Recently, a close junior colleague declared, "I'm going to prioritize work-life balance from now on," as they switched companies.

However, when I met them a few months later, they didn't seem as cheerful. They were leaving work on time, but their salary remained the same, making it tough to manage living expenses.

In fact, there are plenty of lists online featuring jobs with great work-life balance. The issue is that not all the jobs on those lists also offer good salaries.

The 2026 Best Jobs rankings published annually by U.S. News & World Report highlight this point quite clearly. This ranking evaluates five criteria: growth potential, salary, job stability, unemployment rate, and work-life balance.

The top job for 2026 is Nurse Practitioner, with a median salary of $129,210. This role meets both criteria due to steady demand and relatively predictable working hours.

Physician Assistant also ranked high, with a median salary of $133,260, even higher than Nurse Practitioners. Working under the supervision of a physician allows for relatively set hours and less on-call burden, making it a consistently mentioned job that satisfies both conditions.

In the tech sector, the rankings are quite interesting.

Software Developers ranked third, with a median salary of $133,080. This field has established remote and flexible work options, contributing to a high work-life balance score.

Actuaries ranked fifth, with a median salary of $125,770. This figure is corroborated by data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, making it quite reliable.

Thanks to a structured workload and relatively low overtime, this job consistently scores high in work-life balance evaluations.

On the other hand, Data Scientists ranked fourth, with a median salary of $112,590, which is lower than the previous three jobs.

However, there are jobs where the salary ranking flips entirely. IT Managers have a median salary of $171,200, the highest among those mentioned here.

However, since the role overlaps with organizational management and incident response, the work-life balance score isn't as high as that of the top tech jobs. This illustrates that salary and work-life balance don't always move in tandem.

One surprising aspect I found was the role of Substitute Teacher, known for its good work-life balance, which has a median salary of $44,972. While they have evenings and vacations free due to the school calendar, the salary is definitely on the lower side.

Information Security Analysts fall somewhere in between. With a median salary of $124,910 and a significant amount of remote work, they can manage both conditions to some extent.

Every time I look at this data, I realize that the phrase "good work-life balance" varies by industry. The concept of a life with evenings off in an office job is entirely different from a predictable schedule in the medical field.

Ultimately, to achieve both work-life balance and salary, one shouldn't just look at lists of "good work-life balance jobs" but also check the salary section in the rankings.

If you're considering a job change, it's much more helpful to ask about actual weekly working hours and remote work ratios during interviews rather than focusing solely on job titles in job postings.

So, rather than making decisions based on just one ranking, it's important to first clarify what conditions you can't compromise on—whether it's time or money. Once you establish that criterion, it becomes much clearer to filter out the jobs that suit you even when looking at the same ranking.

Personally, I wouldn't decide on a job change or career transition based solely on the work-life balance score. Given the significant salary variations within the same ranking, it's much more practical to look for specific numbers before making a move.