This guide ranks the highest-paying jobs in the San Antonio, TX metro area using Careerclev salary benchmarks from the latest BLS wage data. Each role includes salary range, employment depth, and entry-pay signals so you can judge each path on more than the headline number alone.
From the current ranking, Chief Executive leads at $248,530/year, while Financial Manager stands out for employment depth at about 4,550 workers. That contrast helps you weigh pure pay against the size of the hiring market.
Updated April 2026 Modeled salary benchmarks San Antonio, TX · 12 jobs ranked 12 min read
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1
Chief Executive
$249K est.
2
Family Medicine Physician
$255K est.
3
Pediatrician
$222K est.
4
Physicist
$193K est.
5
Architectural and Engineering Manager
$173K est.
#1 Job
Chief Executive
$249K
Jobs Ranked
12
top roles
Data Layer
Metro
Careerclev salary model
Top Employment
510
employment estimate
Highest-Paying Jobs in San Antonio, TX: Full Ranking
If you're targeting high-paying jobs in San Antonio, TX, Chief Executive sits at the top of this 12-job ranking at $248,530 per year in Careerclev's current salary model. From there, the second spot belongs to Family Medicine Physician at $254,570, which helps show whether the pay curve drops quickly or stays fairly tight after the leader. On entry-level pages, Careerclev uses lower wage percentiles as a transparent proxy for starting pay, because the public source data does not offer a clean entry-level field for every role.
High payData year 2024Job Zone Five: Extensive Preparation Needed
vs #1
$146,248
official baseline $146K
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What Chief Executive Does
Before the pay ranking means much, it helps to understand the work itself. Chief Executive sits at the top of this guide because it combines strong pay with the work profile described below.
Communicate and coordinate with management, shareholders, customers, and employees to address sustainability issues. Enact or oversee a corporate sustainability strategy.
Chief Executive Salary Trend
Chief Executive leads this ranking on current pay, but the national salary trend helps show whether that pay ceiling is being reinforced by steady wage growth over time.
Careerclev's current 2026 estimate applies an annual modeled growth rate of -1.5% from the last confirmed BLS benchmark year, using wage history and employment outlook where available.
2026·$179KEstimated
$186K
2020
$180K
2021
$190K
2022
$207K
2023
$185K
2024
$182K
2025*
$179K
2026*
Official Data
May 2024 BLS
2020–2026 trend (est.)
↓ 3.6%
Forecast method
Trend + outlook model
* 2024–2026 values are modeled estimates extending from the last confirmed BLS benchmark. The last confirmed BLS figure ($185K, 2024) is extended with recent wage trend history, employment outlook, and tech-market signals where available, then replaced when official data is published.
Highest-Paying Jobs by Category
High pay in San Antonio, TX is not concentrated in a single career path. The leading roles span Management, Healthcare, Science, and 2 more . That spread shows whether high pay in San Antonio, TX is concentrated in a narrow specialty or spread across a broader range of career paths. Each row below shows the top-paying role within that SOC category rather than an assumed one.
Category
Top Job
Salary
Employment
Prep Signal
Management
Chief Executive
$248,530
510
Job Zone Five: Extensive Preparation Needed
Healthcare
Family Medicine Physician
$254,570
700
Job Zone Five: Extensive Preparation Needed
Science
Physicist
$192,965
140
Job Zone Five: Extensive Preparation Needed
Engineering
Computer Hardware Engineer
$166,107
N/A
Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed
Transportation
Commercial Pilot
$158,282
260
Job Zone Three: Medium Preparation Needed
Entry-Level Pay Signals
A high median salary only tells half the story. What matters for career planning is where starting pay actually lands. Because BLS does not publish a clean entry-level label for every role, Careerclev uses lower wage percentiles as a transparent proxy. Family Medicine Physician shows an estimated early-career pay signal of $237,715, compared with a long-run median of $254,570. In turn, that gap gives a better feel for both long-run upside and how quickly a role starts rewarding experience.
