The 25 Highest Paying Jobs in Pasadena, TX (May 24)

Rig Welder

A Rig Welder is a key player in the oil industry. Rig Welder work on oil rigs--large platforms erected to carry out oil drilling, processing, and storage--and use specialized equipment to weld metals on the rig. Rig Welders are vital in reinforcing the infrastructure necessary to extract and process oil and, in many cases, natural gases. Rig Welders also construct pipes, bond metals to create beams, vessels, and pipes, and ensure the proper use, maintenance, and storage of welding equipment.

Fire Watch

Salary range: $54,800-$84,500 per year

The job of a fire watch professional is to monitor an area for a possible emergency. These roles are found anywhere there is a potential fire hazard, such as in welding or a shipyard, or in the absence of a sufficient emergency alert system. The job of a professional in welding is to monitor soldering or activities to ensure no smoldering fires break out. Other duties of someone in this role are to alert or notify emergency professionals if necessary, communicate with team members, and facilitate public or workplace safety. The qualifications you need to get a fire watch job vary, but specialized training may be required. Fire watch is subject to federal regulations through OSHA.

School Nurse

Salary range: $48,000-$73,100 per year

A School Nurse administers health services in an educational facility, such as an elementary school or a private academy. In this role, you evaluate and treat common conditions, such as headaches and minor cuts, administer medications, or determine if the student’s parents should be called to take the student home or to the doctor. Some School Nurses also oversee basic health care for staff when necessary. You collaborate with the school’s administration to establish health procedures, enforce compliance with health programs, maintain student health records, and conduct health screenings. Other responsibilities include promoting healthy practices and implementing health programs geared toward illness prevention and health habits.

Pipefitter

Salary range: $46,100-$58,900 per year

Pipefitters fabricate, assembles, and installs piping systems. When assigned a project, the pipefitter chooses the appropriate materials and size of the pipes, then manipulates the metal to fit the installation area by using techniques such as threading, welding, grinding, rigging, cutting, bending, and soldering. Pipefitters are also responsible for transporting the pipes, installing them, and testing the system to ensure it runs properly. At the commercial level, these systems are typically heating and cooling systems, but pipefitters may also work with plumbing and water systems.

Animal Shelter

Salary range: $41,100-$58,000 per year

Animal shelter jobs include veterinary staff, animal caregivers, and specialists involved in adoption procedures and foster care placement. Your responsibilities as an animal care attendants at a rescue center include providing for the basic needs of rescue animals living there. Veterinarians and vet technicians offer medical care and ensure that the animals are healthy. Your duties as an adoption coordinator or humane coordinator include helping with adoption procedures and preparing adoptees to accept a new pet and understand the behaviors common in their pet’s breed. A dog trainer or animal behavior specialist may work with rescue animals who are not yet ready for adoption.

Scaffold Builder

Salary range: $37,500-$48,000 per year

A Scaffold Builder constructs and erects the scaffolding that supports building projects, like construction or shipbuilding. This is not a job for someone afraid of heights. The Scaffold Builder assembles the scaffolding high above the ground while installing tubing, wood planks (called toe boards), and safety measures for other construction employees. Safety is the number one concern for this job since the Scaffold Builder is responsible for every person who will climb the structure.

Welder

Salary range: $35,600-$47,100 per year

The primary job of welders is to join metal together using intense heat. They work in a wide range of industries from manufacturing to aerospace to oil drilling. Other industries that use welders include automobile, manufacturing, construction, or maritime. As a welder, you execute projects according to your client’s specifications. You must understand the details of different welding metals, including stainless steel, aluminum, and brass, and you must be able to read blueprints and follow technical instructions. Additional job duties depend on your specific industry. You can also get voluntary certification from the American Welding Society (AWS) to prove your proficiency in the trade.

Lab Technician

Salary range: $34,700-$46,100 per year

Lab technicians play an essential role in the study and treatment of diseases. They are responsible for assisting physicians in hospitals and doctor’s offices by collecting samples and performing tests on tissues, blood, and other body fluids. The tests they perform and the results they gather help doctors diagnose patients and determine causes of illnesses. Lab technicians may work in all general areas of a laboratory or doctor’s office, or they may choose to specialize. For example, immunohematology technologists collect and prepare blood donated for transfusions, while immunology technologists examine the human immune system.

