Best degree programs for Archivists, ranked by enrollment
9 college programs and 443 schools train Archivists. Compare graduates per year, cost and pay, $64,550 median wage, 7,970 U.S. jobs. Federal data.
9 college programs at 443 schools train archivists, graduating 5,875 people a year (IPEDS completions). The largest is Art History, Criticism and Conservation. The job pays a median of $64,550 (BLS OEWS May 2025).
About archivists
Appraise, edit, and direct safekeeping of permanent records and historically valuable documents. Participate in research activities based on archival materials.
An archivist is an information professional who assesses, collects, organizes, preserves, maintains control over, and provides access to records and archives determined to have long-term value. The records that are maintained by an archivist can consist of a variety of forms, including but not limited to letters, diaries, logs, other personal documents, government documents, sound or picture recordings, digital files, or other physical objects.
Read more on Wikipedia →Fields of study that lead to this job
Grouped at the 4-digit CIP level, the tier our program pages are built on. Numbers are graduates per year.
9 degree programs that lead to this job
Ranked by graduates per year (IPEDS completions). Graduate earnings and debt are College Scorecard figures for people who finished the program, reported at the 4-digit CIP level, so specializations within one field share a figure. That is a different measurement from the occupation-wide wages further down this page.
| # | Program | Graduates / yr | Share of pipeline | Schools | Grad earnings (1 yr) | Median debt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CIP 50.0703 | 3,195 | 54.4% | 356 | $24,447 | $25,294 |
| 2 | CIP 54.0105 | 892 | 15.2% | 51 | $31,217 | $24,000 |
| 3 | CIP 30.1401 | 889 | 15.1% | 77 | — | $21,295 |
| 4 | CIP 30.1201 | 355 | 6.0% | 44 | $35,326 | $22,812 |
| 5 | CIP 25.0103 | 324 | 5.5% | 13 | $29,163 | $30,154 |
| 6 | CIP 30.5202 | 133 | 2.3% | 12 | — | — |
| 7 | CIP 30.1202 | 59 | 1.0% | 20 | $35,326 | $22,812 |
| 8 | CIP 30.1299 | 18 | 0.3% | 5 | $35,326 | $22,812 |
| 9 | CIP 30.5201 | 10 | 0.2% | 2 | — | — |
Top 50 schools by graduates into this job
Counting every feeder program a school offers, not just its largest one.
What archivists earn
What people already working in this job earn (BLS OEWS May 2025). Not graduate earnings.
Top-paying states
Top-paying metro areas
Job outlook
Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, 2024 to 2034.
Where the jobs are, state by state
Pick a state for in-state pay, the schools there, and the programs they run.
| State | Median pay | Jobs | Concentration | Schools | Graduates / yr |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New York | $73,860 | 960 | 1.93× | 54 | 946 |
| Idaholimited | $58,370 | 30 | 0.68× | 2 | 738 |
| California | $70,530 | 1,160 | 1.25× | 34 | 506 |
| Massachusetts | $78,180 | 270 | 1.42× | 20 | 418 |
| Texas | $50,160 | 490 | 0.69× | 19 | 242 |
| Pennsylvania | $60,690 | 360 | 1.15× | 31 | 236 |
| Ohio | $58,790 | 150 | 0.52× | 22 | 193 |
| Maryland | $76,440 | 660 | 4.67× | 5 | 143 |
| Louisianamoderate | $59,070 | 50 | 0.48× | 4 | 137 |
| Florida | $52,100 | 100 | 0.20× | 11 | 127 |
| Illinois | $59,340 | 200 | 0.64× | 15 | 127 |
| Georgia | $59,010 | 150 | 0.60× | 13 | 123 |
| District of Columbiamoderate | $93,040 | 200 | 5.54× | 4 | 120 |
| North Carolina | $55,370 | 130 | 0.51× | 11 | 120 |
| Missouri | $60,020 | 150 | 0.97× | 9 | 110 |
| Indiana | $54,220 | 70 | 0.46× | 12 | 98 |
| Michigan | $63,890 | 160 | 0.71× | 15 | 95 |
| Washington | $76,490 | 640 | 3.52× | 9 | 89 |
| Oklahomamoderate | $51,940 | 80 | 0.89× | 4 | 88 |
| Iowa | $59,010 | 40 | 0.53× | 6 | 80 |
| Minnesota | $65,740 | 90 | 0.61× | 12 | 80 |
| New Jersey | $67,900 | 70 | 0.33× | 7 | 75 |
| Wisconsinmoderate | $59,400 | 220 | 1.47× | 4 | 75 |
| South Carolina | $52,810 | 60 | 0.49× | 7 | 66 |
| Utah | $56,660 | 80 | 0.95× | 6 | 65 |
| Oregon | $61,880 | 70 | 0.73× | 5 | 64 |
| Kentucky | $48,810 | 40 | 0.40× | 6 | 58 |
| Colorado | $59,210 | 70 | 0.48× | 14 | 57 |
| Connecticut | $79,790 | 160 | 1.89× | 9 | 57 |
| Tennessee | $53,210 | 110 | 0.67× | 9 | 45 |
| Rhode Island | $76,990 | 40 | 1.51× | 6 | 38 |
| Delawarelimited | $53,890 | 50 | 1.97× | 1 | 36 |
| Kansasmoderate | $49,200 | 30 | 0.43× | 4 | 30 |
| Alabamamoderate | $57,860 | 100 | 0.96× | 3 | 27 |
| Arizonamoderate | $47,010 | — | — | 3 | 25 |
| Arkansaslimited | $58,560 | 40 | 0.56× | 1 | 11 |
| New Hampshirelimited | $61,410 | 50 | 1.43× | 1 | 11 |
| Mainemoderate | $56,260 | 60 | 1.81× | 3 | 9 |
Skills and tools
From O*NET, the U.S. Department of Labor's occupational database. Importance is a 1 to 5 scale.
