I guess you left professional jobs off like doctor and attorney for some reason? IE that we can't actually apply for them but clearly they would be the highest paying jobs locally. I wonder in fact how many doctors there are in the area and what their average salary is?

5 of the 10 are Doctors. If you are talking about Medical Doctors, I'm guessing stress, work environment, and physical demand keep them out of the top 10.

Attorney? Are you kidding? Who in the world would stoop that low?

As the wife of a Doctor, Family Practice. Salary starts at $0.00. 4 year Bachelors Degree
(-$100,000.00 at the UW not mentioning living needs). 4 year Medical Degree (-$155,000.00 at the UW not including books of $2,500.00 a quarter and not including living needs).
3 years of an internship $24,000.00 income per year, you work 36 hours on 8 hours off at Group Health. Then you have the final certifications of State licensing at $750.00 a year. Plus continuing medical education of 200 hours a year at a cost of about $6,000.00 a year. And you can get a job. Starting at $68,000.00 a year for the first year. With a $5 to $6,000.00 a year raise. Total debt after first year of full pay, $300,000.00. On a 10 year sliding scale you get to $225,000.00 a year salary as the most you will ever make. Then if you play your cards right your employer will not notice you are the highest paid person there and fire you to hire a 1st year Doctor right out of Med. School. Lucky you.
Knowing this, and knowing you will not be able to pay off your debt for 10 years for a total of $1,240,000 including interest, it's no wonder there are not enough Dr.s to cover the new national healthcare plan. And just a note of fact. A friend of mine went to work at Albertson's Grocery and started as a bag checker, worked her way up to Manager and truly is in better financial shape than we are. No joke, no interest and no tuition.

What about freelance theorbo player? Seems to me I have the best job in Seattle. Granted, it means being out of Seattle for about 70% of the time, but in the winters, that's not much of a hardship.