Industrial Painting

Salary range: $33,400-$45,200 per year

Industrial painting is a profession in which a painter applies paint, varnish, or another coating to a material or surface, primarily in the construction or manufacturing fields. In this career, you may paint large buildings or warehouses, machine parts, and components, or even homes in large real estate developments. Industrial painting can be done as a team or individually. Some positions within the industrial painting field are industrial equipment painter, painter assistant, construction painter, commercial painter, manufacturing warehouse and factories painter, and auto body painter. Each job within this category requires special skills, but the general job duties of painting are the same across the board.

Housekeeping

Salary range: $30,600-$43,400 per year

Housekeeping jobs are positions that ensure that a room, home, or office remains clean. In this career, you are responsible for cleaning your client’s toilets, bathtubs, floors, kitchens, and living spaces, emptying trash cans and recycling, and ensuring the general cleanliness of the location. Many housekeeping professionals work in the hotel and hospitality industry, where they perform housekeeping services for guests. They may replace towels, tidy the room, and clean rooms between guests.

Refinery

Salary range: $34,700-$42,900 per year

A refinery is a massive industrial operation where a specific chemical engineering process is used to convert raw materials into usable products. One example is a refinery that turns crude oil into a range of products, such as petroleum, diesel, and heating oil. Sugar refineries take harvested cane or beets and convert the plants’ natural sugars into a crystallized form for sale in grocery stores or use in food production. Metal refineries may process a variety of metals, such as aluminum, copper, and steel, for a variety of purposes like manufacturing steel beams for use in the construction industry.

Data Entry

Salary range: $31,100-$41,600 per year

Data entry jobs involve typing information into electronic formats, whether that’s word processing, spreadsheets, or specific software. It’s a great career option for detail-oriented people—or even those who prefer to work remotely from home. Data entry jobs typically use a computer to enter data or information, often from a hard-copy paper format, into a software application. Some positions may include scanning documents and using optical character recognition or OCR. Some examples of data entry job duties include transcribing, updating customer information, and entering accounting records.

Customer Service

Salary range: $29,200-$39,700 per year

Customer service jobs are positions at companies and organizations where you address any customer complaint or problem, provide technical help when customers are having issues with their product or service, and seek a resolution to any issues either through your own ability to solve the problem or by passing on complaints and issues to your superiors. Some customer service jobs are in call centers, while other professionals work at customer service desks in department stores or grocery stores. Your duties in these positions can vary based on the industry and the location. For example, a software support specialist at a call center has a very different job than a help desk associate at a department store.

Phlebotomist

Salary range: $31,100-$38,800 per year

Phlebotomists are medical professionals who draw blood and collect other samples for testing or donation. The samples are then sent to a medical lab for analysis; physicians use the results to diagnose conditions such as chronic disease, high cholesterol, and diabetes. Due to the high risk of spreading infection when handling blood and other tissue, Phlebotomists must ensure they wear gloves and that all their equipment is sterile. As a Phlebotomist, you need to cross-check all your labels to make sure they are accurate and match the patient. You may work with patients of many different ages—from newborns to elderly patients—so you should be friendly and learn how to interact well with all types of people.

Delivery Driver

Salary range: $30,600-$38,400 per year

A delivery driver is a transportation professional who delivers well over short or long distances. As a delivery driver, you are responsible for delivering goods on time and with care, and tracking all deliveries. Depending on the job, you may be responsible for anything from supplies, to packages, to food—anything that can be delivered by vehicle. You may travel locally or long distances, requiring time away from home.

Receptionist

Salary range: $28,800-$37,900 per year

Receptionists work in an administrative role in an office or other setting. They greet clients, patients, vendors, or anyone else who enters the company’s office or facility. The Receptionist is typically the first person you see representing the company, so part of their job is to make a good impression on everyone they meet. They also answer phones and other administrative tasks. Specific job duties depend upon the industry in which they are employed.

Seamstress

Salary range: $29,700-$37,000 per year

A Seamstress works with clothing and textiles. Your specific job duties vary, depending on your employer. If you work for a clothing manufacturer, you may work in a factory, using patterns and industrial sewing machines to create large lots of clothing. Seamstresses also work in alteration and dry cleaning stores, making repairs and adjustments to garments. Simple repairs include adjusting hems, fixing tears, mending zippers, and applying buttons. Brides hire Seamstresses to alter their wedding dresses, which are more complex and may take weeks or months to complete. Seamstresses often work in dressmaking, costume design, handbag making, and occasionally on specialty items, such as medical correctional devices or bulletproof vests.

