Occupation salary profile

Historians

SOC 19-3093 BLS OEWS May 2025 H-1B LCAs, last 12 months

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and institutional records, newspapers and other periodicals, photographs, interviews, films, electronic media, and unpublished manuscripts, such as personal diaries and letters.

National median · BLS
$76,750
▲ +3.65% YoY
H-1B sponsor median
$73,000
▼ -0.62% YoY · 21 LCAs
Average salary · BLS
$81,240
Mean annual wage
U.S. employment
3,450
Jobs (BLS)
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Enter your pay and a location to see where you stand against BLS and H-1B pay, your estimated take-home pay, and your purchasing power.

Pay range for Historians

Annual base pay at each percentile. BLS covers all U.S. workers in this occupation; H-1B covers 21 certified Labor Condition Applications filed by sponsoring employers in the last 12 months.

Percentile All U.S. workers (BLS) H-1B sponsored
10th — entry pay$42,730$55,200
25th$57,290$60,500
Median (50th)$76,750$73,000
75th$99,990$87,964
90th — top pay$131,810$93,417
H-1B sponsors pay a median of $73,000 for Historians — 4.9% below the BLS national median of $76,750.

Hourly ⇄ annual pay

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Based on hrs/week × weeks/year = 2,080 hrs
Projections 2025–2035

Job outlook for Historians

BLS projects employment of historians to grow 3% from 2025 to 2035, slower than the 3.5% average for all occupations. About 300 openings are projected each year, on average, from new jobs and from replacing workers who retire or move to other occupations.

Jobs 2025 → 2035
3,800 → 3,900
+100 jobs
Projected change
+3%
All occupations: +3.5%
Openings per year
300
Average, 2025–2035
Typical entry education
Master's degree
No related experience required
Self-employed
5.5% of workers (2025)
Preparation needed (O*NET Job Zone 5)
Extensive Preparation Needed. 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).
Fastest-growing jobs → Best-paying jobs that need a master's degree →

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections 2025–2035 · BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook →

H-1B sponsored pay

Pay by H-1B wage level

Employers assign every H-1B filing a Department of Labor prevailing-wage level, from Level I (entry) to Level IV (fully competent). Pay rises steeply with level.

H-1B median $73,000
Change vs prior year -0.62%
After inflation (CPI-U) -3.64%
Skills & tools

Skills needed for Historians

How important each skill and knowledge area is for this job, rated by O*NET on a 1–5 scale from surveys of workers and occupational analysts.

Top skills
  • Reading Comprehension4.8
  • Critical Thinking4.1
  • Writing4.1
  • Active Learning4.0
  • Active Listening4.0
  • Speaking4.0
  • Complex Problem Solving3.4
  • Learning Strategies3.3
  • Instructing3.1
  • Judgment and Decision Making3.1
Top knowledge areas
  • History and Archeology4.6
  • English Language4.1
  • Sociology and Anthropology3.6
  • Geography3.5
  • Administrative3.5
  • Education and Training3.3
  • Communications and Media3.0
  • Fine Arts2.9
Software and technology used
Adobe AcrobatESRI ArcGIS softwareMicrosoft ExcelMicrosoft Office softwareMicrosoft PowerPointMicrosoft WordAdobe InDesignAdobe PhotoshopExtensible markup language XMLIBM SPSS StatisticsMicrosoft AccessMicrosoft Active Server Pages ASPMicrosoft SharePointStructured query language SQLAdobe DreamweaverArchival databasesArchiveGridArchives Wiki

Highlighted = in demand: frequently listed in employer job postings for this occupation (O*NET).

Source: O*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA.

About the job

What historians do

  • 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.
Also called
Collections SpecialistHistorianHistorical InterpreterResearcherCounty HistorianHistoric Architectural Resources CuratorHistoric InterpreterHistoric Preservation CoordinatorHistoric Sites RegistrarResearch Historian
More job titles for this occupation (20)
Architectural HistorianArt HistorianDance HistorianDramatic Arts HistorianField Court ResearcherFilm HistorianGenealogistGenealogist ResearcherHealth HistorianHistorian DeveloperHistoric Preservation SpecialistHistoric PreservationistHistoriographerMedical HistorianMedication HistorianMusic HistorianOral HistorianProcess Information Historian (PI Historian)ProtohistorianResearch Associate

Source: O*NET 31.0 (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0). These are general job titles, not H-1B filings; for titles employers actually filed, see “Job titles” above.