.
Here’s why: Technology companies account for most of the 25 highest paying companies this year, according to a compilation of salary reports from users of the jobs site Glassdoor.
Consulting firms come in a distant second.
And Visa is the sole company representing finance on the list.
All of the companies in the top 25 offer median compensation of no less than $140,000, meaning half of employees earn more than that when combining their salary and bonuses or commissions.
Granted, many of the highest-paying employers are based in high-cost areas such as Silicon Valley and New York City. So that may partially account for the outsized median pay.
But median pay over $100,000 is rare, no matter where an employer is headquartered.
The most important driver of the big paychecks is the demand for highly skilled, well-educated workers, according to Glassdoor.
“In technology, we continue to see unprecedented salaries as the war for talent is still very active,” said Andrew Chamberlain, Glassdoor’s chief economist.
At consulting firms, meanwhile, “salaries are sky-high … due to ‘barriers of entry,’ which refer to employers wanting top consultants to have personal contacts, reputations and specialized skills and knowledge,” Chamberlain noted.
Here’s the full list of the top 25 highest paying companies this year:
1. A.T. Kearney
Median total compensation: $167,534
Median base salary: $143,620
2. Strategy& (formerly Booz & Company)
Median total compensation: $160,000
Median base salary: $147,000
3. Juniper Networks
Median total compensation: $157,000
Median base salary: $135,000
4. McKinsey & Company
Median total compensation: $155,000
Median base salary: $135,000
5. Google
Median total compensation: $153,750
Median base salary: $123,331
6. VMware
Median total compensation: $152,133
Median base salary: $130,000
7. Amazon Lab126
Median total compensation: $150,100
Median base salary: $138,700
8. Boston Consulting Group
Median total compensation: $150,020
Median base salary: $147,000
9. Guidewire
Median total compensation: $150,020
Median base salary: $135,000
10. Cadence Design Systems
Median total compensation: $150,010
Median base salary: $140,000
11. Visa
Median total compensation: $150,000
Median base salary: $130,000
12. Facebook
Median total compensation: $150,000
Median base salary: $127,406
13. Twitter
Median total compensation: $150,000
Median base salary: $133,000
14. Box
Median total compensation: $150,000
Median base salary: $130,000
15. Walmart eCommerce
Median total compensation: $149,000
Median base salary: $126,000
16. SAP
Median total compensation: $148,431
Median base salary: $120,000
17. Synopsys
Median total compensation: $148,000
Median base salary: $130,000
18. Altera
Median total compensation: $147,000
Median base salary: $134,000
19. LinkedIn
Median total compensation: $145,000
Median base salary: $120,000
20. Cloudera
Median total compensation: $145,000
Median base salary: $129,500
21. Salesforce
Median total compensation: $143,750
Median base salary: $120,000
22. Microsoft
Median total compensation: $141,000
Median base salary: $125,000
23. F5 Networks
Median total compensation: $140,200
Median base salary: $120,500
24. Adobe
Median total compensation: $140,000
Median base salary: $125,000
25. Broadcom
Median total compensation: $140,000
Median base salary: $130,000
*Note: There had to be at least 50 salary reports from U.S.-based Glassdoor users for a company to be on this list. In cases where companies tied in terms of total compensation, the company with the higher number of salary reports received a higher rank.
