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What Can You Do With an Anthropology Degree? Jobs (2026)
Key takeaway: An anthropology degree leads to a handful of small, specific occupations and one very large one. Anthropologists and archeologists earn a median annual wage of $70,770 but the occupation holds only 8,800 jobs with about 800 openings a year. Archivists ($64,550), curators ($63,420), museum technicians and conservators ($51,440), and social science research assistants ($61,990) are the adjacent research and collections roles. Market research analysts and marketing specialists, at $78,760 and about 87,200 openings a year, is where the largest number of anthropology graduates actually earn a living using the method rather than the title (Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2025 OEWS; BLS Employment Projections, 2024-2034).
Anthropology trains you to study people in their own setting and report what you found without distorting it. That method is portable, which is both the good news and the confusing part: the degree rarely maps to a job title with the same name. Reading these occupations honestly means reading the wage next to the opening count.
Jobs you can get with an anthropology degree
| Occupation | Median annual wage | Annual openings |
|---|---|---|
| Anthropology and archeology teachers, postsecondary | $99,650 | 500 |
| Market research analysts and marketing specialists | $78,760 | 87,200 |
| Anthropologists and archeologists | $70,770 | 800 |
| Archivists | $64,550 | 1,100 |
| Curators | $63,420 | 1,800 |
| Social science research assistants | $61,990 | 5,200 |
| Museum technicians and conservators | $51,440 | 1,900 |
View the data behind this chart
| Occupation | Avg. annual openings |
|---|---|
| Market Research Analysts and Marketing Specialists | 87,200/yr |
| Social Science Research Assistants | 5,200/yr |
| Museum Technicians and Conservators | 1,900/yr |
| Curators | 1,800/yr |
| Archivists | 1,100/yr |
| Anthropologists and Archeologists | 800/yr |
| Anthropology and Archeology Teachers, Postsecondary | 500/yr |
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2025 OEWS national medians; annual openings from BLS Employment Projections, 2024-2034. Median means half of workers in the occupation earned more and half earned less.
Anthropologist and archeologist. This is the occupation the degree names. Anthropologists study contemporary communities, cultures, and human variation; archeologists recover and analyze the material record. Employers include consulting firms doing regulatory compliance work, federal and state agencies such as land management and transportation departments, tribal historic preservation offices, museums, and research organizations. The national median annual wage was $70,770; the 10th percentile was $49,050 and the 90th was $108,060 (Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2025 OEWS). Employment was 8,800 in 2024, projected to grow 3.7 percent through 2034, with about 800 openings per year (BLS Employment Projections, 2024-2034). Most positions expect a master’s; supervisory archaeology roles on federally regulated projects also expect documented supervised field experience.
Market research analyst and marketing specialist. The largest destination by a wide margin. These analysts study how people choose, what they say they want, and what they actually do, using surveys, interviews, observation, and behavioral data. The training overlaps directly with ethnographic methods and research design, which is why anthropology graduates land here under titles including user researcher, design researcher, insights analyst, and consumer researcher. The national median annual wage was $78,760; the 10th percentile was $43,390 and the 90th was $155,480 (Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2025 OEWS). Employment was 941,700 in 2024, projected to grow 6.7 percent through 2034, with about 87,200 openings per year (BLS Employment Projections, 2024-2034). Entry usually turns on a portfolio of studies rather than the major.
Social science research assistant. The standard research entry point for a bachelor’s graduate. The work is recruiting participants, running instruments, cleaning and coding data, managing records, and drafting sections of reports, in universities, research institutes, health systems, and government. The national median annual wage was $61,990; the 10th percentile was $38,090 and the 90th was $102,070; employment was 40,600 in 2024, projected to grow 4.4 percent, with about 5,200 openings per year (Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2025 OEWS; BLS Employment Projections, 2024-2034). It is a genuine on-ramp: many people use two or three years here to decide whether graduate school is worth it.
Curator. Curators build and interpret collections, develop exhibitions, and set acquisition policy at museums, historical societies, universities, and government sites. The national median annual wage was $63,420; the 10th percentile was $40,470 and the 90th was $107,140; employment was 15,100, projected to grow 7.0 percent through 2034, the fastest rate among these occupations, with about 1,800 openings per year (Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2025 OEWS; BLS Employment Projections, 2024-2034). A master’s is the usual expectation, and prior collections experience is close to mandatory.
