Middle skills jobs require more than a high school diploma but less than a four-year college degree and pay over $15 per hour. Jobs that currently require only a high school diploma are projected to experience negative job growth in the coming years and be replaced by middle-skills jobs. Middle-skills credentials are typically defined as postsecondary sub-baccalaureate certificates and associate’s degrees.

According to a 2024 report by the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce (Opportunities: Credential Shortages in Programs Aligned with High-Paying Middle- Skills Jobs in 55 US Metro Areas), high-paying middle-skills occupations are those in which more than half of early-career middle-skills workers have a job with annual earnings of more than $53,000 (in 2022 dollars). Workers in these jobs outearn most young workers with a bachelor’s degree plus experience considerable earnings growth over time, with median annual earnings that rise to $80,000 by mid-career (ages 36–49). The report identifies 107 occupations as high-paying for middle-skills workers - such as firefighters, facilities managers, information security analysts, power plant operators, and radiologic technicians. These high-paying occupations are found in five occupational groups: (1) blue-collar; (2) management; (3) protective services; (4) science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM); and (5) healthcare.