Arizona·Educational Instruction and Library Occupations·SOC 25-4013

Best Museum Technician programs in Arizona, ranked by enrollment

Restore, maintain, or prepare objects in museum collections for storage, research, or exhibit. May work with specimens such as fossils, skeletal parts, or botanicals; or artifacts, textiles, or art.

2 schools in Arizona run programs that feed this job, graduating 15 people a year. The job pays a median of $46,650 in Arizona across about 90 jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025).

Also calledPreparatorConservatorObjects ConservatorPaintings ConservatorArt HandlerArt PreparatorArt ConservatorCeramic Restorer
Graduates / yr
15
in Arizona
Median pay · Arizona
$46,650
BLS OEWS May 2025
Jobs in state
90
people employed
Schools
2
with a feeder program
Avg graduation rate
34%
across those schools
Median net price
per year, IPEDS

Fields of study in Arizona that lead to this job

Grouped at the 4-digit CIP level. Numbers are graduates per year in this state.

3 programs in Arizona that lead to this job

Ranked by graduates per year in Arizona (IPEDS completions). Graduate earnings and debt are national College Scorecard figures reported at the 4-digit CIP level, so specializations within one field share a figure. Each program also links to its own Arizona page.

Degree programs that lead to this occupation, ranked by graduates per year
#ProgramGraduates / yrShare of pipelineSchoolsGrad earnings (1 yr)Median debt
1
CIP 50.0703In Arizona
12
80.0%
1$24,447$25,294
2
CIP 30.1401In Arizona
2
13.3%
1$21,295
3
CIP 54.0105In Arizona
1
6.7%
1$31,217$24,000

Top 2 schools in Arizona

Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 2 of the 2 schools in this state.

Schools ranked by graduates per year into this occupation
#SchoolGraduates / yrTop feeder programGrad earnings (1 yr)Grad rateNet priceAcceptance
1University of Arizona
Tucson, AZ Public · 2 feeder programs
14Art History, Criticism and Conservation$30,68368%86%
2Arizona State University Digital Immersion
Scottsdale, AZ Public · 1 feeder programs
1Public/Applied History$39,2830%67%

All 2 schools in Arizona

Every school in Arizona with a program that feeds this job, ordered by graduates per year. Earnings are shown for the ranked schools above; open a school profile for the rest.

All schools in Arizona that feed this occupation
SchoolCityControlGraduates / yrFeeder programs
University of ArizonaTucsonPublic142
Arizona State University Digital ImmersionScottsdalePublic11

What museum technicians and conservators earn in Arizona

What people already working in this job earn (BLS OEWS May 2025). Not graduate earnings.

Median annual in Arizona
$46,650
Mean annual
$49,650
Jobs in state
90
What the range looks like
10th pct$35,410Median$46,65090th pct$68,920
Versus the national median
-9.3%

U.S. median $51,440. Arizona pays below the national figure.

Job concentration
0.35×

1.00× means the state has its expected share of these jobs.

Metro areas in Arizona

Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ
$45,030median
50 jobs

Job outlook

Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, 2024 to 2034.

Projected growth 2024–34
+5.4%
Faster than average
Openings per year
1,900
new jobs plus replacements
Employment change
800
15,700 → 16,500
Typical entry education
Bachelor's degree

Growth and openings are national. The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not publish employment projections at state level, so these figures describe the occupation across the whole U.S., not this state alone.

How to get in

The full skills, tools, and day-to-day breakdown lives on the national Museum Technicians and Conservators page.

How to become a Museum Technician

Job zone 4 of 5 · SVP 7.0 to < 8.0
Typical entry education
Bachelor's degree

Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not.

A considerable amount of work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is needed for these occupations. For example, an accountant must complete four years of college and work for several years in accounting to be considered qualified.

Employees in these occupations usually need several years of work-related experience, on-the-job training, and/or vocational training.

Top skills

Active ListeningReading ComprehensionSpeakingCritical ThinkingWritingMonitoring

The same job in other states

Where else this occupation employs the most people, and what it pays there.

Related careers in Arizona

Every major mapped to this job

The official federal mapping behind the rankings above.

All 3 majors mapped to Museum Technicians and Conservators3 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
  • 30.1401Museology/Museum Studies
  • 50.0703Art History, Criticism and Conservation
  • 54.0105Public/Applied History

Common questions

Answers for people weighing museum technicians and conservators programs in Arizona.

What degree do you need to become a Museum Technician?+

Bachelor's degree is the typical entry-level education BLS reports for this occupation. The most common program people actually graduate from is Art History, Criticism and Conservation, which awarded 12 degrees in Arizona in 2024-25, 80.0% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.

Which college majors lead to becoming a Museum Technician?+

The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 3 programs to this occupation. The largest are Fine and Studio Arts, Museology/Museum Studies, History. Together they graduate about 15 people a year in Arizona.

How much do museum technicians and conservators earn in Arizona?+

The median is $46,650 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 9.3% below the U.S. median of $51,440. This is pay for people already working in the occupation, not the same thing as graduate earnings one year after finishing a degree.

Is demand for museum technicians and conservators growing?+

BLS projects a +5.4% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, faster than average, with roughly 1,900 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.

How many schools offer programs for this career in Arizona?+

2 institutions in Arizona reported graduates from at least one of the 3 programs that feed this occupation in IPEDS 2024-25. Rankings on this page use graduates per year, because the federal data publishes no enrollment count by program.

What other job titles do museum technicians and conservators work under?+

Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Preparator, Conservator, Objects Conservator, Paintings Conservator among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 25-4013.

Museum Technicians and Conservators in other statesNew YorkIdahoCaliforniaMassachusettsTexasPennsylvaniaOhioIllinois

About the data on this page

Rankings use IPEDS completions 2024–25, degrees awarded per year. That is the closest federal measure of how many people a program puts into a career, because no federal dataset publishes enrollment by program. Wages and employment come from BLS OEWS May 2025, growth and openings from BLS Employment Projections 2024-34, and which majors lead to which jobs from the NCES CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk. Occupation descriptions, tasks, skills and tools are O*NET 30.3 (CC BY 4.0, U.S. Department of Labor/ETA).

  • BLS Occupational Employment & Wage Statistics

    May 2025

    Wages, employment counts, location quotients and metro breakdowns.

  • BLS Employment Projections

    2024–34

    Projected growth, annual openings and typical entry-level education.

  • IPEDS Completions

    2024-25 (provisional)

    Graduates per year by program and institution — the ranking metric.

  • College Scorecard, Field of Study

    2020-21 cohorts

    Median graduate earnings one year after completion, and median debt.

  • Census Post-Secondary Employment Outcomes

    latest available

    Graduate earnings 1/5/10 years out, where the state participates.

  • NCES CIP 2020 and the CIP-to-SOC 2018 crosswalk

    CIP 2020 / SOC 2018

    Which college programs officially lead to this occupation.

  • O*NET Database 30.3

    30.3

    Tasks, skills, knowledge, tools, job zone and alternate job titles.

    Official source →CC BY 4.0, U.S. Department of Labor / ETA

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