by Tisa Silver, Investopedia

Who says hard work doesn't pay? These 10 blue-collar jobs show that the color of your collar doesn't necessarily dictate the level of your income.

Rachel Zupek, CareerBuilder.com writer

Let's be honest: Sometimes you don't care about the job -- you just care about the salary.

We went to the Bureau of Labor Statistics to look at the latest (May 2008) salary information for the United States. From there, we found out which occupations pay in the $80,000 range based on national averages.

Here are 30 jobs that pay at least $80,000:

Anthony Balderrama, CareerBuilder.com writer

Who hasn't looked at his or her paycheck and imagined how much better life would be with a lot more numbers after that dollar sign?

Inevitably, a wise soul -- usually a parent -- tells you that no amount of money will solve your problems. Of course, you respond, "Let me find out for myself."

Call us shallow, but we did it. We scoured the globe and narrowed down a list of the richest, best-looking men out there. See the gallery and VOTE!

Meg Donohue, CareerBuilder.com writer

As we each search for our personal pot of gold, many of us wonder whether the rainbow leading us to a six-figure paycheck has to be so long. We want financially rewarding jobs, but not everyone is eager to commit the time and money necessary to complete a medical or law degree. The good news is that, even though statistics have shown that more education translates to higher earnings, there are still plenty of six-figure salary jobs for those of us who have decided not to take the seven-years-and-a-stethoscope route.

The following is a list of seven lucrative fields in which the top-earning 25 percent of workers take home more than $100,000 annually, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). That percentage proves there is real potential for sizeable salaries within these fields, even if your résumé doesn't boast a lengthy list of alma maters. Though some of these positions are filled by people with graduate degrees