Fastest-Growing Jobs in the United States 2026: The Professions on the Rise

The US labor market entered late 2026 in a holding pattern. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported 4.1 percent unemployment for October 2026 and payroll growth of 165,000, with health care adding 42,000 jobs. Indeed Hiring Lab calls it a “low-hire, low-fire” market: health-care postings sat 22.6 percent above February 2020 levels in late 2025 while tech postings were roughly a third below. Yet the BLS Employment Projections released in August 2026 still expect 5.9 million net new jobs by 2035, concentrated in health care, AI and the trades building America’s data centers.

This is the United States entry in the Rising Professions 2026 hub. It merges BLS, LinkedIn, Indeed, CompTIA, HRSA and Robert Half data into one ranked view, then covers pay, credentials, hotspots and hiring. For the global picture, see which jobs are growing fastest worldwide.

Which jobs are rising fastest in the United States in 2026?

AI engineers, AI consultants and data annotators lead LinkedIn’s 2026 US list, while BLS projections rank nurse practitioners, solar installers, data scientists and wind technicians as the fastest-growing occupations through 2035. Electricians, security analysts and health-services managers add the largest numbers of new jobs.

The two sources disagree in a useful way. LinkedIn measures which titles grew fastest among members starting new roles from 2023 to mid-2025, so AI roles dominate its top five; the BLS models a decade ahead from demographics, so health care and the trades fill its top ranks. A profession on both lists is rising on both measures. All pay figures are typical reported ranges, not promises.

What is driving demand for these professions?

Four forces explain most of the movement: enterprise AI adoption, a record data-center construction boom, an aging population with rising behavioral-health needs, and an energy transition now running against federal policy headwinds. Office automation pushes displaced workers toward judgment-heavy sales and compliance roles.

Enterprise AI adoption

AI roles hold four of the top five places on LinkedIn’s 2026 US list. The typical AI engineer has 3.7 years of experience and is hired in San Francisco, New York and Dallas.

CompTIA counted more than 275,000 US postings referencing AI skills in January 2026 and forecasts 1.9 percent net tech employment growth, about 185,500 jobs, in 2026 after a 0.3 percent dip in 2025. The BLS projects computer and mathematical occupations to grow 7.3 percent by 2035.

The data-center construction boom

ConstructConnect recorded $135.8 billion of US data-center construction starts in the first nine months of 2026 and expects the year to exceed $180 billion. Electrical work is 45 to 70 percent of a data center’s construction cost, according to IBEW figures reported by Fortune.

Fortune reports that more than 300,000 new electricians are needed over the next decade and about 20,000 retire each year; Associated Builders and Contractors says construction must attract 349,000 net new workers in 2026. NECA saw apprenticeship applications rise from about 70,000 to 120,000 between 2022 and 2024.

Aging, chronic disease and behavioral health

Private health care and social assistance will add more than 2.2 million jobs by 2035, about 37 percent of all new US jobs, according to the BLS 2025–35 projections.

HRSA’s December 2025 projections put the registered-nurse shortfall at 8 percent in 2028, easing to 3 percent by 2038, while the LPN gap widens from 17 to 30 percent. NP supply is projected to exceed national demand, so the NP story is about distribution.

The energy transition under policy crosswinds

The BLS still ranks solar PV installers (+36.5%) and wind turbine technicians (+29.5%) among its four fastest-growing occupations. These are small occupations, roughly 31,000 solar installers and 12,000 wind technicians in 2025, so high percentages mean thousands of openings.

Policy has flipped from tailwind to headwind. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act of 2025 rolled back many Inflation Reduction Act incentives, and E2’s analysis with BW Research, reported in July 2026, estimates close to half a million clean-energy jobs and $90 billion of investment lost. Employers here should hire against their own project pipeline.

What do the rising jobs pay in the United States?

Advertised pay spans roughly $36,000 for home health aides to nearly $200,000 for senior AI engineers. Mid-level AI engineers start near $175,000, nurse practitioners earn a median of $132,300, and journeyman electricians on data-center projects can exceed $120,000, according to the sources below.

