- Some people work best by themselves.
- Thankfully, there are plenty of jobs that require very little person-to-person contact.
- Using data from the Occupational Information Network (O*NET), we calculated the jobs that require the bare minimum of interacting and communicating with others.
- Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
For some workers, talking to other people is the absolute worst part of their day. But if they had a job where they kept human interaction to a minimum, they just might thrive.
To calculate the jobs with the least amount of human contact, we used data from the Department of Labor’s O*NET Online occupational database, which lists seven job characteristics that involve talking to other people: Speaking; communicating with persons outside the organization; communicating with peers, supervisors, or subordinates; contact with others; face-to-face discussions; public speaking; and social orientation.
After averaging those seven characteristics together, we filtered for jobs with median annual wages above the overall national median of $39,810 in May 2019, the most recent year available from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Here are the 15 jobs with the lowest average communication scores among occupations with data available from both O*NET and the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ employment and salary figures. They’re the highest-paying jobs you can have that don’t require a lot of talking or contact with others.
15. Dental laboratory technicians have an overall communication score of 50.0.
Lowest-scoring communication skills:
1. Public speaking: 8
2. Communicating with persons outside the organization: 34
3. Social orientation: 42
What they do, according to O*NET: Construct and repair full or partial dentures or dental appliances.
Median annual wage in 2019: $41,340
Number employed in 2019: 34,460
14. Metal-refining furnace operators and tenders have an overall communication score of 49.9.
Lowest-scoring communication skills:
1. Communicating with persons outside the organization: 20
2. Public speaking: 26
3. Speaking: 50
What they do, according to O*NET: Operate or tend furnaces, such as gas, oil, coal, electric-arc or electric induction, open-hearth, or oxygen furnaces, to melt and refine metal before casting or to produce specified types of steel.
Median annual wage in 2019: $42,250
Number employed in 2019: 17,150
13. Metal and plastic model makers have an overall communication score of 49.4.
Lowest-scoring communication skills:
1. Public speaking: 13
2. Communicating with persons outside the organization: 24
3. Social orientation: 34
What they do, according to O*NET: Set up and operate machines, such as lathes, milling and engraving machines, and jig borers to make working models of metal or plastic objects.
Median annual wage in 2019: $57,020
Number employed in 2019: 4,300
12. Milling and planing machine setters, operators, and tenders (metal and plastic) have an overall communication score of 49.3.
Lowest-scoring communication skills:
1. Public speaking: 15
2. Communicating with persons outside the organization: 24
3. Social orientation: 44
What they do, according to O*NET: Set up, operate, or tend milling or planing machines to mill, plane, shape, groove, or profile metal or plastic work pieces.
Median annual wage in 2019: $43,210
Number employed in 2019: 18,730
11. Separating, filtering, clarifying, precipitating, and still machine setters, operators, and tenders have an overall communication score of 49.0.
Lowest-scoring communication skills:
1. Public speaking: 10
2. Communicating with persons outside the organization: 15
3. Speaking: 47
What they do, according to O*NET: Set up, operate, or tend continuous flow or vat-type equipment; filter presses; shaker screens; centrifuges; condenser tubes; precipitating, fermenting, or evaporating tanks; scrubbing towers; or batch stills.
Median annual wage in 2019: $41,330
Number employed in 2019: 51,160
10. Tapers have an overall communication score of 48.4.
Lowest-scoring communication skills:
1. Public speaking: 7
2. Communicating with persons outside the organization: 35
3. Social orientation: 45
What they do, according to O*NET: Seal joints between plasterboard or other wallboard to prepare wall surface for painting or papering.
Median annual wage in 2019: $59,070
Number employed in 2019: 17,970
9. Refractory materials repairers, except brickmasons, have an overall communication score of 48.0.
Lowest-scoring communication skills:
1. Public speaking: 7
2. Communicating with persons outside the organization: 25
3. Speaking: 44
What they do, according to O*NET: Build or repair equipment such as furnaces, kilns, cupolas, boilers, converters, ladles, soaking pits and ovens, using refractory materials.
Median annual wage in 2019: $53,990
Number employed in 2019: 820
8. Underground mining loading machine operators have an overall communication score of 47.3.
Lowest-scoring communication skills:
1. Public speaking: 17
2. Communicating with persons outside the organization: 29
3. Speaking: 41
What they do, according to O*NET: Operate underground loading machine to load coal, ore, or rock into shuttle or mine car or onto conveyors. Loading equipment may include power shovels, hoisting engines equipped with cable-drawn scraper or scoop, or machines equipped with gathering arms and conveyor.
Median annual wage in 2019: $54,210
Number employed in 2019: 4,200
7. Wood patternmakers have an overall communication score of 46.9.
Lowest-scoring communication skills:
1. Public speaking: 3
2. Communicating with persons outside the organization: 28
3. Social orientation: 40
What they do, according to O*NET: Plan, lay out, and construct wooden unit or sectional patterns used in forming sand molds for castings.
Median annual wage in 2019: $64,880
Number employed in 2019: 370
6. Watch repairers have an overall communication score of 46.6.
Lowest-scoring communication skills:
1. Public speaking: 4
2. Communicating with others: 30
3. Communicating with persons outside the organization: 45
What they do, according to O*NET: Repair, clean, and adjust mechanisms of timing instruments, such as watches and clocks. Includes watchmakers, watch technicians, and mechanical timepiece repairers.
Median annual wage in 2019: $42,520
Number employed in 2019: 2,780
5. Lathe and turning machine tool setters, operators, and tenders (metal and plastic) have an overall communication score of 46.4.
Lowest-scoring communication skills:
1. Public speaking: 7
2. Communicating with persons outside the organization: 19
3. Speaking: 47
What they do, according to O*NET: Set up, operate, or tend lathe and turning machines to turn, bore, thread, form, or face metal or plastic materials, such as wire, rod, or bar stock.
Median annual wage in 2019: $40,100
Number employed in 2019: 28,070
4. Animal breeders have an overall communication score of 44.0.
Lowest-scoring communication skills:
1. Public speaking: 8
2. Communicating with persons outside the organization: 41
3. Communicating with others: 44
What they do, according to O*NET: Select and breed animals according to their genealogy, characteristics, and offspring.
Median annual wage in 2019: $42,920
Number employed in 2019: 1,610
3. Fine artists, including painters, sculptors, and illustrators, have an overall communication score of 43.3.
Lowest-scoring communication skills:
1. Public speaking: 12
2. Communicating with others: 39
3. Communicating with persons outside the organization: 46
What they do, according to O*NET: Integrate and develop visual elements, such as line, space, mass, color, and perspective, to produce desired effects, such as the illustration of ideas, emotions, or moods.
Median annual wage in 2019: $50,550
Number employed in 2019: 12,350
2. Tire builders have an overall communication score of 42.9.
Lowest-scoring communication skills:
1. Communicating with persons outside the organization: 11
2. Public speaking: 15
3. Face-to-face discussions: 39
What they do, according to O*NET: Operate machines to build tires.
Median annual wage in 2019: $46,010
Number employed in 2019: 20,790
1. Fallers have an overall communication score of 38.9.
Lowest-scoring communication skills:
1. Public speaking: 7
2. Communicating with persons outside the organization: 13
3. Speaking: 41
What they do, according to O*NET: Use axes or chainsaws to fell trees using knowledge of tree characteristics and cutting techniques to control direction of fall and minimize tree damage.
Median annual wage in 2019: $44,650
Number employed in 2019: 4,890
