Some people choose their occupation, and others have their occupation choose them. Those lucky enough to be following their passion or dream jobs, such as artists, are usually not persuaded by the amount of money they temporarily earn on their way to the top of their field; though deep down most of them dream of hitting it big like one of their heroes when the chips are down. In any case, these lucky few are hopelessly in love with their craft, and most of them will not, seriously consider changing their occupation to save their lives. The information on this page can be used to compare how different occupations can help pay the bills in the United States, especially for those of us on planet earth who are willing to sacrifice our inner artists for a fatter paycheck. See what you could possibly be earning if you had followed your passion, or in the very least, listened to your parents and pursued what you thought could have been an excruciatingly boring career.

You can compare up to 4 occupations by using the controls below to select an occupation and the type of gender you are interested in comparing. Just select any occupation, select the gender you are interested in comparing and click on the Add Occupation button to get that occupation added to the visualization and table below. If at any point you decide that you want to exclude any of the selected occupations from the comparison, which you should definitely try, because it is a fun thing to do, just click on the small 'x' button in the selected occupation. Mind you, the information presented here is based on recent data from the U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics.

If you are however, just interested in seeing the difference in the median weekly earnings by gender for a given occupation, and to see for yourself how men really do earn more than women in almost all conceivable occupations in the United States, you can see that information for many occupations at the following link.