Occupations · Educational Instruction and Library
Archivists
Appraise, edit, and direct safekeeping of permanent records and historically valuable documents. Participate in research activities based on archival materials.
O*NET 30.3 Database (USDOL/ETA) · occupation code 25-4011.00
What it pays
A single “average salary” hides the spread. This is the whole distribution — the gap between the bottom and top bar is usually the number that matters.
BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2024 · national, cross-industry · annual wage
These are national figures, identical for every reader. The report recuts them for your metro area and ranks it among all of them.
Get yours →Pay over time
Median up 69% between 2004 and 2024, before inflation. The band shows the 10th to 90th percentile.
BLS OEWS, one release per year. Before May 2011 only national estimates were published, so geography detail starts there.
Where the jobs are
| Metro area | Median wage | Employed |
|---|---|---|
| New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA | $74,880 | 720 |
| Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV | $89,380 | 540 |
| Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA | $61,270 | 420 |
| Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA | $73,660 | 310 |
| Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH | $74,380 | 250 |
BLS OEWS May 2024, metropolitan estimates · the 5 areas with the most people in this occupation
Your metro area, and where it ranks
LockedAll metropolitan areas BLS publishes for this occupation, with your own city's median and its rank among them.
Open in your report →Typical education to enter: Master's degree · BLS Employment Projections 2024–34
What people in this job actually do
Ordered by how important the work is rated.
- 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.
- Locate new materials and direct their acquisition and display.
- Authenticate and appraise historical documents and archival materials.
- Coordinate educational and public outreach programs, such as tours, workshops, lectures, and classes.
- Specialize in an area of history or technology, researching topics or items relevant to collections to determine what should be retained or acquired.
O*NET 30.3 task ratings, importance scale
Skills that matter most
Importance, rated 1 to 5.
O*NET 30.3 skills, importance scale
Software and tools
A dot marks what O*NET flags as in demand.
O*NET 30.3 software skills · hot-technology flag
What your tools are worth
Occupation-based, not posting-based: how much employment, pay and projected growth sit behind each tool. It is not a count of job ads.
| Tool | Value | Spread across occupations |
|---|---|---|
| Extensible markup language XML | 81 | 59 → 87 occupations since 2015 |
| Hypertext markup language HTML | 77 | 58 → 78 occupations since 2015 |
| Microsoft Access | 71 | 265 → 372 occupations since 2015 |
What your tools are worth
LockedThe same score for every tool in this occupation, plus the ones you ticked and the ones you did not.
Open in your report →What this work is actually like
Conditions rated against the average across all occupations — only what makes this job different is listed.
O*NET 30.3 Job Zones
Working conditions that stand out
O*NET 30.3 work context, frequency scale · observed 2024-08
How people actually get in
Share of workers by the education they hold.
O*NET 30.2 education, training and experience · observed 2024-08
What kind of person the work suits
Occupational interest profile, rated 1 to 7.
O*NET 30.2 occupational interests (RIASEC)
Tasks O*NET flags as emerging
- Write grants and apply for funding to support archival work.
O*NET 30.3 emerging tasks
What you take with you
Skills rated for how well they transfer into other occupations.
O*NET 30.3 transferable skills, importance scale
Knowledge the work draws on
Abilities it leans on
O*NET 30.3 abilities and knowledge, importance scale
How this job is advertised
The same work is posted under many titles — this is what to search for.
O*NET 30.3 job titles reported for this occupation
Get this as a personal report
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Free page vs. the $29 report
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What changed since 2015
Comparing O*NET release 20.1 (2015-10-01) with 30.3 (2026-05-01). Signs, not colour alone, carry the meaning. 1 entries that were only relabelled between releases are left out.
Now listed 12
No longer listed 3
Diff across the O*NET releases held here in full since October 2015, following occupations through merges and retirements. O*NET re-surveys occupations on a rolling cycle, so “no change” can also mean “not re-surveyed”.
Related jobs
O*NET 30.3 related occupations
Also called
O*NET 30.3 alternative titles
The same work in Europe
| ESCO occupation | ISCO | Match |
|---|---|---|
| archivist | 2621.1 | exact |
| archive manager | 1349.3 | close |
| collection manager | 2621.3 | close |
| exhibition curator | 2621.5 | close |
| museum scientist | 2621.8 | close |
| big data archive librarian | 3433.2 | broader |
| information manager | 2622.1 | broader |
| exhibition registrar | 2621.6 | broader |
Official ESCO ↔ O*NET crosswalk (ESCO Secretariat with USDOL/ETA)
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