School Custodian

Salary range: $27,400-$36,500 per year

A school custodian cleans the buildings, equipment, and furnishings of a school. As a school custodian, your responsibilities include ensuring the common areas, offices, and classrooms are clean. You also maintain the cleaning equipment and ensure everything needed for cleaning the school is stocked and ready. Depending on your qualifications, you may have additional maintenance duties. Your job is to work with other members of the cleaning or custodial team to ensure the school is a clean and safe environment in which children can learn.

House Sitter

Salary range: $26,500-$36,100 per year

A house sitter stays in or visits a home while the owners are away for an extended period. Some house sitting jobs can be for any amount of time, from one night to several months. Some house sitters may only visit the home in their care during the day to collect mail and ensure the house is in good order for the homeowner’s return. Others stay overnight at the property, watering plants, caring for pets, performing maintenance, and keeping the home in good order. A house sitting gig is a great way to make some extra income and can save you money if you need short-term housing. Professional house sitters may work through a company or as individual freelancers by privately responding to listings.

Security Guard

Salary range: $29,200-$35,600 per year

Security Guards work in various organizations to provide site or inventory monitoring and crime prevention activities. This may include actively patrolling an area on foot or in a security vehicle, or standing guard at key entrances or exits. In other cases, Security Guards may monitor security video footage and check credentials for those entering a facility. In an emergency they help direct emergency vehicles and police; they may also administer basic first aid. Security Guards keep accurate logs of daily or nightly activities and report any concerns to their supervisor. Ultimately, a Security Guard seeks to de-escalate a conflict whenever possible, but on occasion, they may need to restrain an individual. A job as a Security Guard likely demands non-traditional hours; some facilities require security for nights, weekends, and holidays.

Cake Decorator

Salary range: $25,600-$32,900 per year

Cake Decorators use their skills to embellish cakes for birthdays, special occasions, and weddings. They also decorate other pastries. Cake Decorators employ a range of techniques and equipment to decorate pastries. You commonly work in retail shops, providing excellent customer service to clients, whether they are creating a customized design, or buying pre-made items. One of the biggest and most difficult projects for Cake Decorators are wedding cakes. Talented Decorators create tiers of artwork in icing to celebrate the day, using live flowers and accessories like beads and figurines to create designs.

Private Caregiver

Salary range: $26,000-$32,900 per year

The duty of a private caregiver is to help a patient remain independent while living at home or in an assisted living facility. Your duties are also to relieve some of the responsibilities of the family of the client. As a private caregiver, you may provide medical help as well as companionship for senior clients or for people who are recovering from surgery or other traumas. Many private caregivers report to a nurse or more senior home care specialist, and you may have more than one patient, depending on the complexity of each patient’s needs.

Bus Monitor

Salary range: $23,800-$32,900 per year

A bus monitor works on a school bus to provide safe transportation to all students. Their main job duties are to help children on and off the bus, supervise them during transport, and transfer them to the correct parents or guardians. This role is often combined with that of a school bus driver, though some school districts have a separate driver and monitor on each bus. A bus monitor needs communication skills, especially involving children, to ensure that students follow all safety regulations.

Crossing Guard

Salary range: $27,900-$32,000 per year

A crossing guard is responsible for ensuring the safety of people crossing busy streets or intersections. These safety professionals can be found working at schools, busy intersections, and major hospital facilities. In this career, you must stay keenly aware of traffic patterns in the crossing areas for which you are responsible. Your job duties include controlling the flow of traffic at the crosswalk, overseeing the safety of pedestrians crossing the street, assisting pedestrians with special needs, and sometimes providing security services.

School Cafeteria

Salary range: $23,800-$30,200 per year

School cafeteria jobs focus on meal preparation for students. In this role, you may serve breakfast and lunch food to hundreds of students within the span of a few hours, ensure the cleanliness of kitchen, and perform various tasks needed to keep the cafeteria functioning each day. School cafeteria workers frequently refill condiment dispensers, alert supervisors to low stock, dispose of expired products, monitor the quality of incoming inventory, and prepare special requests as needed. Schools have different products and guidelines, and you may be asked to work with many different ingredients as part of a rotating schedule of meals.

25 of the Highest Paying Jobs in Pasadena, TX for 2024

The top jobs in the Pasadena area can pay up to $91,400 per year

High Paying Pasadena Jobs