What they do day to day
- Organize archival records and develop classification systems to facilitate access to archival materials.
- Provide reference services and assistance for users needing archival materials.
- Prepare archival records, such as document descriptions, to allow easy access to information.
- Create and maintain accessible, retrievable computer archives and databases, incorporating current advances in electronic information storage technology.
- Establish and administer policy guidelines concerning public access and use of materials.
- Direct activities of workers who assist in arranging, cataloguing, exhibiting, and maintaining collections of valuable materials.
- Preserve records, documents, and objects, copying records to film, videotape, audiotape, disk, or computer formats as necessary.
- Research and record the origins and historical significance of archival materials.
Skills
- Reading Comprehension4.1
- Active Listening3.9
- Writing3.9
- Speaking3.5
- Active Learning3.4
- Critical Thinking3.4
- Monitoring3.0
- Learning Strategies2.9
Knowledge areas
- History and Archeology4.3
- English Language4.0
- Customer and Personal Service3.9
- Computers and Electronics3.8
- Administration and Management3.7
- Administrative3.5
Abilities
- Category Flexibility4.0
- Written Comprehension4.0
- Near Vision3.9
- Oral Expression3.9
- Information Ordering3.9
- Written Expression3.9
Core activities
- Documenting/Recording Information4.7
- Working with Computers4.5
- Getting Information4.4
- Processing Information4.4
- Updating and Using Relevant Knowledge4.3
- Identifying Objects, Actions, and Events4.2
Tools and technology
hotmarks an O*NET hot technologyHow to get in
How to become a Archivist
Job zone 5 of 5 · SVP 8.0 and above- Typical entry education
- Master's degree
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).
Extensive skill, knowledge, and experience are needed for these occupations. Many require more than five years of experience. For example, surgeons must complete four years of college and an additional five to seven years of specialized medical training to be able to do their job.
Employees may need some on-the-job training, but most of these occupations assume that the person will already have the required skills, knowledge, work-related experience, and/or training.
Every major mapped to this job
The official federal mapping behind the rankings above.
All 10 majors mapped to Archivists9 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
- 25.0103Archives/Archival Administration
- 30.1201Historic Preservation and Conservation, General
- 30.1202Cultural Resource Management and Policy Analysis
- 30.1299Historic Preservation and Conservation, Other
- 30.1401Museology/Museum Studies
- 30.5201Digital Humanities and Textual Studies, General
- 30.5202Digital Humanities
- 30.5203Textual Studies(no graduates reported)
- 50.0703Art History, Criticism and Conservation
- 54.0105Public/Applied History
Related careers
Jobs O*NET identifies as close to this one, with their own pay and outlook.
Common questions
What degree do you need to become an Archivist?+
Master'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 3,195 degrees in 2024-25, 54.4% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.
Which college majors lead to becoming an Archivist?+
The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 9 programs to this occupation. The largest are Fine and Studio Arts, History, Museology/Museum Studies, Historic Preservation and Conservation, plus 2 more. Together they graduate about 5,875 people a year.
How much do archivists earn?+
The median is $64,550 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). The middle range runs from $39,970 at the 10th percentile to $110,550 at the 90th. 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 archivists growing?+
BLS projects a +3.8% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, about as fast as average, with roughly 1,100 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.
How many schools offer programs for this career?+
443 institutions reported graduates from at least one of the 9 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 archivists work under?+
Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Archivist, Registrar, Records Manager, State Archivist among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 25-4011.
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 2025Wages, employment counts, location quotients and metro breakdowns.
BLS Employment Projections
2024–34Projected 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 cohortsMedian graduate earnings one year after completion, and median debt.
Census Post-Secondary Employment Outcomes
latest availableGraduate earnings 1/5/10 years out, where the state participates.
NCES CIP 2020 and the CIP-to-SOC 2018 crosswalk
CIP 2020 / SOC 2018Which college programs officially lead to this occupation.
O*NET Database 30.3
30.3Tasks, 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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