Pay is rising slowly: Robert Half reports technology starting salaries up 1.6 percent in 2026 and projects 2.1 percent for 2027, with data scientists (+3.3%) and cybersecurity engineers (+3.1%) above average. Indeed’s wage tracker slowed to 2.5 percent in September 2025, below inflation, so candidates in scarce roles negotiate the first offer.

Pay transparency is now a compliance matter: according to Jackson Lewis, ranges must appear in postings in California, Colorado, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Vermont, Washington and D.C. Geography moves the number: the NP title that pays a national median of $132,300 averages $176,760 in California.

Which skills, degrees and certifications unlock these roles?

Most rising US roles have a clear credential path: cloud and ML certifications for AI and data jobs, Security+ and CISSP for cybersecurity, NCLEX plus an MSN or DNP and board certification for nurse practitioners, a four-to-five-year licensed apprenticeship for electricians, and NABCEP or GWO credentials in renewables.

• AI and ML engineer: LinkedIn lists PyTorch, LangChain and RAG as top skills; credentials include AWS Certified Machine Learning – Specialty, Google Professional ML Engineer and Azure AI Engineer Associate.
• Data scientist: a master’s in statistics or data science is common; Databricks Certified Data Scientist and Azure Data Scientist Associate are frequently requested.
• Information security analyst: CompTIA Security+ is the entry standard and meets DoD 8140 requirements; CISSP and CISM mark mid-career progression.
• Nurse practitioner: BSN and RN license via NCLEX-RN, then an MSN or DNP, AANP or ANCC certification and state APRN licensure; psychiatric NPs hold the PMHNP-BC.
• Electrician and data-center technician: a registered apprenticeship through the IBEW-NECA Electrical Training Alliance or an ABC chapter, leading to a state journeyman license; BICSI credentials for technicians.
• Solar and wind technicians: NABCEP PV Installation Professional for solar; GWO Basic Safety and Basic Technical Training for wind.
• Health services and commissioning managers: an MHA or health-care MBA with FACHE for the former; PMP, CCM or ASHRAE BCxP for the latter.

The kurums Courses & Certifications directory lists providers for most of these, and the MBA & Business Education directory covers health-administration and technology programs. See also the skills behind this year’s rising roles.

Where are the jobs? Regional hotspots

Data-center and AI hiring concentrates in Northern Virginia, Texas, the San Francisco Bay Area, New York and a Wisconsin-to-Ohio corridor, while nursing shortages are sharpest in California, North Carolina and Georgia. CompTIA expects Texas to add the most tech jobs in 2026.

ConstructConnect notes that nearly 80 percent of data-center spending planned for the next six months is in the South, which will keep pulling electricians toward Texas, Georgia, the Carolinas and Virginia.

Which professions are losing ground?

Routine clerical, data-entry and telephone-based roles are shrinking fastest. The BLS projects office and administrative support to lose 752,100 jobs by 2035, with word processors (-34.4%) and data entry keyers (-25.5%) declining most, while federal employment and some media roles also contract.

The BLS fastest-declining list is dominated by work software already does well: telephone operators (-27.6%), switchboard operators (-26.0%), telemarketers (-21.4%) and order clerks (-17.5%) join the roles above. Sales occupations decline 1.4 percent and federal government employment falls 3.4 percent.

Decline is not disappearance: many clerks will move into adjacent roles such as healthcare reimbursement. Rising sectors also have their own losers: Indeed reports tech postings about 34 percent below pre-pandemic levels, so generalist IT roles are flat even as AI specialists boom.

How should employers in the United States hire for scarce rising roles?

Benchmark pay by metro and publish it, hire for demonstrable skills instead of pedigree, convert administrative staff into reimbursement and compliance roles, fund registered apprenticeships, use Schedule A green cards for nurses, and plan H-1B strategy around legal uncertainty.

