Fast‑Facts Dashboard
| Metric |
2024 U.S. snapshot |
| National Employment (May 2023) |
Bureau of Labor Statistics |
| Mean Pay |
Bureau of Labor Statistics |
| Median Pay |
Bureau of Labor Statistics |
| Projected Growth 2023‑33 |
O*NET OnLine |
| Top‑Paying State |
Bureau of Labor Statistics |
| Typical Credential |
PhD in History; ABD or MA for some community‑college & adjunct roles |
A Day in the Department: Lecture Hall, Archive & Substack
| Time |
Reality |
Why It Matters |
| 6 a.m. |
Review footnote revisions for journal article on Cold‑War cultural diplomacy. |
Publications = tenure currency. |
| 8 a.m. |
Teach “U.S. Survey to 1877” to 175 freshmen; live‑poll students with Mentimeter on causes of the Revolution. |
Active learning boosts retention & engagement. |
| 9:30 a.m. |
Office hours: one student needs help parsing 1619 Project critiques; MA candidate asks for Fulbright letter. |
Mentorship pipelines grad success & diversity. |
| 11 a.m. |
Faculty meeting—debate cluster‑hire ad in Digital Public History; approve new gen‑ed “History of Disinformation.” |
Curriculum agility keeps enrollments healthy. |
| 12 p.m. |
Lunch while revising NEH Fellowship narrative; Slack RA about OCR errors in 19c newspaper corpus. |
Grants fund summer salary + archival trips. |
| 1 p.m. |
Archive visit: scan plantation ledgers with smartphone‑scanning rig; upload to IIIF server for class use. |
Primary‑source access enriches teaching & open data. |
| 3 p.m. |
Record TikTok explainer, “What ‘Filibuster’ Originally Meant,” auto‑captioned for accessibility. |
Public scholarship grows alt‑metrics and recruitment. |
| 5 p.m. |
Grade historiography essays on Gradescope; voice‑note feedback cuts marking time 30 %. |
Timely feedback improves writing skills & evals. |
| 8 p.m. |
Draft Substack post on recent statue‑removal debates; schedule tweets to promote tomorrow’s lecture. |
Digital presence expands influence beyond campus. |
Sabbaticals replace campus with the National Archives, Vatican Secret Archives, or a community‑oral‑history project in Accra.
Tool‑Kit & Tech Stack (2025)
| Domain |
Key Tools |
| Research |
Zotero + BetterBibTeX, Tropy photo‑metadata, NVivo for oral‑history coding, Voyant Tools text‑mining |
| Digital Humanities |
Python (NLTK, spaCy), R tidytext, Gephi network graphs, IIIF manifests, Omeka S exhibits |
| Teaching & Assessment |
Canvas LMS, Gradescope AI rubric scorer, Hypothes.is for marginalia, Perusall PDF annotation |
| Public Engagement |
TikTok micro‑lectures, Substack, StoryMap JS, podcast clips via Anchor |
| Compliance & Ethics |
IRB for oral histories, copyright clearance, ADA captioning & alt‑text standards |
Emerging: AI‑assisted transcription of 18c handwriting, VR recreations of lost neighborhoods, and blockchain provenance for digitized artifacts.
Core Competencies & Personality DNA
- Evidence Sleuthing – track down contradictory census, court, and diary sources.
- Narrative Craft – turn primary‑source chaos into clear, compelling lectures & articles.
- Digital Fluency – guide students through Python topic‑modeling a 5 M‑tweet protest archive.
- Grant‑Writing Endurance – land NEH/Mellon funding in < 15 % success lanes.
- Pedagogical Agility – pivot from Socratic discussion to flipped video‑essay critique.
- Public Voice – Translate archival findings into op‑eds or 60‑second TikTok explainers.
If your MAPP Assessment highlights Investigative, Artistic, and Social drives, a life at the lectern might be your historical destiny.