Job
Entry Proxy
Median Salary
Prep Path
Typical Education
Chief Executive
$156,019
$248,530
Job Zone Five: Extensive Preparation Needed
Most of these occupations require graduate school. For example, they may require a master's degree, and some require a Ph.D., M.D., or J.D. (law degree).
Family Medicine Physician
$237,715
$254,570
Job Zone Five: Extensive Preparation Needed
Most of these occupations require graduate school. For example, they may require a master's degree, and some require a Ph.D., M.D., or J.D. (law degree).
Pediatrician
$172,817
$221,699
Job Zone Five: Extensive Preparation Needed
Most of these occupations require graduate school. For example, they may require a master's degree, and some require a Ph.D., M.D., or J.D. (law degree).
Physicist
$153,699
$192,965
Job Zone Five: Extensive Preparation Needed
Most of these occupations require graduate school. For example, they may require a master's degree, and some require a Ph.D., M.D., or J.D. (law degree).
Architectural and Engineering Manager
$142,986
$173,026
Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed
Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not.
Computer and Information Systems Manager
$137,926
$171,860
Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed
Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not.
Computer Hardware Engineer
$124,129
$166,107
Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed
Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not.
Pharmacist
$134,423
$152,641
Job Zone Five: Extensive Preparation Needed
Most of these occupations require graduate school. For example, they may require a master's degree, and some require a Ph.D., M.D., or J.D. (law degree).
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Jobs With Strong Demand
Pay ceilings matter more when the local labor market is deep enough to generate real openings. In San Antonio, TX, Financial Manager combines a salary of $164,554 with roughly 4,550 employed workers, which makes it one of the more accessible high-pay options on this list. By contrast, some specialties rank higher on salary but operate as narrower niches where openings are harder to find and entry paths are longer.
Very Deep Market
Financial Manager
$164,554
4,550 employed
Employees in these occupations usually need several years of work-related experience, on-the-job training, and/or vocational training. in a job zone four: considerable preparation needed pathway.
Very Deep Market
Computer and Information Systems Manager
$171,860
3,980 employed
Employees in these occupations usually need several years of work-related experience, on-the-job training, and/or vocational training. in a job zone four: considerable preparation needed pathway.
Strong Market
Pharmacist
$152,641
1,920 employed
Employees may need some on-the-job training, but most of these occupations assume that the person will already have the required skills, knowledge, work-related experience, and/or training. in a job zone five: extensive preparation needed pathway.
Strong Market
Architectural and Engineering Manager
$173,026
1,250 employed
Employees in these occupations usually need several years of work-related experience, on-the-job training, and/or vocational training. in a job zone four: considerable preparation needed pathway.
Strong Market
Physician Assistant
$146,248
850 employed
Employees may need some on-the-job training, but most of these occupations assume that the person will already have the required skills, knowledge, work-related experience, and/or training. in a job zone five: extensive preparation needed pathway.
Strong Market
Family Medicine Physician
$254,570
700 employed
Employees may need some on-the-job training, but most of these occupations assume that the person will already have the required skills, knowledge, work-related experience, and/or training. in a job zone five: extensive preparation needed pathway.
Salary vs Employment
The highest-paying job is not always the largest market, and that distinction changes the practical calculus. Chief Executive leads on salary at $248,530, while Financial Manager supports roughly 4,550 workers locally, a useful sanity check before committing to a long training path for a role with limited local openings.
Chief ExecutiveSOC 11-1011
$249K
510
Family Medicine PhysicianSOC 29-1215
$255K
700
PediatricianSOC 29-1221
$222K
140
PhysicistSOC 19-2012
$193K
140
Architectural and Engineering ManagerSOC 11-9041
$173K
1,250
Computer and Information Systems ManagerSOC 11-3021
$172K
3,980
Computer Hardware EngineerSOC 17-2061
$166K
N/A
PharmacistSOC 29-1051
$153K
1,920
How to Choose a High-Paying Job Strategically
Salary rankings are a starting point, not a decision. In San Antonio, TX, the gap between Chief Executive at $248,530 and the early-pay signal from Family Medicine Physician at $237,715 shows why access, market size, and training timelines belong in the same conversation as the headline number. That is where this page becomes more useful than a simple ranking list.
