If life on the sea intrigues you, there are some very lucrative positions available for ship and boat captains, no college degree required. The Bureau of Labor statistics says that the median pay for captains, mates and pilots of water vessels is $66,150 with the top end positions making $125,930. However, other sources put the median at $100,000 and the top end closer to $500,000. Cruise ship captains, for example, earn $153,379; while Bar Pilots (who navigate the big ships into the dock) in San Francisco make $451,336. Job growth is projected at 37 percent over the next seven years. There are no 40-hour weeks at sea and isolation can be a problem, as can unpredictable weather conditions, but if that doesn’t bother you, neither will the taxes on all that money you’ll make.
Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP/File
