18 High-Income Skills to Learn in 2025

High-income skills are a combination of technical and workplace skills that employers value because of the positive impact they can have on major business goals. These skills also tend to be in demand because of the important business needs they satisfy, meaning you may be able to earn higher salaries or find more career growth if you have them—or want to develop them.

Learn about different high-income skills you may want to learn or strengthen to stand out as a job candidate or advance your career. Afterward, develop your abilities by learning from industry leaders like Google, Microsoft, and IBM with a Coursera Plus subscription. You’ll get a certificate for every program you finish, which you can add to your resume to further enhance it.

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12 high-income technical skills to learn

Below, you’ll find 12 high-income technical skills that are useful for specific careers or to augment your ability to excel in your current role. For instance, a marketing professional may want to enhance their data skills, even if they do not want to work in data more formally, because it can help them discover key insights and build more effective campaigns.

To build this list, we referenced reports and platforms forecasting the most current in-demand skills from Pearson [1], LinkedIn [2], Glassdoor, Coursera [3], and the World Economic Forum [4].

1. Generative AI (GenAI)

Generative AI (GenAI) is a transformative technology that's becoming a requirement across many roles. A growing number of businesses already rely on AI tools to increase their productivity, with even more businesses interested in finding ways to integrate AI into their workstream, business model, products, or services.

Developing GenAI skills, including an ability to prompt engineer—a formal way of describing the ability to refine GenAI requests to get the output you desire—is becoming more crucial. Luckily, there are a variety of ways to build fundamental AI skills or advance what you already know.

If you're interested in an AI career, here are some roles that use AI heavily, along with average base pay in the United States as of June 2025, according to Glassdoor:

2. Data analysis

As businesses increasingly rely on data to make informed decisions, they require employees with the ability to collect, interpret, and share data that can solve their business problems. People skilled in data analysis may use a range of tools, including Microsoft Excel, Google Sheets, SQL, Tableau, R, or Python.

Here are some careers that use data analysis, along with average base pay in the United States as of June 2025, according to Glassdoor:

3. Data visualization

Alongside being able to interpret data, using it to tell a story—also known as data visualization—is becoming increasingly important across roles. Data visualization transforms complex data sets into clear, actionable insights that technical and non-technical stakeholders can easily understand. Creating effective visual representations of data helps identify patterns, trends, and relationships that might be missed in raw data, making it an essential skill for decision-making and communicating findings across an organization.

4. Cybersecurity

Cybersecurity protects companies and individuals from increasingly sophisticated cyber threats, data breaches, and financial losses. With cyber attacks becoming more frequent and costly, professionals who can prevent, detect, and respond to security incidents are in high demand across all industries, making cybersecurity expertise one of the most valuable and sought-after skill sets in the modern workforce.

Here are some careers that use cybersecurity, along with average base pay in the United States as of June 2025, according to Glassdoor:

5. Customer service

Strong customer service skills are fundamental to a company's success because they directly impact customer satisfaction, retention, and brand reputation, while also driving revenue through positive customer relationships and word-of-mouth recommendations. These skills go beyond just handling complaints and inquiries, encompassing emotional intelligence, problem-solving abilities, and effective communication that can benefit professionals across all industries and roles, even those not directly labeled as customer service positions.

Here are some careers that use customer service, along with average base pay in the United States as of June 2025, according to Glassdoor:

6. User experience

Hand in hand with technological development comes user experience (UX), which has to do with the way a consumer interacts with a product. People working in UX figure out the best way to present a product to consumers. They may conduct research, design, or help market a product.

Although they still involve some data, UX roles are grounded in design and tend to offer room for creativity, and they require a high level of social perceptiveness—three skills that come up in multiple skill reports [4, 1]. Here are some careers utilizing user experience skills, along with average base pay in the United States as of June 2025, according to Glassdoor:

7. Risk management

Risk management is an important business skill, enabling organizations to identify, assess, and mitigate potential threats that could impact their operations, reputation, or financial stability. Professionals with risk management expertise help companies make informed decisions, maintain compliance with regulations, and create robust strategies to protect assets and stakeholders while maximizing opportunities for growth and success.

Here are some careers utilizing risk management, along with average base pay in the United States as of June 2025, according to Glassdoor:

8. Web development

Web development brings together the fundamentals of software development and user experience, incorporating the technical aspects of the former with the design elements of the latter. People skilled in web development will also be familiar with technical search engine optimization (SEO) in order to design and program websites that meet business needs.