Benchmark, publish and hire for skills

Use BLS OEWS metro medians as the floor and Robert Half midpoints as the ceiling, then publish the range. Write postings around tasks and tools rather than degrees. The administrative roles the BLS expects to shrink are your pipeline for healthcare reimbursement specialists, background investigators and benefits advisers, all on LinkedIn’s rising list.

Build apprenticeship pipelines

For electricians and data-center technicians, partner with the local IBEW-NECA training center or ABC chapter and sponsor apprentices; Fortune reports Northern Virginia apprentices starting near $26 an hour. Community-college partnerships for medical assistants and LPNs work the same way.

Use the right immigration routes

Registered nurses and physical therapists qualify for Schedule A, Group I, which skips the PERM labor-market test and allows a direct I-140 filing, usually under EB-3 for nurses. For AI roles the H-1B route is in flux: Polsinelli reports a federal court vacated the $100,000 proclamation fee in June 2026 while DHS proposed a separate $103,265 fee per cap-subject petition in August, so budget for both outcomes.

Entity, agencies and employer brand

Foreign companies without a US entity can start with an employer-of-record and convert once headcount justifies it. Our guide to recruiting in the United States covers at-will employment and state onboarding, our review of US recruitment agencies and HR consultancies shows who specializes in clinical, trades and AI search, and the Expats in the USA series covers visas, payroll and benefits for relocated hires.

What should job seekers and career changers do in 2026?

Pick a rising role that matches your starting point, earn one recognized credential rather than five, build visible proof of work, target the metros where the role clusters, and treat the first eighteen months as a paid apprenticeship in a fast-moving field.

1. Start from adjacency. LinkedIn shows AI consultants coming from software and product roles; claims and admin experience maps to healthcare reimbursement and benefits advising.
2. Choose one recognized credential. Security+, a cloud ML certification, NCLEX and an MSN pathway, a registered apprenticeship, or NABCEP or GWO. Compare pay-offs in our country-by-country salary comparison.
3. Build proof of work. A deployed model, clinical hours or a completed apprenticeship year outweigh a certificate alone.
4. Go where the role clusters. Data-center work in Northern Virginia, Texas, Ohio and the Southeast; AI roles in San Francisco, New York and Dallas; nursing demand in California, North Carolina and Georgia.
5. Protect the downside. If you are in a declining clerical role, start the transition while employed; Indeed reports white-collar unemployment spells lengthened in 2025.
6. Re-check the data yearly. Learn how to read job-growth data to separate trends from spikes.

Frequently Asked Questions

Sources and method

1. Employment Projections 2025–2035 — BLS, 2026
2. Fastest growing occupations, 2025–35 (Table 1.3) — BLS, 2026
3. Occupations with the most job growth (Table 1.4) — BLS, 2026
4. The Employment Situation, October 2026 — BLS, 2026
5. Jobs on the Rise 2026: 25 fastest-growing roles in the US — LinkedIn News, 2026
6. US Jobs & Hiring Trends Report 2026 — Indeed Hiring Lab, 2025
7. State of the Tech Workforce 2026 — CompTIA, 2026
8. Salary Guide: Technology (2027 edition) — Robert Half, 2026
9. Nursing Workforce Projections factsheet — HRSA Bureau of Health Workforce, 2025
10. A dire electrician shortage threatens the AI data center boom — Fortune, 2026
11. November 2026 Data Center Report — ConstructConnect, 2026
12. E2: Big Beautiful Bill cost US nearly 500,000 clean energy jobs — Solar Power World, 2026
13. Immigration & the Health Care Workforce: September 2026 Update — Polsinelli, 2026
14. Navigating 2026 Pay Transparency Laws — Jackson Lewis, 2026

Method: the ranked table merges the BLS 2025–35 tables with LinkedIn’s Jobs on the Rise 2026 US ranking, cross-checked against CompTIA, Indeed and HRSA; pay figures are BLS OEWS May 2025 medians and Robert Half 2027-edition ranges. Figures checked November 2026.