Historian: what the job is, what it pays, and how to get hired.
The work, the skills that matter, the tools in demand and the pay range, from U.S. government data, plus every TryHired page for the role.
10% of historians earn less than this amount.
- Annual
- $42,730
- Hourly
- n/a
- Source
- BLS May 2025
25% of historians earn less than this amount.
- Annual
- $57,290
- Hourly
- n/a
- Source
- BLS May 2025
Half of historians earn more than this and half earn less.
- Annual
- $76,750
- Hourly
- $36.90
- Source
- BLS May 2025
75% of historians earn less than this amount.
- Annual
- $99,990
- Hourly
- n/a
- Source
- BLS May 2025
90% of historians earn less than this amount.
- Annual
- $131,810
- Hourly
- n/a
- Source
- BLS May 2025
Historians research, analyze, record, and interpret the past as recorded in sources, such as government and institutional records, newspapers and other periodicals, photographs, interviews, films, electronic media, and unpublished manuscripts, such as personal diaries and letters. The median pay is $76,750 a year ($36.90 an hour) (BLS, May 2025). The most commonly reported education requirement is a master's degree (64% of workers surveyed by O*NET).
- Median pay
- $76,750
- BLS May 2025
- Employed in the U.S.
- 3,450
- BLS May 2025
- Preparation
- Job Zone 5 of 5
- extensive preparation
- Most common education
- Master's Degree
- 64% of workers
Every page for Historians
What historians do day to day
Data Core tasks rated most important by workers in the role (O*NET).
- Gather historical data from sources such as archives, court records, diaries, news files, and photographs, as well as from books, pamphlets, and periodicals.
- Organize data, and analyze and interpret its authenticity and relative significance.
- Prepare publications and exhibits, or review those prepared by others, to ensure their historical accuracy.
- Organize information for publication and for other means of dissemination, such as via storage media or the Internet.
- Conduct historical research as a basis for the identification, conservation, and reconstruction of historic places and materials.
- Conserve and preserve manuscripts, records, and other artifacts.
- Present historical accounts in terms of individuals or social, ethnic, political, economic, or geographic groupings.
- Research the history of a particular country or region, or of a specific time period.
Ranked by importance to the job
Data O*NET importance ratings. The first three are core.
Knowledge areas: History and Archeology, English Language, Sociology and Anthropology, Geography, Administrative, Education and Training.
Software historians use
Data Examples reported for the role; employer demand flags from O*NET.
- ESRI ArcGIS softwareGeographic information systemIn demand
- Adobe InDesignDesktop publishing softwareHot technology
- Adobe PhotoshopGraphics or photo imaging softwareHot technology
- Extensible markup language XMLEnterprise application integration softwareHot technology
- IBM SPSS StatisticsAnalytical or scientific softwareHot technology
- Adobe DreamweaverWeb page creation and editing software
- Archival databasesInformation retrieval or search software
- ArchiveGridInformation retrieval or search software
- Archives WikiInformation retrieval or search software
- Audio editing softwareMusic or sound editing software
- Database management systemsData base management system software
- Digital image collectionsInformation retrieval or search software
Also called: Collections Specialist, County Historian, Historic Architectural Resources Curator, Historic Interpreter, Historic Preservation Coordinator.
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How this page is built
Tasks, skills, tools, education and related roles come from O*NET 31.0. Pay and employment come from the BLS OEWS May 2025 national estimates. The skill-match score is our calculation: Skill match is the correlation between the two occupations' skill profiles: for each of 35 O*NET skills (10 essential, 25 transferable) we multiply importance by level, subtract the average across all occupations, and correlate the two profiles. 100 means identical shape; 0 or below means unrelated. Only occupations that O*NET itself lists as related are compared.
- How a specific employer defines the job.
- Pay for self-employed workers (OEWS covers employees).
- Your own chances: data describes the occupation, not you.
- O*NET 31.0 Database, U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under the CC BY 4.0 license. TryHired selected, ranked and combined the data; O*NET is not responsible for these pages.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 estimates (public domain).