1
Match salary to access realistically
A high median means little if there are only a handful of openings per year. Check the employment estimate alongside the salary. A role with 4,550 workers in San Antonio, TX is fundamentally easier to enter than one with a few hundred.
2
Factor in education and licensure timelines
Some of the highest-paying roles on this list sit in prep bands such as Job Zone Five: Extensive Preparation Needed and often pair that with expectations like most of these occupations require graduate school. for example, they may require a master's degree, and some require a ph.d., m.d., or j.d. (law degree).. Build that timeline into your planning before targeting the salary ceiling.
3
Separate entry pay from long-run upside
The entry proxy column in this guide gives you an early-career anchor. A role that starts at $237,715 and scales to $254,570 offers a very different career arc than one that starts and peaks near the same figure.
4
Check the work before chasing the pay
Compare the day-to-day work with the training path before you commit. A role can rank highly on pay and still be a poor fit if the work itself does not match the kind of problems, environment, or responsibilities you want.
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Related High-Pay Pages
These related pages are the most useful next steps from this ranking. They keep the same high-pay context for San Antonio, TX, then branch into nearby market views and role-specific pages such as Architectural and Engineering Manager and Financial Manager. If this page answers the pay question but not the career question, start here.
High-pay rankings are most useful when you read them alongside the core salary guide, the career entry path, and a few nearby role comparisons. That turns this page from a ranking into a better decision route for chief executive.
These questions cover the practical parts of the San Antonio, TX high-pay ranking: how entry pay is estimated, why wage fields sometimes differ by source, and how to compare the top San Antonio, TX salary with the real size of the job market.
What is the highest-paying job in San Antonio, TX?▼
Chief Executive is currently the highest-paying role in this ranking at $248,530 per year in Careerclev's current salary model, built from the latest available BLS OEWS wage baseline for San Antonio, TX.
Is the entry-level pay data directly from BLS?▼
Not exactly. BLS publishes wage percentiles rather than experience-level labels, so Careerclev uses the 25th percentile (or the low-end wage where available) as an entry-pay proxy. It is a transparent approximation, not a direct label.
Is San Antonio, TX a good market for Chief Executive?▼
San Antonio, TX is a strong metro market for Chief Executive. BLS data shows an employment estimate of 510 workers locally, with a median salary of $248,530. A deeper employment count generally points to more active hiring, which improves access alongside the pay ceiling.
How much preparation does Chief Executive usually require?▼
Chief Executive is currently tagged as job zone five: extensive preparation needed in the O*NET prep model. The most common education signal is most of these occupations require graduate school. for example, they may require a master's degree, and some require a ph.d., m.d., or j.d. (law degree)., while the training path is described as employees may need some on-the-job training, but most of these occupations assume that the person will already have the required skills, knowledge, work-related experience, and/or training..
Does the top-paying job also have the most openings?▼
Not always. Financial Manager may support a deeper employment market than the #1 salary role, which can make it more practical for job seekers despite a lower pay ceiling.
How should I compare salary with accessibility?▼
Use the ranking salary, entry-pay proxy, employment estimate, and preparation path together. The best target is usually the role that balances strong pay with a realistic path in.
Can a lower-ranked job be a better target than Chief Executive?▼
Yes. A lower-ranked role can be the better choice if it has a shorter prep path, stronger entry pay, more openings, or a work profile that fits you better than Chief Executive.
Why do some high-paying roles look hard to enter?▼
Many top-paying roles sit behind longer training, licensing, or related-experience requirements. That is why Careerclev shows preparation signals next to salary instead of treating all high-paying jobs as equally accessible.
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Data Sources & MethodologyRankings use Careerclev salary facts built from BLS OEWS wage data and extended through Careerclev's current salary projection model where applicable. National pages use U.S. aggregate data, state pages use state-level data, and city pages use the BLS metro dataset behind the largest-city public label. Category labels are derived from BLS Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) major group codes, while prep-path notes come from imported O*NET job-zone and career requirement data where available.