Careers in Anthropology

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Overview

Anthropology is a small profession and a common training. The people who study it mostly do not end up with the word in their job title, and that is the normal outcome. The United States is the only country that counts anthropologists as a distinct occupation with published wage data, so its figures get quoted everywhere.

The US Bureau of Labor Statistics groups anthropologists and archeologists together. Median annual wage was $64,910 in May 2024. The lowest 10 percent earned under $44,510 and the highest 10 percent over $104,510. Total employment in the category was 8,800, projected to grow 4 percent through 2034, an increase of 300 positions, with about 800 openings per year, most of which come from people leaving rather than from new roles being created. Typical entry-level education is a master's degree.[1]

This stat may under-report the wider field, because it only captures people whose job title says anthropologist. Most people trained in anthropology work under other titles. The BLS category Social Scientists, All Other, which absorbs many of them, has a median of $86,620.[2]

In the UK, graduate destinations are tracked by subject rather than by occupation, this pattern more visible. A high proportion of anthropology graduates work in the public and not-for-profit sectors: the civil service, local government, charities, central government bodies, universities, international organisations including the UN, museums, and voluntary organisations.[3] Five percent work as advertising and marketing associate professionals, and other common destinations include business research, youth and community work, PR, and sales and business development.[3] Roughly 20 percent go on to postgraduate study.[4]

Brunel reports graduates at the World Bank, UNICEF, the NHS, Oxfam, Save the Children, local government, legal work, media, teaching, and journalism.[5] Goldsmiths names the Government Social Research service as the single biggest employer of its graduates in the research sector.[6]

American anthropology divides into four subfields, following Franz Boas. British and much of European anthropology separates social anthropology from archaeology and biological anthropology entirely, so a UK anthropology degree usually means social anthropology alone.

Social and cultural anthropology

This field describes the study of living societies through long-term fieldwork. The academic route leads to university posts. The applied route leads to development agencies, public health, policy research, humanitarian work, and industry research. This is the subfield feeding Careers in Digital Anthropology.

Archaeology

In the US, the largest destination for anthropology graduates in practice is cultural resource management: private firms conducting legally required surveys ahead of construction, funded by developers under historic preservation law. Entry-level field technician roles start around $38,000 to $48,000 in high-demand regions, mid-career roles run $55,000 to $75,000, and senior positions reach $80,000 to $125,000 or more.[7]

The equivalent exists in the UK as commercial or developer-funded archaeology under planning policy, and across the EU under national implementations of the Valletta Convention, which requires archaeological assessment before development. The structure is similar everywhere it exists: private contractors, project-based work, seasonal employment, and several years of insecure field positions before anything permanent.

Biological or physical anthropology

Human evolution, primatology, human variation, forensics. Forensic anthropologists work in medical examiner and coroner offices, government laboratories, international human rights organizations such as the Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team and the International Commission on Missing Persons, and private consultancy. US entry-level positions run roughly $45,000 to $55,000, often as medico-legal death investigators, and demand exceeds the supply of qualified practitioners.[8]

Linguistic anthropology

Language in social use. Routes run to documentation and revitalization work with endangered-language communities, often funded through programs such as the Endangered Languages Documentation Program, and to computational linguistics, speech technology, and conversational interface work in industry.

Sectors

Academia. Permanent positions are scarce relative to the number of doctorates produced, and this has been true for decades in the US, UK, Australia, and most of Europe. Anyone entering a doctoral program should ask about the specific program where its graduates went.

Government. In the US, the National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, Forest Service, and state historic preservation offices. In the UK, the Government Social Research service, Historic England, Historic Environment Scotland. Statistical agencies and public health bodies in most countries employ qualitative researchers.

Commercial archaeology. Contract firms doing compliance work. The largest single employer of archaeology graduates in the US, UK, and much of Europe.

Museums and heritage. Curation, collections management, education, and repatriation work, the last governed by NAGPRA in the US and by varying national frameworks elsewhere.

International organizations and NGOs. UN agencies, the World Bank, Oxfam, Save the Children, Médecins Sans Frontières.[5][3] Work covers program design, monitoring and evaluation, and community consultation.

Industry. User research, design research, market research, and organizational consulting. See Careers in Digital Anthropology.

What actually transfers

The employable skills are narrower than the curriculum, and worth naming plainly: designing research when you do not know in advance what the categories are, conducting long unstructured interviews, systematic observation, coding qualitative data, and writing findings for people who will not read a monograph.

UCL's own summary lists the same ground: discipline knowledge, critical analysis, problem solving, writing, interpersonal communication, and both qualitative and quantitative research skills, plus the habit of questioning assumptions and seeing an issue at individual, cultural, and societal levels at once.[9]

Employment prospects for researchers are greatly improved by quantitative competence (statistics and a bit of programming knowledge) and a focused domain (such as health, energy, migration, finance, or technology) rather than anthropology in general. This wiki is focused on Cyborg Anthropology, which is a niche of its own around how technology affects culture, which has allowed for a bit of success in terms of visibility of the field, as well as the research coming out of it (the study of the iPhone, 2007, and so on).

Degrees

Bachelor's. Rarely enough on its own for an anthropology-titled post. Useful as preparation for further training or as a second competency beside a technical one.

Master's. The working credential for applied practice, archaeological supervision, and industry research. In the UK and Europe this is typically one year; in the US, two. Practice-oriented US programs include the University of North Texas, San José State, the University of South Florida, and Wayne State.

Doctorate. Required for academic posts, senior research roles, and principal investigator status in commercial archaeology. Fieldwork usually runs twelve to twenty-four months. Time to degree is commonly seven to nine years in the US, and three to four years in the UK, where the doctorate assumes prior master's training.

Professional bodies

  • American Anthropological Association, with the Society for Applied Anthropology and the National Association for the Practice of Anthropology for practitioners outside universities
  • Royal Anthropological Institute, founded 1871, London, with a global membership, whose constituency includes academic anthropologists, people with a general interest, and those trained in anthropology working in other fields[10]
  • Association of Social Anthropologists of the UK and Commonwealth[4]
  • European Association of Social Anthropologists
  • Australian Anthropological Society and Canadian Anthropology Society
  • Register of Professional Archaeologists (US) and Chartered Institute for Archaeologists (UK)
  • EPIC, the industry-facing venue described in Careers in Digital Anthropology

Finding vacancies

  • The RAI lists anthropology vacancies published in Anthropology Today[11]
  • jobs.ac.uk carries academic and research posts in the UK and overseas[12]
  • AAA Career Center, for US academic and applied roles
  • ReliefWeb, for humanitarian and development positions

See also

References

  1. ↑ Anthropologists and Archeologists, Occupational Outlook Handbook, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
  2. ↑ Anthropology Degree Salary, CollegeHelpGuide.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 What can I do with an anthropology degree?, Prospects.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 What can I do with my degree in Anthropology?, University of Kent Careers and Employability Service.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Anthropology BSc, Brunel University of London.
  6. ↑ Anthropology future careers, Goldsmiths, University of London.
  7. ↑ Archaeologist Career Guide, EnvironmentalScience.org.
  8. ↑ Forensic Anthropologist Income, ARH Foundation.
  9. ↑ Anthropology Careers, UCL Faculty of Social & Historical Sciences.
  10. ↑ Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, Wikipedia.
  11. ↑ Jobs & Opportunities, Royal Anthropological Institute.
  12. ↑ Anthropology Jobs, jobs.ac.uk.
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