Here are some careers that require web development skills, along with average base pay in the United States as of June 2025, according to Glassdoor:

9. Project management

Many companies use an organizational structure in which different departments, teams, or team members all work on a singular product or project. A person who is skilled in coordinating efforts across each of those touchpoints is skilled in project management. These team members may be responsible for maintaining schedules, organizing budgets, and communicating with project stakeholders (or various parties interested or invested in the project outcomes).

You can consider “project management skills” to be a catch-all term for leadership, communication, planning, resilience, and organizational skills—all of which are frequently cited as valuable to employers. Project management shows up in many careers and becomes especially important as you move into managerial positions. However, you can also pursue a career as a project manager.

Here are some careers along the project manager path and their average base pay in the United States as of June 2025, according to Glassdoor:

10. Account management

While project management typically has an internal focus, account management taps into a similar subset of skills to work with people outside of your organization. Often highly valued in sales positions, account management skills enable you to confidently position your company and its products to customers.

Account managers incorporate the organizational aspects required to close a business deal and the interpersonal skills required to negotiate and maintain relationships productively. They often use a customer relationship management (CRM) tool like Salesforce.

Here are some careers that use account management and sales skills, along with average base pay in the United States as of June 2025, according to Glassdoor:

11. Content creation and management

Content creation and management skills involve storytelling and are often crucial for marketing careers. This skill set incorporates creativity, originality, social perceptiveness, and emotional intelligence. Taking these skills a step further can also mean adding data analysis to your toolbox, specifically honing in on marketing analytics so that you can assess how well an audience is connecting with your content.

Here are some careers that use content creation and management skills, along with average base pay in the United States as of June 2025, according to Glassdoor:

12. Quality assurance

Quality assurance (QA) ensures products and services consistently meet or exceed customer expectations while minimizing defects, waste, and costly errors throughout the production or service delivery. These skills are valuable across numerous industries, from manufacturing to software development, as they help organizations maintain standards, improve efficiency, comply with regulations, and build strong reputations for reliability and excellence.

Here are some careers that use quality assurance skills, along with average base pay in the United States as of June 2025, according to Glassdoor:

6 high-income workplace skills to learn

Alongside the technical skills listed above, workplace skills typically describe how you do your work, and they are something employers consider important, especially as AI technologies increase the need for human-first abilities. While you can include these skills on your resume, an interview may be a more opportune time to discuss them, allowing you space to tell a story and provide specific examples.

We've compiled six workplace skills listed among the "Core Skills in 2025" from the World Economic Forum's Future of Jobs Report 2025 [4].

1. Analytical thinking

Analytical thinking tops WEF's skills list. According to the organization, "seven out of 10 companies consider it essential" [4]. Analytical thinking is important because it enables professionals to break down complex problems, evaluate data objectively, and make well-reasoned decisions based on careful examination of available information and evidence.

This systematic approach to problem-solving and decision-making is valuable in virtually every industry and role, as it helps identify patterns, predict outcomes, improve processes, and develop effective solutions to business challenges.

2. Agility

Being agile—or responsible and flexible—is increasingly vital thanks to rapid changes in the business environment. Agility means you can adapt quickly to new situations, embrace change, and remain effective even when faced with uncertainty or shifting priorities. This adaptability helps you stay relevant in an evolving workplace, master new technologies and methodologies, and contribute meaningfully to their organizations even as roles and requirements transform.

3. Leadership

Leadership skills refer to a combination of abilities that enable a professional to guide, motivate, and influence others effectively. It can include managing a team toward an outcome, empowering and inspiring others, delegating tasks, and more. Whether you manage others or not, developing your leadership skills can be additive to your career.

4. Creative thinking

Creative thinking is the ability to approach problems, ideas, and situations from novel perspectives, generating innovative solutions and unique connections that exceed beyond conventional approaches. This skill is crucial in today's workplace because it drives innovation, helps organizations adapt to change, solve complex problems, and maintain a competitive advantage in an ever-evolving business landscape.

5. Motivation

Motivation is the internal drive and energy that pushes individuals to set goals, take action, and persist in achieving objectives despite challenges or setbacks. This characteristic is vital in the workplace because it fuels productivity, encourages continuous improvement, maintains engagement during difficult projects, and ultimately contributes to both individual success and organizational growth.

6. Active listening

Active listening is the practice of fully concentrating on, engaging with, and understanding what others are communicating, including paying attention to both verbal and non-verbal cues while providing thoughtful feedback and appropriate responses. This skill is essential in the workplace because it helps prevent misunderstandings, builds stronger relationships, improves collaboration, and ensures that important information is accurately received and acted upon.

Develop your high-income skills on Coursera

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