How Does Your Job Stack Up?

How we picked the best jobs

We started with growing fields...and then started cutting.

NEW YORK (MONEY) - To find the best jobs in America, MONEY Magazine and Salary.com, a leading provider of employee compensation data and software, began by assembling a list of positions that the Bureau of Labor Statistics projects will grow at an above-average rate over 10 years and that require at least a bachelor's degree.

Using Salary.com compensation data, we eliminated jobs with average pay below $50,000; total employment of less than 15,000; dangerous work environments; or fewer than 800 annual job openings, including both new and replacement positions.

Next we rated positions by stress levels, flexibility in hours and working environment, creativity, and how easy it is to enter and advance in the field.

We then ranked the jobs, giving double weight to compensation and percentage growth. Data for the top 50 appear here. Any job that fell in the bottom third of two job-satisfaction categories, or in the pay or growth category, was removed from consideration for the top 10.

Here are the top 10:_______Growth - Salary
1- Software engineer___________46.07% - $80,427
2 - College professor___________31.39% - $81,491
3 - Financial advisor____________25.92% - $122,462
4 - Human resources manager____23.47% - $73,731
5- Physician assistant___________49.65% - $75,117
6- Market research analyst______20.19% - $82,317
7- Computer/IT analyst_________36.10% - $83,427
8- Real estate appraiser________22.78% - $66,216
9- Pharmacist________________24.57% - $91,998
10- Psychologist______________19.14% - $66,359

My job is sorta along the lines of one of those in there, but I don't get paid near as much as they do.
Bummer.