Anthropologists and Archeologists Salary and Pay
How much do Anthropologists and Archeologists make?
Median pay for Anthropologists and Archeologists is $64,910 a year ($31.21); the mean is $71,070. The occupation employed 8,070 people in May 2024, and its middle band runs from $51,240 to $83,080.
One page for the whole Anthropologists and Archeologists pay distribution: national ladder first, then all 44 state rows and the metro rankings, every figure from BLS OEWS May 2024.
Updated November 5, 2026
Salary converter for this occupation
Gross pay only, before taxes and benefits. The picker starts at this occupation's median ($64,910); the custom box accepts any annual figure, which is how you price an offer letter against the ladder below.
The national wage ladder (BLS OEWS, May 2024)
| Pay level | Annual wage | Hourly wage |
|---|---|---|
| 10th percentile | $44,510 | $21.40 |
| 25th percentile | $51,240 | $24.63 |
| Median (50th) | $64,910 | $31.21 |
| 75th percentile | $83,080 | $39.94 |
| 90th percentile | $104,510 | $50.24 |
Read the ladder vertically: each row is the wage of the Anthropologists and Archeologists worker at that point in the distribution, so $83,080 at the 75th percentile means three quarters of the occupation earns less. Figures BLS cannot publish appear as n/p, and its top code prints as $239,200+.
Employment and concentration
BLS counted 8,070 Anthropologists and Archeologists jobs in May 2024, which is 0.01% of all U.S. employment in the survey. Work is most concentrated in Wyoming, where the location quotient is 6.69, meaning the occupation holds 6.69 times its national share of local jobs. California employs the most people outright, 1,060 of them, and the three largest state employers together account for 25.7% of the national total.
The spread matters as much as the center. Earners at the 90th percentile make $104,510, which is 2.3 times the $44,510 at the 10th, a difference of $60,000 annually. Because the mean wage ($71,070) sits above the median ($64,910), a typical offer should be judged against the median and the 25th to 75th percentile band, not the mean.
Pay by state
Every state with a publishable estimate is in this table, 44 of them, sorted by jobs. The pay leader by median is Massachusetts at $106,540; the jobs leader is California:
| State | Employment | Jobs per 1,000 | Location quotient | Mean annual | Median annual |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| California | 1,060 | 0.1 | 1.12 | $79,420 | $74,100 |
| Arizona | 620 | 0.2 | 3.69 | $68,360 | $60,630 |
| Florida | 390 | 0.0 | 0.77 | $65,630 | $61,900 |
| New York | 310 | 0.0 | 0.62 | $65,070 | $52,810 |
| Oregon | 300 | 0.2 | 2.90 | $80,790 | $79,790 |
| Texas | 290 | 0.0 | 0.40 | $73,380 | $63,890 |
| Colorado | 260 | 0.1 | 1.70 | $73,890 | $64,910 |
| New Mexico | 260 | 0.3 | 5.73 | $66,760 | $65,410 |
| Virginia | 260 | 0.1 | 1.22 | $70,110 | $66,410 |
| Washington | 250 | 0.1 | 1.34 | $78,560 | $77,480 |
| Alabama | 210 | 0.1 | 1.96 | $69,400 | $68,760 |
| New Jersey | 210 | 0.0 | 0.92 | $72,590 | $60,630 |
| Idaho | 200 | 0.2 | 4.54 | $74,070 | $73,470 |
| Nevada | 200 | 0.1 | 2.50 | $73,490 | $72,820 |
| Illinois | 170 | 0.0 | 0.55 | $61,680 | $57,770 |
| Hawaii | 150 | 0.2 | 4.53 | $95,530 | $88,390 |
| Georgia | 140 | 0.0 | 0.55 | $59,890 | $48,840 |
| Oklahoma | 120 | 0.1 | 1.35 | $63,330 | $58,240 |
| Pennsylvania | 120 | 0.0 | 0.39 | $75,260 | $75,180 |
| Alaska | 110 | 0.3 | 6.28 | $93,480 | $92,870 |
| Utah | 110 | 0.1 | 1.17 | $71,820 | $72,550 |
| Connecticut | 100 | 0.1 | 1.13 | $55,170 | $45,820 |
| Montana | 100 | 0.2 | 3.83 | $75,020 | $72,550 |
| Wyoming | 100 | 0.3 | 6.69 | $68,820 | $63,920 |
| Indiana | 90 | 0.0 | 0.55 | $65,750 | $62,860 |
| Ohio | 70 | 0.0 | 0.26 | $60,180 | $47,310 |
| Wisconsin | 60 | 0.0 | 0.37 | $64,650 | $59,950 |
| Kentucky | 50 | 0.0 | 0.52 | $70,950 | $70,140 |
| South Carolina | 50 | 0.0 | 0.42 | $69,040 | $63,960 |
| West Virginia | 50 | 0.1 | 1.32 | $62,000 | $45,650 |
| Iowa | 40 | 0.0 | 0.51 | $63,710 | $57,240 |
| Missouri | 40 | 0.0 | 0.26 | $82,900 | $86,940 |
| Nebraska | 40 | 0.0 | 0.82 | $92,330 | $92,750 |
| South Dakota | 40 | 0.1 | 1.75 | $67,170 | $61,960 |
| Arkansas | 30 | 0.0 | 0.50 | $72,950 | $72,550 |
| Massachusetts | 30 | 0.0 | 0.18 | $105,190 | $106,540 |
| Kansas | n/p | n/p | n/p | $44,540 | $42,660 |
| Louisiana | n/p | n/p | n/p | $55,070 | $44,180 |
| Maryland | n/p | n/p | n/p | $67,720 | $64,020 |
| Michigan | n/p | n/p | n/p | $74,710 | $68,160 |
| Minnesota | n/p | n/p | n/p | $66,210 | $62,220 |
