Pay, licensing and outlook figures below are mainly for the United States; "Around the world" shows how the job works elsewhere.
What the job actually is
A historian researches, analyses and explains the past from evidence (documents, objects, images, oral testimony), and then shares it in writing, in exhibits, in teaching or as advice. The BLS lists the core tasks as gathering data from archives, books and newspapers; judging whether sources are authentic and significant; preserving materials; advising on historical topics; engaging the public; and writing up findings.
Three common misconceptions:
- "Historians memorise dates." Dates are the easy part. The skill is judging evidence: who wrote this, why, what they left out, and what else would confirm or contradict it.
- "Historian means professor." Universities are one employer among several. The BLS's largest employers of historians are professional, scientific and technical services, such as consulting firms (24%), the federal government (20%), local government (19%) and state government (14%). College teachers are counted as a separate occupation, and their O*NET profile is different: History Teachers, Postsecondary is coded Social–Investigative, while Historians is coded Investigative–Conventional.
- "A history degree only leads to being a historian." Very few history graduates hold the job title "historian". Most use the training in law, teaching, government, journalism, business, museums and archives.
The path in
United States. The BLS says employers generally want at least a master's degree for historian jobs. That usually means a four-year bachelor's degree followed by a master's. A bachelor's degree can be enough for entry-level work at museums, historical associations and small organisations. Research jobs in the federal government and in universities may require a PhD, which can take many more years. There's no licence. Specialised master's programmes in public history (museums, historic sites, community history) and in archives or library science lead to many of the non-academic jobs.
Alternative routes. Plenty of people do serious historical work without the title: genealogists, local-history volunteers, documentary researchers, journalists. Volunteering at a historical society or museum is a common way in, and so is transcribing records for online archive projects.
Elsewhere. In the UK the academic path is broadly similar: a history degree, usually a master's, then a PhD for university posts. The Royal Historical Society is the main professional body. In Latin America and continental Europe, too, academic history runs through a licenciatura or bachelor's degree followed by graduate study, but the details vary a lot by country and by university. Check the history department at a university near you.
History is less about knowing what happened than about being able to show how you know.
A typical day
One plausible day for a historian working in a state historic preservation office:
| Time | What's happening |
|---|---|
| 8:30 | Email: a developer's consultant asks whether a 1920s warehouse is historically significant |
| 9:00 | Pull old maps, photographs and the building's permit history |
| 10:30 | Site visit: photograph the building and note what survives from the original |
| 12:30 | Lunch |
| 1:30 | Draft a written assessment: significant or not, and the evidence either way |
| 3:00 | Call with a community group gathering oral histories about the neighbourhood |
| 4:00 | Edit a colleague's report; check every citation |
| 4:45 | File the day's scans with proper catalogue information |
How it varies. A museum historian researches and writes exhibits and gives talks, sometimes on evenings or weekends. A university historian splits time between teaching, research, writing, committees and grant applications. A government historian writes official histories, answers policy questions or manages records. A consultant historian works on contracts, for example on legal cases, environmental reviews or company archives. The BLS says some historians travel for research and interviews, and most work regular full-time hours.
Where it can take you
O*NET's sample of reported titles includes research historian, county historian, historical interpreter, historic preservation coordinator, collections specialist and historic sites registrar.
| Area | Example roles |
|---|---|
| Museums and historic sites | Curator, interpreter, collections specialist, exhibit researcher |
| Archives and libraries | Archivist, records manager, digital collections specialist |
| Government | Agency historian, preservation officer, policy researcher |
| Education | Secondary teacher, university lecturer or professor |
| Publishing and media | Editor, documentary researcher, author, podcaster |
| Consulting | Litigation research, heritage assessments, corporate archives |
Adjacent careers the training opens include law, journalism, policy analysis, intelligence analysis, and any job that involves reading a lot, weighing sources and writing clearly. The American Historical Association publishes a guide, Careers for History Majors, with contributions from alumni working across these fields.
Who thrives, who struggles
Thrives: people who love detective work in documents, who read fast and carefully, who are happy alone with a box of papers for hours, and who can then turn what they found into clear writing for non-experts. Languages help a great deal, because sources are rarely all in one language.
Struggles: people who want quick answers or a fixed routine, who find writing painful, or who need a large, steady job market. People who dislike asking for funding also struggle, because a lot of history work depends on grants, donations or public budgets.
Money & outlook
- US median pay: $76,750 a year (May 2025, BLS). Half of historians earn more and half earn less.
- Projected growth: 3% from 2025 to 2035, which the BLS calls about as fast as average.
- But the field is tiny. There are only about 3,800 historian jobs in the US, with roughly 300 openings a year, most of them replacing people who leave. The BLS adds that growth depends largely on funding, because many employers rely on donations or public money.
Pay varies widely by employer and region, and academic and museum salaries outside the US follow very different scales.