Working Environment & Lifestyle
| Factor |
Snapshot |
| Teaching Load |
R1s: 2‑2 or 2‑1; teaching‑focused colleges: 3‑3 – 4‑4. |
| Contract |
Nine‑month salary; summer funding via grants, book advances, or study‑abroad. |
| Union Presence |
Strong in many public systems (AFT, AAUP); lighter in privates. |
| Digital HyFlex |
Post‑COVID expectation: simultaneous in‑person & remote engagement. |
| Field Work |
Archival travel reimbursed by grants or sabbaticals; some global, some county courthouse basements. |
Education & Credential Pathway
| Stage |
Timeline |
Milestones |
| B.A. in History |
4 yrs |
Honors thesis, archival research, conference poster. |
| M.A. (optional) |
2 yrs |
Primary‑source thesis, TAships. |
| Ph.D. |
5‑7 yrs |
Dissertation, language exams, 2‑3 peer‑reviewed articles, adjunct experience. |
| Postdoc or Visiting Asst. Prof. (optional) |
1‑2 yrs |
Book manuscript revisions, teaching portfolio. |
| Assistant Professor |
6‑yr tenure clock |
Book contract, grant wins, positive evals. |
| Associate/Full Professor |
Year 6 – 7 → 12+ |
Published monograph, national awards, departmental leadership. |
Career Ladder & Earnings
| Role |
9‑mo Base* |
Common Extras |
| Adjunct |
$3k–$7k per 3‑cr course |
Museum consultancy, public‑history gigs |
| Lecturer |
$50k–$65k |
Summer teaching, textbook royalties |
| Assistant Professor |
$70k–$95k (public) • $90k–$120k (private) |
Summer salary, book advance |
| Associate Professor |
$95k–$130k |
Grad advising, program director stipend |
| Full Professor / Chair |
$130k–$165k + admin stipend |
Budget oversight, speaker fees |
| Endowed Chair |
$165k–$210k + discretionary fund |
National book prizes, policy advisory roles |
*Public‑history consulting, textbook updates, and media appearances can add $10k – $75k annually.
National Wage Percentiles (OEWS May 2023)**
| 10 % |
25 % |
50 % (median) |
75 % |
90 % |
| $48,760 |
$63,650 |
$82,140 |
$106,840 |
$141,840 |
Trends Shaping Demand
- Digital Humanities & Big Data: Text‑mining millions of newspaper pages fuels cluster hires.
- Public‑History Resurgence: Museums and streaming docuseries seek faculty collaborators.
- DEI & Decolonization: Departments expand non‑Western & Indigenous history lines.
- Political Polarization: Critical‑thinking curricula boost general‑ed enrollments; professors become media fact‑check sources.
- AI Literacy: Teaching source evaluation in the ChatGPT era increases institutional value.
- Retirement Wave: ≈ 30 % of tenured historians reach 65+ by 2034; new PhDs with digital skills advantaged.
- Alternate Academia: Faculty refashion courses into micro‑credentials and certificate programs for lifelong learners.
Pros & Cons
| Why Professors Stay |
What Drives Some Out |
| Intellectual freedom—study pirates, pandemics, or punk zines. |
Publish‑or‑perish stress; top journals = 90 % rejection. |
| Blend of teaching, research, public outreach. |
Adjunctification risk; tight humanities budgets. |
| Sabbaticals in archives from Paris to Manila. |
Salary lags policy or corporate history analyst roles. |
| Influence civic dialogue on truth & evidence. |
Grading 150 research papers during flu season. |
Is This Career Path Right for You? Find out Free.
- Take the MAPP Career Assessment (100% free).
- See your top career matches, including five free custom matches revealing whether a historian’s life aligns with your strengths.
- Get a personalized compatibility score and roadmap toward PhD programs, fellowships, and tenure‑track success.
Start the FREE MAPP Career Assessment today, because tomorrow’s debates need historians who can cite their sources.
