Career Explorer Education
Changing shape
Archivists
Appraise, edit, and direct safekeeping of permanent records and historically valuable documents. Participate in research activities based on archival materials.
Changing faster than most: more resilient than 20% of the 831 careers we score. AI exposure is high (the Bureau of Labor Statistics rates it very high), and US jobs are projected to change by +3.4% by 2035, slower than average. The work leans on creative vision.
AI can do many of the tasks, and hiring is expected to grow slower than average or to shrink. The job is likely to change, so build the human parts of it.
- Median pay (2025)
- $64,550
- Job growth to 2035
- +3.4%
- Openings a year
- 1,100
- People doing it (2025)
- 10,300
- Usual route in
- Master's degree
Where people already use AI for this work
- Develop operational or technical procedures or standards
- Prepare informational or instructional materials
- Provide general assistance to others, such as customers, patrons, or motorists
From Microsoft Research, Working with AI (2025).
Work AI rarely helps with
- Design databases
- Supervise personnel activities
What the work looks like
- 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.
From O*NET 31.0, US Department of Labor.
Careers using similar strengths, with a stronger outlook
- Cartographers and photogrammetristsGrows with AI, Index 32, +7.4%
- Physics teachers, postsecondaryChanging shape, Index 27, +2.4%
- CuratorsGrows with AI, Index 36, +4.9%
- Teaching assistants, postsecondaryChanging shape, Index 32, +2.7%
Also known as: Archivist, Records Manager, Registrar, State Archivist, Accessioning Archivist, Digital Archivist, Film Archivist, Museum Archivist.
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Sources: US Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections 2025 to 2035; O*NET 31.0; Microsoft Research (2025); Anthropic Economic Index (2026); Eloundou and colleagues (Science, 2024); Felten, Raj and Seamans (2023). How we score. Updated 12 October 2026.