Settle a disputed date
Compare a piece with its catalog record and investigate any clashing date before an exhibition relies on it.
Career profile
Museum Curator
Curators study a museum's objects and choose which belong in its collection and its shows.
Your close study of one piece becomes the reason a gallery visitor stops and takes a real look.
A day in the life
Choose pieces for a show
Pick an exhibition's pieces and work with designers and educators so visitors see why they belong together.
Make the case for an acquisition
Examine a possible acquisition, explain how it would strengthen the collection, and discuss gifts with donors and collectors.
Tailor a talk to listeners
Get a gallery talk or research presentation ready, and explain things differently for scholars, visitors, or schoolchildren.
Quick facts
Usually a master's degree
United States
$63,420 a year
United States · 2025
4.9% projected growth
United States · 2025–2035
Quick orientation
Preparation, pay & outlook
Preparation
Usually a master's degreeSome small museums accept a bachelor's degree.
Pay
$63,420 a yearNational curator median in 2025; about $30.49 an hour.
Outlook
4.9% projected growthCurator employment, 2025–2035; about 1,600 openings annually.
Fit, tradeoffs & changing tools
You might like this if…
- You enjoy following evidence when an object's history is unclear.
- You like explaining why something deserves a closer look.
- You can share decisions with people who bring different expertise.
Things to weigh
- Grant proposals and budgets can take time away from studying objects.
- A small museum may offer few promotions; advancing can mean changing institutions.
Where AI may help
At the Smithsonian, digitization teams use artificial intelligence and other software to extract information from records and make collections easier to search.
What people still lead
Curators still shape exhibition arguments and recommend what the museum should collect.
What we can’t predict yet
How much automated record processing can replace close checking remains unsettled, especially when an object's history is incomplete.
Pay in context
Earnings
Use the national median as a reference when comparing offers, not as a starting-salary promise.
The national midpoint
Curators earned a median $63,420 a year in 2025, equivalent to about $30.49 an hour. This covers curators across employer types.
The pay spread
The 10th-percentile annual wage was $40,470; the 90th was $107,140. These describe the wage distribution, not beginner and senior salaries.
Museum workplace pay
In museums, historical sites, and similar institutions, curator median pay was $61,790 a year, or $29.71 an hour—below the all-employer median. An individual offer can differ.
Openings over the next decade
Employment is projected to grow 4.9% from 2025 to 2035, with about 1,600 openings a year from growth and replacement needs. These are projections, not current vacancies.
Getting started
Study through a master's degree
- What the route involves
- Study art history, history, archaeology, or museum studies through graduate school.
- What it can lead to
- Meets the typical education level for curator positions.
Combine a bachelor's degree with museum experience
- What the route involves
- Earn a bachelor's degree and gain museum experience through internships or volunteering.
- What it can lead to
- Can support applications to some small-museum curator jobs.
- What to check
- Many other positions expect a master's degree.
Build expertise in the kind of collection you want to study.
After entry
Career paths
This starts where the entry routes leave off: early work, growing capability, and advancement or specialization.
Get established
Learn the collection's records and database, then investigate questions about individual objects.
Develop your judgment
Take an exhibition from object selection through planning with educators and designers.
Lead or specialize
Pursue supervisory roles or deepen a research specialty. Publications matter in large museums; some advanced roles require a doctorate.
Where you can work
Small museums
Collection care and running the museum may share your desk. Travel is often limited.
- Indoors
- Office
Large museums
Specialize in a collection and collaborate with exhibition staff. Research and acquisitions may involve substantial travel.
- Indoors
- Office
- Travel
Try it
See whether the job clicks before you commit to the path.
Choose three ordinary objects you own for a tiny exhibition. Give it a theme and write a 50-word label explaining your selection. Mark what you know and what you would need to research. Notice whether choosing and explaining the objects holds your interest.
Sources
- O*NET OnLine. Curators — 25-4012.00. Accessed 2026-10-04.
- O*NET OnLine / U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Curators wages — United States rows, 2025. Accessed 2026-10-04.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Occupational projections and worker characteristics, 2025–2035. Accessed 2026-10-04.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Archivists, Curators, and Museum Workers — Occupational Outlook Handbook. Accessed 2026-10-04.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Museums, Historical Sites, and Similar Institutions — Earnings by Occupation. Accessed 2026-10-04.
- Smithsonian Institution. Working at the Smithsonian — Curator. Accessed 2026-10-04.
- Smithsonian National Museum of American History. FAQ—Careers. Accessed 2026-10-04.
- Smithsonian Institution Digitization Program Office. Collections Digitization. Accessed 2026-10-04.