Headline risk
3%
Very Low RiskHistorians
United States AI Work Index tracks this occupation on the shared structural baseline and then layers on local demand resilience, wages, and confidence.
Why This Score
Share of job tasks that overlap with current AI capabilities
Median annual wage
Projected employment change over 10 years
Typical preparation needed for this occupation
Occupation profile
Research, analyze, record, and interpret the past as recorded in sources, such as government and institutional records, newspapers and other periodicals, photographs, interviews, films, electronic media, and unpublished manuscripts, such as personal diaries and letters.
Task evidence
100% weighted task match · 6% effective coverage
Scores combine AI task overlap, human advantages, and local demand. How it works
United States Now
Median Wage
USD 74,050
Employment 2024
3.4K
Projected Change (2024–34)
2.2%
Openings (2024–34)
0.3K
Wage distribution
Demand outlook
Employment of historians is projected to show little or no change from 2024 to 2034.
Role Profile
Tasks
- 1. Gather historical data from sources such as archives, court records, diaries, news files, and photographs, as well as from books, pamphlets, and periodicals. AI use: 0%
- 2. Organize data, and analyze and interpret its authenticity and relative significance. AI use: 0%
- 3. Organize information for publication and for other means of dissemination, such as via storage media or the Internet. AI use: 0%
- 4. Present historical accounts in terms of individuals or social, ethnic, political, economic, or geographic groupings. AI use: 0%
- 5. Conduct historical research, and publish or present findings and theories. AI use: 0%
- 6. Determine which topics to research, or pursue research topics specified by clients or employers. AI use: 100%
Technologies
Requirements
Work context
Related
Source coverage
10/11 source families · O*NET 30.2 / OEWS 2024 / ORS 2025 / OOH 2025-08-28 / Projections 2024-34 / CPS 2025 / Anthropic task penetration
Mapping quality
major_group_fallback · employment series present
Narrative & sources
Historians research, analyze, interpret, and write about the past by studying historical documents and sources.
Historians must travel to carry out research. Most work full time.
Historians typically need at least a master’s degree to enter the occupation. Those with a bachelor’s degree in history may qualify for some entry-level positions, but most will find jobs in different fields.
The median annual wage for historians was $74,050 in May 2024.
Employment of historians is projected to show little or no change from 2024 to 2034.
Published limitations
This page shows the local country layer, not realised individual job outcomes. The global structural baseline is shared across countries; only the local demand and wage layer changes here.
Built from O*NET occupation descriptions, task statements, technology skills, work context, Job Zones, Anthropic task penetration, BLS OEWS wages, BLS projection tables, BLS ORS requirements, BLS OOH narrative content, BLS skills data, and BLS CPS occupation age tables.