Career
Curators
Build and care for a museum's collections.
Here's what you actually need to know.
The work
What people in this job do
- Plan and organize the acquisition, storage, and exhibition of collections and related materials, including the selection of exhibition themes and designs, and develop or install exhibit materials.
- Develop and maintain an institution's registration, cataloging, and basic record-keeping systems, using computer databases.
- Plan and conduct special research projects in area of interest or expertise.
- Provide information from the institution's holdings to other curators and to the public.
- Negotiate and authorize purchase, sale, exchange, or loan of collections.
The outlook
How the forecast changed this year
The deeper question
What kind of person does this path ask you to become?
What this work centers on
O*NET interest profile, scored 1–7.
The work
Do you want most of your days spent on information & systems, then persuasion & leadership?
Responsibility
Are you willing to be the one responsible for this?
“Plan and organize the acquisition, storage, and exhibition of collections and related materials, including the selection of exhibition themes and designs, and develop or install exhibit materials.”
Development
What would you need to build over the next 5–10 years?
Reading Comprehension, Speaking, Active Listening, Writing.
Trade-offs
What does it ask of you in exchange?
6 years of education after high school (master's degree), for a median of $63,420 a year and 1,600 openings nationally each year.
Paths in
Degrees that lead here
- HistorySee the degree →
- Fine and Studio ArtsSee the degree →
- Museology/Museum StudiesCIP 30.1401
- Digital Humanities and Textual Studies, GeneralCIP 30.5201
- Digital HumanitiesCIP 30.5202
- Textual StudiesCIP 30.5203
Paths across
Careers that use similar skills
- Archivists$64,550 · +3.4%
- Historians$76,750 · +3.0%
- Museum Technicians and Conservators$51,440 · +3.6%
- Librarians and Media Collections Specialists$68,270 · +2.6%
- Anthropology and Archeology Teachers, Postsecondary$99,650 · +2.6%
Ask anything about this career.
“Would this make sense if I don't want to sit at a desk all day?” Answers will come from the sources on this page, with citations. Coming soon.
Not sure this fits who you are? Start with Vocational Finder →
Sources
- BLS Employment Projections, 2025–35, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Retrieved 2026-10-01.
- BLS Employment Projections, 2024–34 (archived), U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Retrieved 2026-10-01.
- O*NET 31.0 Database (August 2026), National Center for O*NET Development / U.S. Department of Labor. Retrieved 2026-10-01.
- CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 Crosswalk, NCES and BLS. Retrieved 2026-10-01.