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Labor Market Information Center

Hot Careers (High Demand-High Wage Occupations)

To help individual career planners and job seekers identify occupations with the most favorable job outlook from a labor market perspective, the Labor Market Information Center (LMIC) identifies high demand-high wage occupations, or "Hot Careers."

Based on the most recent data available, the current list of Hot Careers were identified in July 2024. There are currently 66 South Dakota occupations making the cut as "Hot Careers." Of those 66, the 30 occupations projected to have the greatest demand for workers are identified as the "Top 30" and are noted in these resources with a hot air balloon symbol like this: .

Learn how Hot Careers are determined.

Hot Careers Resources

Current Job Openings in Hot Careers

Employment Projections and Current Wage Estimates of the Hot Careers

Explore Hot Careers by Level of Education Recommended

Top 30 Hot Careers flyer (Adobe PDF format; updated July 2024)

Learn even more about each Hot Career in the virtual labor market data system

Occupational Profiles

How Hot Careers Are Determined

To be on the Hot Careers list, an occupation must meet the following criteria:

1. Have positive projected percent change in employment 2022-2032.
2. Have projected annual openings (a measure of demand for workers) greater than the average across all occupations (82) for 2022-2032.
3. Have an average/mean wage greater than the median wage across all occupations. The median wage in 2023 was $43,680.

For more information on average annual openings, visit our Employment Projections Technical Notes page. For more information on wage estimates, visit our Occupational Wages Technical Notes page.

About the Top 30 Careers

In addition to the criteria above for Hot Careers, South Dakota's Top 30 Careers are those which additionally meet this criteria:

4. Rank in the top 30 for projected annual openings (a measure of demand for workers).