Anthropologists and Archeologists

Pay and outlook

Median annual wage, May 2025

$70,770

Half earn more, half earn less

Middle half earn

$59,400 – $89,670

25th to 75th percentile

People employed, May 2025

8,990

Wage and salary jobs (OEWS)

Projected change, 2025–35

+6%

At or above the all-jobs rate (3.5% to under 7%)

Openings a year (projected)

800

New jobs plus replacing people who leave

Typical education to enter

Master's degree

BLS

• All figures are for the United States as a whole. Pay varies a lot by state and city.
• Wages are for everyone working in the occupation in May 2025, at every career stage. They are not starting salaries or figures for new graduates.
• Growth and openings are BLS projections for 2025–35. They are estimates, not promises. Openings include jobs that open up when people retire or change occupation, not just new jobs.

What the work involves

Study the origin, development, and behavior of human beings. May study the way of life, language, or physical characteristics of people in various parts of the world. May engage in systematic recovery and examination of material evidence, such as tools or pottery remaining from past human cultures, in order to determine the history, customs, and living habits of earlier civilizations.

Main tasks

• Collect information and make judgments through observation, interviews, and review of documents.
• Teach or mentor undergraduate and graduate students in anthropology or archeology.
• Write about and present research findings for a variety of specialized and general audiences.
• Plan and direct research to characterize and compare the economic, demographic, health care, social, political, linguistic, and religious institutions of distinct cultural groups, communities, and organizations.
• Create data records for use in describing and analyzing social patterns and processes, using photography, videography, and audio recordings.
• Train others in the application of ethnographic research methods to solve problems in organizational effectiveness, communications, technology development, policy making, and program planning.
• Identify culturally specific beliefs and practices affecting health status and access to services for distinct populations and communities, in collaboration with medical and public health officials.
• Apply traditional ecological knowledge and assessments of culturally distinctive land and resource management institutions to assist in the resolution of conflicts over habitat protection and resource enhancement.

Description and tasks from the O*NET® 31.0 Database.

Getting in

Typical education to enter (BLS)

Master's degree

O*NET Job Zone 5

Extensive preparation

Most of these occupations require graduate school. For example, they may require a master's degree, and some require a Ph.D., M.D., or J.D. (law degree).

Fields of study that lead here

From the federal CIP–SOC crosswalk, which links 15 programmes to this occupation. A link means the programme prepares people for this kind of work. It doesn't mean the programme is required, or that it's the only route.

Related careers

Related occupations from the O*NET database, in its order.

• Historians

  $76,750 median · +3% projected

• Sociologists

  $106,030 median · +3.8% projected

• Anthropology and Archeology Teachers, Postsecondary

  $99,650 median · +2.6% projected

• Geographers

  $102,040 median · -2.1% projected

• Area, Ethnic, and Cultural Studies Teachers, Postsecondary

  $85,020 median · +2.7% projected

• History Teachers, Postsecondary

  $83,820 median · 0% projected