The highest-paying and fastest-growing jobs in the U.S. are heavy on STEM – science, technology, engineering and math – skills.

That’s certainly the case in Alabama.

CareerBuilder recently used government data to determine which careers are likely to be lucrative and in demand. In Alabama, that job was software developer.

Nationally, software developers have a median pay of $105,590 a year with a higher-than-average outlook for job growth of 24 percent between 2006 and 2016.

In Alabama, the need for software developers is expected to increase by 17 percent in that time period.

Here’s each state’s entry for highest-paying and fastest-growing jobs:

Alabama – Software developer

Alaska – Registered nurse

Arizona – Nurse practitioner

Arkansas – Physical therapist

California – Occupational therapy assistants

Colorado – Operations research analysts

Connecticut – Nurse practitioner

Delaware -Financial sales agents

Washington, D.C. – Software developers

Florida – Medical scientists

Georgia – Film and video editors

Hawaii – Physical therapists

Idaho – Market researchers

Illinois – Physician assistants

Indiana - Physician assistants

Iowa - Physician assistants

Kansas – Software developers

Kentucky - Physician assistants

Louisiana – Software developers

Maine – Software developers

Maryland – Flights attendants

Massachusetts – Computer scientists

Michigan – Occupational therapy assistants

Minnesota - Physician assistants

Mississippi - Software developers

Missouri – Software developers

Montana - Software developers

Nebraska – Physical therapists

Nevada - Software developers

New Hampshire - Software developers

New Jersey – Physical therapy assistants

New Mexico - Software developers

New York – Physical therapy assistants

North Carolina - Software developers

North Dakota - Software developers

Ohio – Physician assistants

Oklahoma – Rotary drill operators

Oregon – Postsecondary teachers

Pennsylvania – Nurse practitioners

Rhode Island - Software developers

South Carolina - Software developers

South Dakota - Software developers

Tennessee - Software developers

Texas – Nurse practitioners

Utah – Producers and directors

Vermont - Software developers

Virginia – Physician assistants

Washington – Nurse practitioners

West Virginia - Software developers

Wisconsin – Software developers

Wyoming – Business operations specialists

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Source: "Here’s the highest paid and fastest growing job in Alabama" AL.com (August  23, 2019) Leada Gore