Jobs with a history degree: Career paths and requirements
If you're researching jobs with a history degree, start with a number that surprises most people: the professional "historian" occupation held only about 3,400 jobs nationwide in 2024, according to the BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook. Compare that to the roughly 1.29 million workers who held a history degree in 2023 and earned a median $70,000 a year, matching the median across all fields, per BLS Field of Degree: History. The historian occupation is tiny relative to the number of people who studied history. BLS data shows those degree holders scattered across law, teaching, management, and dozens of other fields, though the data doesn't follow any single graduate's career from graduation to their current job.
That $70,000 figure needs one caveat before it's useful for planning your own path. It covers workers with a history degree across occupations and career stages, not a starting salary and not a single job title. The same BLS table shows that 50% of history-degree holders have an advanced degree, compared with 38% across all fields, so a meaningful chunk of that median reflects graduate school stacked on top of the bachelor's, not the bachelor's degree working alone.
This article breaks down which occupations history-degree holders actually enter, which of those a bachelor's alone can realistically support, which require a license or graduate degree, what the historian job specifically requires, and how to translate research and writing skills into a resume. It's built for students weighing the major, recent graduates job hunting, and career changers who already have a history background and want to know what to do with it.
Where history majors actually work
BLS tracks the occupations history-degree holders land in, and the spread is wide. Among workers with a history degree, 18% work in management occupations, 18% in educational instruction and library occupations, 10% in legal occupations, 10% in business and financial operations, 7% in sales, and 37% in everything else, according to BLS Field of Degree: History (percentages may not total exactly 100 due to rounding).
The specific occupations employing the largest share of history-degree holders, in order, are:
- Lawyers (9% of history-degree holders)
- Elementary school teachers (5%)
- Managers, all other (5%)
- Secondary school teachers (4%)
- Health specialties teachers, postsecondary (3%)
- Education administrators, K-12 (2%)
- Chief executives (2%)
- Management analysts (2%)
- First-line supervisors of retail sales workers (1%)
- Physicians, all other (1%)
These are the top-employing occupations in BLS's 2023 field-of-degree table, and the list mixes roles that require very different amounts of extra schooling. That's where readers tend to misread it. Ninety-one percent of history-degree holders working as lawyers held an advanced degree, a sign of years of law school stacked on top of the bachelor's, not an outcome the undergraduate degree produced on its own.
Treat this list as a map of where history majors eventually land, not a menu of jobs open right after graduation. Use it to find which occupational cluster interests you, then dig into what that specific occupation actually requires.
History major career options: sorting jobs by entry point
BLS pairs each of those top occupations with its typical entry-level education, the share of workers holding an advanced degree, and projected growth through 2034. The entry-level education field describes the credential most current workers in that occupation hold. It doesn't guarantee a new graduate can walk straight into the role.
Occupation type Example titles Typical entry credential Common gap to close What to verify Bachelor's-supported, often after entry-level experience Management analyst, general manager Bachelor's degree Relevant work experience or a specific industry background Current job postings for the experience employers actually expect Requires a state license Elementary or secondary teacher Bachelor's degree plus state teaching license Teacher-preparation coursework and student teaching Your state department of education's licensure rules Requires graduate or professional school Lawyer, postsecondary health specialties teacher, K-12 education administrator Doctoral, professional, or master's degree Law school, a doctoral program, or a master's program Admission requirements at accredited programs Senior role reached through experience Chief executive Bachelor's degree (typical, per BLS) Years of management experience Whether the posting is a true entry point or a senior hire
Management analysts (9% projected growth, 36% hold an advanced degree) and "managers, all other" (4% projected growth, 21% hold an advanced degree) both list a bachelor's as the typical entry credential, according to BLS Field of Degree: History. That doesn't mean a new graduate is equally competitive for every posting in these categories. Check current job listings for the experience level employers are actually asking for before assuming the bachelor's classification is enough on its own.
For a first job out of school, search titles that history coursework maps onto directly: research assistant, program coordinator, legal assistant or paralegal, admissions representative, fundraising assistant, or communications assistant. None of these appear by name in the BLS field-of-degree table, but they draw on the same research, writing, and organizational skills a history degree builds. They're worth searching for on current job boards as possible entry points while you build toward the occupations BLS tracks.
Elementary and secondary school teachers, both listing a bachelor's degree as typical entry education and both projected to decline 2% through 2034, are among the largest employers of history-degree holders. Public K-12 teaching in most states also requires a state teaching license in addition to the bachelor's, and the path to that license, including approved coursework and student teaching, varies by state and can differ for public, private, and charter schools. Verify current licensure requirements with your state's department of education before applying to a teacher-prep program or a district job.
