Historians build complex problem solving, judgment and decision making and instructing skills that carry over to other work. Below are 25 careers ranked by how closely their skills match, with pay from BLS May 2025. The closest match is Archivists (85%).
Updated October 2026 · Data: O*NET 31.0 and BLS OEWS May 2025 · How we match careers
Sorted by skill match.
| # | Career | Skill match | Median pay | Pay change | Extra education |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Archivists | 85% | $64,550 | −16% | None |
| 2 | History Teachers, Postsecondary | 81% | $83,820 | +9% | None |
| 3 | Curators | 80% | $63,420 | −17% | None |
| 4 | Anthropology and Archeology Teachers, Postsecondary | 78% | $99,650 | +30% | None |
| 5 | Librarians and Media Collections Specialists | 75% | $68,270 | −11% | None |
| 6 | Geography Teachers, Postsecondary | 74% | $97,590 | +27% | None |
| 7 | Sociology Teachers, Postsecondary | 74% | $84,290 | +10% | None |
| 8 | Library Science Teachers, Postsecondary | 73% | $80,340 | +5% | None |
| 9 | English Language and Literature Teachers, Postsecondary | 71% | $78,760 | +3% | None |
| 10 | Area, Ethnic, and Cultural Studies Teachers, Postsecondary | 71% | $85,020 | +11% | None |
Compared with Historians, median $76,750. Skill match is our estimate (0–99) from O*NET 31.0 skills, knowledge, work activities and interests, adjusted for preparation and big pay drops. Pay: BLS OEWS May 2025, national median.
How important each skill is in work as historians (O*NET importance, scale 1–5).
The gaps that show up most often across your top 10 matches.
Free and low-cost training: use the CareerOneStop training finder below.
A concrete first step, the skills to add, and the hard parts of each job, from O*NET 31.0 education, training and work context data.
85% skill match · $64,550 · −16% pay
Service Orientation · Systems Analysis · Systems Evaluation
No work-context factor stands out as unusually hard in O*NET data.
81% skill match · $83,820 · +9% pay
Instructing · Time Management · Systems Analysis
80% skill match · $63,420 · −17% pay
Management of Financial Resources · Management of Material Resources · Systems Analysis
No work-context factor stands out as unusually hard in O*NET data.
If you want to stay close to what you do now, these roles are the nearest.
The closest matches are Archivists (85% skill match, median $64,550), History Teachers, Postsecondary (81% skill match, median $83,820) and Curators (80% skill match, median $63,420), based on O*NET 31.0 data and BLS May 2025 pay.
Among the 25 matches, 17 pay more than historians at the median. The biggest increases: Law Teachers, Postsecondary (+67%, $128,500), Economics Teachers, Postsecondary (+61%, $123,920) and Anthropology and Archeology Teachers, Postsecondary (+30%, $99,650).
25 of the 25 matches usually need no more education than you have now, based on O*NET Job Zones.
We compare the importance of skills, knowledge, work activities and interests in O*NET 31.0 for your job and every other career, then adjust for extra preparation and big pay drops. The full method is on our Methodology page.