Around the world
Everywhere, historians do the same core work: find sources, judge them and argue from the evidence. What changes is who employs them (universities, museums, archives, governments), how long the academic route takes and, in a few countries, whether the title or the job is regulated by law.
| Country | How you qualify | Who licenses / regulates | Pay in context | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States | Usually a master's; a PhD for research and university posts | No licence | Median $76,750 a year (BLS, May 2025) | Only about 3,800 jobs carry the title |
| United Kingdom | A history degree, usually a master's, then a PhD for university posts | No licence; the Royal Historical Society is the main professional body | Full-time medians: university teaching staff (all subjects) £53,159; archivists and curators £38,000; all full-time jobs £40,911 (ONS ASHE, year to April 2026, provisional) | Archive and museum work pays below the national full-time median |
| Germany | A PhD, then years of research posts before any professorship | No licence; early-career university contracts fall under a special federal law on fixed-term academic jobs (Wissenschaftszeitvertragsgesetz) | — | A reform bill, first debated in the Bundestag on 8 October 2026, would set minimum first contracts of three years before the doctorate and two years after it |
| Mexico | A licenciatura in history, often followed by a master's or doctorate | The education ministry (SEP) issues the cédula profesional for the degree; there's no historian's licence | History and archaeology graduates average MX$19,621 a month, against MX$17,795 for all graduates (IMCO Compara Carreras 2026, from INEGI survey data) | The national researchers' system (SNII), created in 1984, pays members a stipend that varies with their peer-reviewed level |
| Brazil | A degree in history, or a master's or doctorate in history from a programme recognised by CAPES | Since 2020, working as a historian requires registration with the labour authorities (Law 14.038/2020) | — | Congress overrode a presidential veto to pass the law; some legal commentators argue the registration rule is unconstitutional |
| India | A master's plus the National Eligibility Test (NET), or a PhD, for assistant professor posts | The University Grants Commission (UGC) sets the rules | Assistant professors start at pay Level 10, a basic ₹57,700 a month (UGC 2018 scales) | Reports conflict on whether a 2023 change made a PhD necessary for new appointments, so check the latest UGC notice |
| Japan | Museum curators (gakugeiin) earn a legal qualification by taking set university credits, at least 29 since 2012 | The Museum Act; the education ministry (MEXT) specifies the credits | — | The curator qualification comes from coursework, not an exam |
Moving abroad. There's rarely a licence to carry with you, so what travels is your degree, your languages and your published work. Brazil is the exception in this table: historian posts there require registration. In Japan, museum jobs usually ask for the curator credits. University posts are often advertised internationally. In this library's judgement, being able to read the sources in the local language counts for more than any certificate.
The honest downsides
- Very few jobs carry the title. With about 300 openings a year in the whole US, planning on "historian" as your only target is risky.
- The academic route is long and uncertain. Years of graduate study don't guarantee a permanent university post.
- Funding shapes your work. Budgets for museums, archives and the humanities rise and fall with politics and donors.
- Much of the work is slow. Cataloguing, checking citations and reading sources that turn out to be useless are a big part of the job.
Try it before you commit
- Transcribe a real historical record. The US National Archives' Citizen Archivist programme and the Zooniverse platform let volunteers tag and transcribe genuine documents.
- Research one building or street near you. Use old maps, newspapers and census records, and write 500 words. You'll learn the core method fast.
- Record an oral history. Interview an older relative about one specific year, then check one thing they said against another source.
- Volunteer at a local museum or historical society for a season.
- Read E. H. Carr's What Is History? If the arguments about evidence and bias excite you, that's a good sign.
The takeaway
Historians build evidence-based explanations of the past and share them through writing, exhibits, teaching and advice. They work for museums, governments and consultancies as often as for universities. The usual entry requirement is a master's degree, and a PhD for research posts. US pay is middling and growth is about average, but the field is very small (about 3,800 jobs). Most history graduates use their training in other careers, and that's the degree working as intended, not a failure.
Try this: pick one building you pass every day and find out three verifiable facts about who built it, when and why. Write down where each fact came from.
Sources & Further Reading
Sources
- US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook: Historians (duties, pay May 2025, projections 2025–35, employers, education, funding dependence).
- ONET OnLine: Historians, 19-3093.00 (interest code Investigative–Conventional; sample titles); History Teachers, Postsecondary, 25-1125.00 (Social–Investigative).
- American Historical Association, Careers for History Majors (2018; second edition 2026) and Careers for Students of History.
- US National Archives, Citizen Archivist programme.
- Around the world: ONS, Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings 2026 provisional, Table 14.7a (SOC 2311, 2472). Deutscher Bundestag, text archive, first reading of the bill on fixed-term contracts in academia, Drucksache 21/8281 (8 October 2026). IMCO, Compara Carreras 2026 (INEGI ENOE data, 2025–26). Sistema Nacional de Investigadoras e Investigadores (Mexico). Law 14.038 of 17 August 2020 (Brazil), with Senado Notícias and Dizer o Direito* commentary. UGC (Minimum Qualifications for Appointment of Teachers…) Regulations, 2018. Japan Museum Act (Act No. 285 of 1951, Japanese Law Translation) and university curator-course guidance (Tohoku Gakuin, Nagoya).
Go deeper
- 🌐 BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook: Historians
- 🌐 O*NET OnLine: Historians
- 🌐 American Historical Association: Careers for History Majors · 🌐 Royal Historical Society (UK)
- 📘 What Is History?, E. H. Carr (1961): short, famous lectures on how historians choose and use facts