The key facts

  • Blasters — 182,000 rubles, tunnelers — 173,600, industrial climbers — 149,100 per month
  • A lighthouse keeper earns 95,000, a diver — 76,800
  • The lowest estimate on the list is for firefighters: 53,773 rubles

Who earns the most in 'scary' professions

Ahead of Halloween, the GdeRabota.ru service examined professions 'not for the faint of heart' and estimated their average salaries; Gazeta.Ru reviewed the results. The list is topped by blasters with an average monthly salary of 182,000 rubles — they work with explosives at mining and other enterprises. Second place goes to tunnelers (173,600 rubles), who carve out underground workings in confined spaces without daylight. The top three is rounded out by industrial climbers with an average of 149,100 rubles: they repair facades, wash windows and perform other work on the exterior of buildings, moving at height using ropes and safety equipment.

The remaining positions on the list

Crane operators, according to the service, are paid an average of 119,835 rubles a month; they spend a significant part of their shift in a crane cab at height. A keeper of a remote lighthouse earns about 95,000 rubles — among the peculiarities of this job are limited communication and the fact that the site's transport accessibility depends on the weather: during a storm it may be impossible to leave the workplace quickly. Divers, who inspect and repair underwater structures in conditions of poor visibility, earn an average of 76,800 rubles. The lowest estimate on the list turned out to be for firefighters — 53,773 rubles, even though their work involves extinguishing fires and rescuing people amid smoke and the threat of structural collapse.

What to keep in mind when reading the figures

The amounts cited are estimates from a single service based on average values, not official statistics; the methodology for selecting professions and calculating the averages is not disclosed in the publication. What is telling is the ratio within the list itself: the gap between the highest-paid and the lowest-paid 'scary' profession exceeds threefold — a blaster earns 3.4 times more than a firefighter, even though both professions involve a direct threat to life.