| North Carolina | n/p | n/p | n/p | $75,960 | $73,840 |
| North Dakota | n/p | n/p | n/p | $58,440 | $49,000 |
| Tennessee | n/p | n/p | n/p | $55,730 | $51,460 |
The occupation in context
Ranked against all 826 published occupations, Anthropologists and Archeologists stands number 713 by employment and number 333 by median pay. Inside its own major group, Life, Physical, and Social Science Occupations, the group median wage is $84,150 across 48 detailed occupations, so this occupation pays 23% less than its group median, and it supplies 0.6% of the group's 1,446,780 jobs. In 20 of the 44 states with a published median, the state median beats the national median of $64,910, which is the single best quick test of whether this occupation's pay is set nationally or locally: a high count means local markets regularly outbid the national figure.
Metropolitan areas: where the jobs and the pay sit
Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ is the largest metro employer with 350 jobs, 4.3% of the national total. Below, the biggest employers come first; the pay table after it only counts metros with 500 or more jobs in the occupation, so its leader is a real market and not a statistical artifact.
Largest metro employers
| Metropolitan area | Employment | Mean annual | Median annual |
|---|---|---|---|
| Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ | 350 | $65,240 | $60,210 |
| New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ | 310 | $70,540 | $60,620 |
| Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV | 280 | $84,450 | $75,230 |
| Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA | 240 | $73,110 | $66,190 |
| Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA | 170 | $88,920 | $82,890 |
| Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA | 150 | $83,830 | $80,670 |
| Albuquerque, NM | 130 | $61,650 | $54,620 |
| Boise City, ID | 130 | $75,200 | $73,470 |
| San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA | 130 | $70,960 | $62,670 |
| Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA | 120 | $79,360 | $77,850 |
What the median pay looks like as a budget
The median Anthropologists and Archeologists paycheck, gross, is $2,497 every two weeks on an annual $64,910, which is $5,409 a month and $1,248 a week. Moving from the 25th percentile ($51,240) to the 75th ($83,080) is worth $31,840 a year, which is the realistic size of the experience and specialization premium inside this occupation. Gross is a starting point, not a budget: the paycheck calculator nets it down by state, an offer comparison lives in the salary calculator, and the raise vs inflation calculator separates a real raise from a nominal one.
To place a real offer: a salary of $71,401 would sit between the median ($64,910) and the 75th percentile ($83,080), inside the top half but outside the top quarter of this occupation's ladder. An offer at the 25th percentile, $51,240, is $13,670 under the median, the typical size of the discount attached to entry-level or low-cost-market postings in this field.
Related occupations in Life, Physical, and Social Science Occupations
Sibling occupations in Life, Physical, and Social Science Occupations: Epidemiologists, Geological Technicians, Except Hydrologic Technicians, Foresters, Atmospheric and Space Scientists, Materials Scientists, Survey Researchers. Medians there are computed identically, so the comparison is apples to apples; the full set lives on the Careers hub.
Frequently asked questions
How much do Anthropologists and Archeologists make?
The median annual wage is $64,910 and the mean is $71,070 in the BLS OEWS May 2024 estimates. The middle half of workers earn between $51,240 and $83,080 a year.
Which state pays Anthropologists and Archeologists the most?
By median annual wage, Massachusetts leads the state table at $106,540, based on 30 jobs in that state. By mean wage and by headcount the leaders can differ, so the state table on this page shows all three measures side by side.
How many Anthropologists and Archeologists are there in the United States?
BLS counted 8,070 wage and salary workers in this occupation in May 2024, 0.01% of all U.S. employment in the survey. The largest state employer is California with 1,060 jobs.
What do the OEWS percentiles mean for Anthropologists and Archeologists?
They mark points in this occupation's pay distribution. One worker in ten earns $44,510 or less and one in ten earns $104,510 or more; the median, $64,910, is the wage of the worker exactly in the middle of the 8,070 counted jobs.