Methodology
Where the numbers come from
Every figure on this site comes from public US government data. Nothing is self-reported by users or scraped from job ads.
Sources
| What | Source | Vintage |
|---|---|---|
| Pay (median and percentiles) | BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, national, all industries | May 2025 |
| Jobs, growth, openings, entry education and training | BLS Employment Projections | 2025–35 |
| How AI and other factors shift demand | BLS Employment Projections, Table 1.12, quoted as written | 2025–35 |
| Tasks, skills, interests, work context | O*NET 31.0 Database, USDOL/ETA (CC BY 4.0) | Aug 2026 |
The site covers 831 occupations, one per BLS projections occupation code. Where O*NET splits an occupation more finely, we average its sub-occupations.
The switch calculator
For about 40 common careers we mapped the typical US path by hand: the degree or program, months, tuition range, whether you can earn while training, and the exams and licenses you can't skip. For the rest, the path is estimated from BLS's three entry fields: education, prior experience, and on-the-job training.
The comparison is month by month, in today's dollars, before tax. If you stay, you keep your current pay. If you switch, you earn what each step allows (nothing in full-time school, part-time pay during most programs, trainee pay in apprenticeships and residencies), pay tuition spread over the program, then start at the target career's 25th-percentile pay and reach its median over five years. Breakeven is the month the running total turns positive again.
Simplifications worth knowing: we don't model taxes, raises in your current job, regional pay, student loan interest, or living costs during school. Tuition ranges cover common public and private options, not every program. Treat the result as a way to compare options, not a forecast of your income.
License
BLS data is public domain. O*NET data is used under CC BY 4.0; we've reorganized and averaged it. Training paths and the calculator are our own estimates.