25 Most Dangerous Jobs in America

Of the nearly 450,000 welding, soldering, and brazing workers, 50 suffered fatal injuries on the job in 2019. These incidents were most commonly due to contact with objects or equipment as these workers often use potentially-dangerous equipment like welding torches as well as working on large and heavy objects on occasion.

Police and sheriff’s patrol officers work one of just 19 jobs in which workers suffered more than 10 fatal injuries per 100,000 full-time equivalent workers. While most of the jobs on this list rank among the most dangerous because of accidents, patrol officers are most likely to die from violence from either people or animals as they frequently contend with armed and dangerous suspects. Half of the 86 total fatal injuries these officers suffered while on the job were due to violence. Patrol officers are also the most likely to suffer a nonfatal injury that forces them to miss work. For every 10,000 full-time equivalent patrol officers, 759 missed work due to occupational injuries or illnesses in 2019 — more than eight times the rate for all jobs of 86.9 per 10,000 workers.

First-line supervisors of landscaping, lawn service, and groundskeeping workers oversee those who are maintaining lawns, gardens, and other outdoor spaces. This job typically requires crews to travel between jobs throughout the day. With all this travel, these workers are most commonly fatally injured in transportation incidents, like car accidents. For every 100,000 full-time equivalent landscaping supervisors, 12.6 were fatally injured in 2019.

These construction equipment operators use motor graders, bulldozers, scrapers, compressors, pumps, derricks, shovels, tractors, and other devices for construction purposes. These devices can often be dangerous. Of the 52 fatal injuries suffered by these workers, 25 were transportation incidents, and 19 were due to contact with objects and equipment. There were just over 400,000 Americans working this job in 2019. For every 100,000 full-time equivalent workers, 12.8 were fatally injured that year.

Among America’s most dangerous jobs, electrical power-line installers and repairers are well compensated, with most earning over $72,000 per year. The U.S. median annual wage is $39,810, and most jobs on this list earn less than $50,000 a year. These workers are most commonly fatally injured by exposure to harmful substances or environments as they work with dangerous high voltage power lines.