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High school diploma or equivalent

Typical entry-level education · BLS

High school diploma or equivalent is one of the eight typical entry-level education levels BLS assigns to occupations — the credential most workers have when they enter the job. This level covers 327 occupations employing about 57,261,360 workers, with a median wage of $48,910. It describes the typical path, not a requirement — many people enter by other routes.

What occupations at this level pay

Median annual wage across occupations at this entry-level education, from BLS OEWS (national, cross-industry, May 2024). The middle range shows the 25th–75th percentile of occupation medians — it describes the level, not a guarantee for any one person or job.

Median occupation wage $48,910
Middle range (p25–p75) $42,770 – $59,533
Occupations with wage data 326 of 327

AI exposure at this education level

Two published studies estimate how exposed each occupation is to today's AI. The OpenAI "GPTs are GPTs" study rates the share of an occupation's tasks a large language model (with tools) could speed up by half or more; averaged across occupations that typically need this credential it is 20% — 31st percentile of the eight education levels. The independent Felten/Raj/Seamans AI Occupational Exposure index averages -0.43 here.

Computed across the 301 of 327 occupations at this level that carry a published exposure score.

Across the eight levels, AI exposure rises with education — degree-requiring knowledge work is most exposed, manual and credential-light work least. Exposure measures where AI could assist tasks, not a prediction that these jobs will be automated; high exposure most often means augmentation.

Highest-paying occupations at this level

Occupations whose typical entry-level education is high school diploma or equivalent, with the highest median wage. Wage describes the occupation, not an individual.

Occupation Median pay
Nuclear Power Reactor Operators $122,610
Power Distributors and Dispatchers $107,240
Elevator and Escalator Installers and Repairers $106,580
First-Line Supervisors of Police and Detectives $105,980
Transportation, Storage, and Distribution Managers $102,010
Power Plant Operators $99,670
Petroleum Pump System Operators, Refinery Operators, and Gaugers $97,540
Detectives and Criminal Investigators $93,580
Postmasters and Mail Superintendents $92,730
Electrical Power-Line Installers and Repairers $92,560
Farmers, Ranchers, and Other Agricultural Managers $87,980
Transportation Inspectors $85,750
Gambling Managers $85,580
Subway and Streetcar Operators $84,830
First-Line Supervisors of Non-Retail Sales Workers $84,130
Signal and Track Switch Repairers $83,600
Gas Plant Operators $83,400
Transit and Railroad Police $82,320
First-Line Supervisors of Construction Trades and Extraction Workers $78,690
First-Line Supervisors of Mechanics, Installers, and Repairers $78,300
Locomotive Engineers $77,400
Claims Adjusters, Examiners, and Investigators $76,790
Roof Bolters, Mining $76,640
First-Line Supervisors of Correctional Officers $76,310
Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers $76,290

Sources for this page

Every figure above traces to a named public dataset and the exact release below — not hand-written opinion. See the full methodology for what each measure does and does not mean.

Data compiled June 3, 2026. Figures are estimates, not advice.

Cite this page
Plain

Singulariki. "High school diploma or equivalent." Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Built from O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130; AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE) Felten, Raj & Seamans. Accessed June 7, 2026. https://singulariki.com/education/high-school-diploma-or-equivalent

APA

Singulariki. (2026). High school diploma or equivalent. Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Retrieved June 7, 2026, from https://singulariki.com/education/high-school-diploma-or-equivalent

BibTeX 
@misc{singulariki-high-school-diploma-or-equivalent,
  title  = {High school diploma or equivalent},
  author = {{Singulariki}},
  year   = {2026},
  note   = {O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130; AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE) Felten, Raj & Seamans. Accessed June 7, 2026},
  url    = {https://singulariki.com/education/high-school-diploma-or-equivalent}
}

Citations name the underlying public dataset releases — they reflect what this page is built from, not just the URL.