How to Make $200K a Year: 21 Jobs That Pay $200K (No Degree Required 2026)

Quick Answer: The fastest ways to make $200K/year without a degree are Tech Sales (3-4 years), Cloud/DevOps (3-5 years), Skilled Trades (6-9 years), and AI Solutions Architecture (2-3 years). Tech sales has the highest ceiling ($500K+), while cloud engineering offers the best work-life balance.

7 Fastest Paths to $200K (No Degree Required)

If you are searching for jobs that pay $200k a year without a degree, this is your list. These roles prioritize skills and certifications over university diplomas.

The Pattern: Tech sales = highest ceiling but volatile. Cloud/DevOps = best work-life balance. Trades = most stable long-term.

The Complete $200K Comparison Table

All 21 realistic paths to $200K, ranked by timeline:

Why $200K Matters in 2026

In a major metro (Austin, Seattle, Denver), median home prices exceed $600K. To buy that house without being house-poor, you need household income around $180-200K.

$100K in 2026 = what $60K was in 2010. It's survival income in expensive cities, not wealth.

If you want to build something--save aggressively, invest, have kids without financial anxiety, retire before 70--you need to hit $200K or beyond.

And the paths aren't even hard to find. They're just unsexy. Nobody brags about being a plumber at cocktail parties. If you want to start smaller, consider scalable side hustles before quitting your day job.

Path #1: Enterprise Tech Sales ($250K-$700K)

Why it works: Software companies have 80%+ gross margins. When you close a $500K annual deal, they're thrilled to pay you $100K in commission on top of your $80K base.

The Reality:

• Year 1-2: SDR (Sales Development Rep) at Series B+ startup
  • Base: $60K-$90K
  • Cold call 100+ prospects daily
  • Quota: 15-20 qualified meetings/month
  • 60% wash out in Year 1
• Year 3: Promoted to AE (Account Executive)
  • OTE (On-Target Earnings): $120K-$180K
  • Quota: $1M-$2M in annual contracts
• Year 4+: Hit quota = $200K-$400K total comp
  • Top 10% performers: $500K-$700K

Who Hires: Salesforce, Snowflake, DataDog, any SaaS company >$100M ARR

The Catch: Rejection. Daily. If "no" bothers you emotionally, skip this path.

Real Example: A bartender making $45K talked his way into an SDR role. 18 months of grinding cold calls. Year 3 as an AE, his W-2 showed $247,000.

Path #2: Cloud/DevOps Engineering ($180K-$280K)

Why it works: Cloud infrastructure is the backbone of every company. AWS alone does $90 billion/year. Someone has to manage servers, deployments, and security.

The Reality:

• Year 1: Get AWS Solutions Architect Associate
  • Self-study while working $60K-$80K job
  • Pass rate: 65% (harder than people think)
• Year 2: Get Kubernetes cert (CKA)
  • Land $100K-$130K cloud engineer role
• Year 3-4: Specialize (FinOps, security, multi-cloud)
  • Senior Cloud Engineer: $160K-$200K
• Year 5+: Cloud Architect
  • Salary: $200K-$280K
  • Fully remote, 35-40 hour weeks

Who Hires: Every tech company, healthcare, finance, e-commerce

The Catch: 18 months of boring study. Most people quit after 3 weeks.

Real Example: A guy spent 18 months studying for AWS certs while working a $70K helpdesk job. Within 2 years, he was a cloud architect at a healthcare company making $210K, fully remote.

(If you struggle to focus, use these ADHD-friendly browser tools to lock in.)

Path #3: Skilled Trades (Plumbing, Electrical, HVAC)

Why it works: Critical shortage of tradespeople. Boomers retiring faster than young people entering. A master electrician bills $150/hour. A plumber with 3-4 trucks can clear $300K.

The Reality:

• Year 0-4: Apprenticeship
  • Starting: $35K-$50K
  • Work under master tradesperson
  • Learn codes, techniques, business
• Year 5-6: Get licensed (journeyman master)
  • Salary: $70K-$100K working for someone else
• Year 7-9: Start your own business
  • Hire 2-3 workers, run multiple jobs simultaneously
  • Income: $200K-$400K
  • Best case: HVAC contractor in Phoenix made $480K last year

Who Hires: Yourself (eventually), or established contractors

The Catch: Not glamorous. You won't impress people at your highschool reunion by saying you install toilets. But you'll own your house outright at 35.

Real Example: I had lunch with a plumber who dropped out of community college at 19. Owns three trucks now. Take-home last year: $340,000. The finance major at the table (10 years, $92K) asked him for investment advice.

Path #4: Healthcare (No Medical School Required)

Why it works: You don't need to be a doctor to make doctor-adjacent money.