Archivist. Archivists appraise, arrange, describe, and preserve records, increasingly digital ones. Anthropology graduates enter this work through collections and documentation experience, frequently adding a library science master’s, which is the field’s standard credential. The national median annual wage was $64,550; the 10th percentile was $39,970 and the 90th was $110,550; employment was 9,300, projected to grow 3.8 percent, with about 1,100 openings per year (Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2025 OEWS; BLS Employment Projections, 2024-2034).
Museum technician and conservator. Technicians prepare, handle, catalog, and install objects; conservators treat and stabilize them. This is the most common hands-on entry into museum work, and it pays the least of the occupations here: a national median annual wage of $51,440; the 10th percentile was $33,780 and the 90th was $87,530 on 15,700 jobs with about 1,900 openings per year (Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2025 OEWS; BLS Employment Projections, 2024-2034). Conservation specifically requires graduate training in a conservation program, which is a different degree from anthropology.
Anthropology and archeology teacher, postsecondary. The highest median in the group at $99,650; the 10th percentile was $57,840 and the 90th was $171,310 (Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2025 OEWS). It is also the narrowest door: 6,500 jobs, 2.7 percent projected growth, and about 500 openings per year (BLS Employment Projections, 2024-2034). A doctorate is the standard credential, the search process is national, and adjunct and visiting positions are not the same job as a tenure-track post.
What the degree level changes
Nothing in anthropology is licensed, so the question is which door each credential opens.
The online bachelor’s in anthropology opens research assistant work, archaeology field technician work if you have a field school, museum and collections entry roles, and applied research jobs where a portfolio beats a transcript. It does not open jobs titled anthropologist.
The online master’s in anthropology is the working credential. It is what applied, government, and consulting positions generally expect, and in archaeology it is the level at which the Secretary of the Interior’s professional qualification standards become reachable, provided you also have the documented field experience. The doctorate is for college teaching and independent academic research.
Common questions
What jobs can you get with an anthropology degree?
The associated occupations are anthropologist and archeologist, anthropology and archeology teacher (postsecondary), curator, archivist, museum technician and conservator, social science research assistant, and market research analyst. Common working titles include field technician, cultural resource specialist, user researcher, program evaluator, collections manager, and tribal historic preservation staff.
How much do anthropology majors make?
Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2025 OEWS national medians for the associated occupations run from $51,440 for museum technicians and conservators to $99,650 for postsecondary anthropology and archeology teachers, with anthropologists and archeologists at $70,770. Pay varies by employer, region, subfield, and whether you hold a graduate degree.
Do you need a master’s to be an anthropologist?
For most jobs that carry the title, yes. Applied, government, and consulting positions generally expect a master’s, and postsecondary teaching generally expects a doctorate. A bachelor’s is enough for technician, research assistant, and many applied research roles that do not use the title.
Which anthropology career has the most openings?
Market research analysts and marketing specialists, with about 87,200 openings per year, roughly a hundred times the openings in the anthropologist and archeologist occupation (BLS Employment Projections, 2024-2034). Social science research assistants come second at about 5,200 per year. The occupations with the field’s name on them are the smallest ones.
Is an anthropology degree worth it?
It is worth it if you use it to build a research portfolio and are willing to work under titles that do not say anthropology, or if you commit to the graduate training that the anthropologist title requires. It is a poor fit if you want a direct degree-to-job-title pipeline. The is an anthropology degree worth it page walks through the trade-offs.
Keep exploring
- Start at the anthropology program hub, then compare levels: online bachelor’s and online master’s.
- Walk through how to become an anthropologist, or weigh the trade-offs on is it worth it.
- Understand delivery on how online anthropology degrees work, and cost drivers on affordable programs.
- Find programs near you at the state index.
- Compare related fields: sociology, history, geography, library science, and forensic science.
Data verified: September 5, 2026. Salary, employment, and tuition figures on this page are sourced from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (OEWS May 2025; Employment Projections 2024–2034) and the U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard (2023 cohort). The source agency and data year are cited inline with every statistic.