Lawyers need a doctoral or professional degree as their typical entry-level education, and as noted above, 91% of history-degree holders working as lawyers hold an advanced degree. Postsecondary health specialties teachers also typically need a doctoral or professional degree (74% of workers in that occupation hold an advanced degree, with 17% projected growth), and K-12 education administrators typically need a master's degree (56% hold an advanced degree, with growth projected to decline 2%). These occupations generally sit beyond what a history bachelor's alone can reach.
Chief executives list a bachelor's degree as typical entry-level education, with 32% of workers in the occupation holding an advanced degree and 4% projected growth. That listing describes the credential many chief executives eventually hold, not an entry-level hiring path. Don't read the table as evidence that chief executive is a job a new graduate applies for directly.
Pick one target occupation from this table, check it against a handful of current job postings, and name the specific gap between where you are and where that job starts: a license, a graduate degree, or years of relevant experience.
The historian track: government, museums, and graduate education
If the job title you actually want is "historian," the picture looks different from the broad occupational data above. Historians typically need at least a master's degree to enter the occupation, and some employers expect a Ph.D. Candidates with only a bachelor's degree in history may qualify for some entry-level positions at museums, historical associations, or other small organizations, according to the BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook.
Government dominates this field as an employer. Federal government agencies, excluding the postal service, employ 24% of historians; local government, excluding education and hospitals, employs 22%; professional, scientific, and technical services employs 18%; and state government, excluding education and hospitals, employs 15%, per the same BLS source. Historians also work in museums, archives, historical societies, and research organizations, according to BLS. Because government and public-history settings are the most common workplaces BLS identifies, they're reasonable places to start a search, though it's still worth reviewing current listings in your area rather than assuming any one sector is actively hiring.
The job market here is tight. Employment of historians is projected to grow just 2% from 2024 to 2034, slower than average, with about 300 openings projected per year. Most of those openings come from workers retiring or leaving the field rather than new positions being created, according to BLS. That projection describes the national labor market, not a guaranteed opening in your area.
Pay varies sharply by employer. The median annual wage for historians overall was $74,050 in May 2024, with the lowest 10% earning less than $38,630 and the highest 10% earning more than $128,500. By industry, federal government historians earned a median of $114,650, compared with $75,070 in professional, scientific, and technical services, $59,710 in state government, and $51,820 in local government, per BLS. These are industry medians for people already working as historians, not likely starting pay for someone entering the field.
If this track interests you, look for museum, archive, or research experience while you're still an undergraduate. Internships, volunteer archival work, or a historical society project can strengthen graduate applications and entry-level postings alike. Research accredited master's or Ph.D. programs in history or public history, and check with each program directly on its accreditation status and outcomes. Monitor federal listings on USAJobs and your state government's job board to gauge current demand before committing to graduate school.
Turning history skills into a job search
Historians research, analyze, interpret, and write about the past by studying historical documents and sources, and they often communicate their findings to the public through educational programs and presentations, according to BLS. That same skill set applies well beyond the historian job title, and it pays to spell it out on a resume rather than listing "history degree" as a stand-alone line.
A few concrete translations:
- Archival research to analyst roles. A senior thesis built on primary-source archives can become a resume line like "conducted independent research using primary-source materials, synthesized findings into a written analysis." This kind of phrasing can help demonstrate the research and synthesis skills that may appear in postings for research assistant, paralegal, or policy analyst roles.
- Public interpretation to museum or teaching roles. Experience presenting historical material to an audience, whether that's leading a museum tour, TA-ing a course, or giving a public talk, can become "developed and delivered educational content to public audiences." This can demonstrate audience communication skills when a posting emphasizes education, outreach, or public programming.
- Evidence-based writing to legal and communications roles. The long-form, citation-supported writing at the core of a history thesis can serve as evidence of "strong written communication supported by research" when a posting for a legal assistant, grant writer, or communications role asks for that skill.
Rewrite one resume bullet per target occupation using this pattern: a specific task, a specific skill, a specific document or output. That gives an employer more evidence of what you can actually do than listing the degree alone and hoping they connect the dots.
What to do next
Pick one occupation from the table above, whether that's management analyst, teacher, historian, or something else that fits your interests. Pull three to five current job postings for that title, or your state's teacher licensure page if K-12 teaching is the goal, and line up their stated requirements against what you already have.
Name the exact gap in plain terms: a license, a graduate degree, a certification, or a specific number of years of relevant experience. Then research one accredited program, licensure pathway, or entry-level role that closes that specific gap, and start there instead of researching graduate programs in general or waiting for the right posting to appear.