CRNA (Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist): $220K-$350K

Timeline: 8-10 years total

• Nursing degree (4 years)
• ICU experience (2-3 years)
• Anesthesia program (3 years)
• Result: 70% of an anesthesiologist's pay in half the time

Epic Certification: $150K-$220K

Timeline: 4-5 years

• Epic is the dominant electronic health records system
• Epic-certified analysts/project managers make $150K-$220K
• No medical degree required--just prove you can learn their software

Real Example: History teacher making $48K quit, spent a year getting Epic certified via bootcamp, now makes $175K as hospital systems analyst.

Physician Assistant (Surgical): $160K-$200K

• 6-7 year timeline (undergrad + PA program)
• Surgical PAs hit $160K-$200K range

The Obstacle: You're Scared to Switch Lanes

I've talked to hundreds of people stuck at $80-120K. Almost all know what they need to do to break $200K.

They just won't do it.

They're scared to start over as a junior. Scared to look stupid during a transition. Scared of what their parents/spouse/LinkedIn will think.

That fear costs you $50-100K/year for 20 years. That's $1-2 million left on the table because of ego.

The people who broke through treated their career like a business decision, not an identity statement. They asked: "What pays well and what am I capable of learning?" Then they did it, regardless of whether it felt "right" for their personal brand.

Your career is a vehicle. If the vehicle isn't taking you where you want to go, switch vehicles.

The Reality About "Follow Your Passion"

Most high-paying careers aren't "fun." They're high-paying because they're hard, boring, or require skills most people don't want to develop.

• Enterprise sales = rejection all day
• Cloud architecture = staring at YAML configurations
• Plumbing = crawling under houses

But you know what IS fun?

• Financial security
• Vacations you don't have to budget for
• Saying yes to your kids
• Retiring at 55 instead of 70

Follow the margin. Fund your passions with the proceeds.

Frequently Asked Questions

What jobs pay $200K a year without a degree?

The 7 fastest paths without a degree are:

1. Tech Sales (AE) - 3-4 years to $200K+
2. AI Solutions Architect - 2-3 years
3. Cloud/DevOps Engineer - 3-5 years
4. Sales Engineering - 4-5 years
5. Lineman - 4-6 years
6. Data Engineer - 4-6 years
7. Plumber (Own Business) - 6-9 years

All require specialized training or certifications, but none require a 4-year college degree.

Is $200K a good salary?

Yes, if you're single or have a working partner. In major metros (NYC, SF, Seattle), $200K household income allows you to:

• Qualify for a $600K-$700K mortgage
• Max out retirement accounts ($22.5K/year)
• Still save $20K-$30K annually

However, in SF/NYC specifically, $200K is solidly middle class, not wealthy.

How hard is it to make $200K a year?

Tech Sales: High rejection tolerance required, but teachable skills. 40% of AEs who stick it out for 3+ years hit $200K.

Cloud/DevOps: Requires 18-24 months of focused study while working another job. Dropout rate is 70%, but those who finish have 90%+ placement rate at $100K+ within 6 months.

Trades: Requires 6-9 years of apprenticeship + starting your own business. Physical demands are real, but demand is so high that failure rate once licensed is <10%.

Can you make $200K in 2 years?

Only in tech sales with extreme luck and skill. A top-performing AE at a high-growth SaaS company can hit $200K-$300K in Year 2 if they:

• Join during hypergrowth phase
• Get lucky with inbound leads
• Have a massive territory

For everyone else, 3-5 years is realistic.

What's the easiest way to make $200K?

There is no "easy" path. The lowest-effort path is Cloud/DevOps:

• Study AWS/Kubernetes for 18 months (boring but not physically demanding)
• Get certified
• Apply to 100+ cloud engineer roles
• Land $100K-$130K job
• Specialize for 2-3 years $180K-$220K

Easiest Fast. Sales is faster but harder emotionally (rejection). Trades are physical. Pick your hard.

How much do plumbers really make?

Employed journeyman plumber: $60K-$90K depending on region

Master plumber (own business, 2-3 employees): $150K-$300K

Established plumbing company (4+ trucks, multiple crews): $300K-$600K

The key is transitioning from employee business owner. That's where the real money is.

Related Reading

These high-paying careers often require surviving tough interview processes:

• Google Interview Response Time - What to expect after tech interviews
• Meta Interview Timeline - FAANG hiring process
• Amazon Bar Raiser System - How Amazon's unique interview veto works
• Netflix Keeper Test - Why Netflix decides in 48 hours
• NVIDIA Interview Process - Why NVIDIA takes 8 weeks
• Top 15 Jobs Paying $200K in 2026 - Extended list with more details
• Is $200k Actually/ Enough? - 2026 purchasing power breakdown
• 9 Jobs Paying $200k No Degree - Blue collar & sales paths