Job seekers may want to consider the toll that specific careers can have on their mental health.
A huge new study published on Friday examined the relationship between careers and depression rates. The study analyzed survey data from 536,279 workers across 37 states from 2015 to 2019.
Out of half a million U.S. workers, 80,319 of them admitted to being diagnosed with depression at some point during their lives, with women being diagnosed twice as often as men.
Separating the results by industry, the study saw that people who worked in community and social services had the highest rate of lifelong diagnosed depression at 20.5 percent. The second highest on the list was food prep and serving jobs at 20.1 percent.
Other industries with high lifetime diagnosed depression rates are: arts, entertainment, sports, and media at 18.6 percent; accommodation and food services at 18.4 percent; health and social assistance at 18.2 percent; retail trade at 17.7 percent; and legal, education, and library jobs tied at 16.1 percent.
Industries with lower lifetime diagnosed depression rates included mining jobs at 6.7 percent, construction at 8.9 percent, and agriculture and engineering jobs at nine percent.
Although mining and construction may have lower depression rates, those industries also have the highest suicide rates among U.S. workers. The researchers suggest that the gap may be explained because blue-collar men are less likely to seek mental services due to a preexisting stigma or limited access in rural areas.
Despite the results of the study, there are some jobs out there that are almost stress-free and also come with a large paycheck. Back in December 2024, Resume Genius released its list of the highest-paying jobs that also reported low levels of stress.
Their study described “low-stress jobs” as ones that typically require fewer demands, more predictable work hours, supportive environments, and manageable workloads.
All of the jobs on the list required the person to have at least a Bachelor’s degree. The list was compiled using data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and the career site O*NET Online. The high-stress jobs were filtered out using O*NET and then cross-referenced against the BLS’s Occupational Outlook Handbook, with the national median salary set at $48,060 and viewing jobs that showed “faster-than-average growth.”
The best jobs included: water source specialist, astronomer, actuary, environmental economist, mathematician, and geographer.
