The Work Fit Report · 2026
What 200+ careers reveal about pay, automation, and remote work
We maintain a catalogue of 201 career profiles, each scored on pay, automation exposure, remote potential, stress, and growth and calibrated to publicly available 2024-2026 US labor signals. Here is what the aggregate numbers show. (This is an analysis of our curated dataset — not a survey of workers.)
Key findings
- The median role in the catalogue pays $95k, with a spread from $44k to $280k across fields.
- Technology is the highest-paying field ($144k median), and Education the lowest ($64k) — a 2.2× gap between the top and bottom field.
- 44% of roles are strongly remote-friendly (70+/100). Technology is the most remote-ready field (75/100 avg), Healthcare the least (18/100).
- Automation exposure is highest in Creative (51/100 avg) and lowest in Healthcare (23/100).
- The barrier-to-entry pay gap is smaller than people assume: low-barrier roles (entry difficulty ≤ 40, 12 roles) carry a $65k median vs $125k for high-barrier roles (90 roles) — accessible work is not the same as low-paid work.
Median pay by field
The numbers, by field
| Field | Roles | Median pay | Remote | Automation | Growth | Future-proof |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Technology | 30 | $144k | 75 | 35 | 72 | 72 |
| Business | 27 | $115k | 74 | 44 | 61 | 59 |
| Legal | 14 | $102k | 56 | 35 | 53 | 66 |
| Operations | 20 | $99k | 41 | 43 | 53 | 56 |
| Finance | 20 | $97k | 62 | 48 | 52 | 57 |
| Healthcare | 24 | $90k | 18 | 23 | 66 | 77 |
| Science | 18 | $85k | 40 | 28 | 57 | 73 |
| Entrepreneurship | 9 | $82k | 67 | 29 | 56 | 62 |
| Creative | 23 | $78k | 74 | 51 | 48 | 49 |
| Education | 16 | $64k | 49 | 34 | 50 | 62 |
Methodology
Figures are aggregate statistics computed across the 201 career profiles in the Work Fit IQ catalogue. Per-role values (salary bands, automation exposure, remote potential, stress, growth, future-proofing) are calibrated to publicly available 2024-2026 US labor signals — BLS OEWS/OOH, O*NET, and Levels.fyi spot checks — plus Work Fit IQ's own fit weighting. This is an analysis of a curated dataset, not a survey of workers, and the numbers are model estimates rather than reported earnings.
Cite this report
Free to cite with attribution (CC BY 4.0). Suggested citation:
Work Fit IQ (2026). The Work Fit Report: Pay, Automation & Remote Work Across 200+ Careers. https://workfitiq.com/research
Writing about careers, pay, or the future of work? We're happy to provide data, charts, or a quote — hello@workfitiq.com.
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