Museum Technicians and Conservators
Arts, Audio/Video Technology and CommunicationsO*NET 25-4013.00United States
Restore, maintain, or prepare objects in museum collections for storage, research, or exhibit. May work with specimens such as fossils, skeletal parts, or botanicals; or artifacts, textiles, or art.
- Median annual earnings
- $50,311
- Projected change
- +9.2%
- Typical education
- Master's or Professional degree
- Employment
- 15.24K jobs
50th percentile, United States
2025 to 2035
47.1% of the workforce
Growing to 16.65K by 2035
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The work
What museum technicians and conservators do
Tasks reported for this occupation, ordered by how often they come up in the role.
- Install, arrange, assemble, and prepare artifacts for exhibition, ensuring the artifacts' safety, reporting their status and condition, and identifying and correcting any problems with the set up.
- Repair, restore, and reassemble artifacts, designing and fabricating missing or broken parts, to restore them to their original appearance and prevent deterioration.
- Clean objects, such as paper, textiles, wood, metal, glass, rock, pottery, and furniture, using cleansers, solvents, soap solutions, and polishes.
- Photograph objects for documentation.
- Determine whether objects need repair and choose the safest and most effective method of repair.
- Prepare artifacts for storage and shipping.
- Enter information about museum collections into computer databases.
- Recommend preservation procedures, such as control of temperature and humidity, to curatorial and building staff.
- Notify superior when restoration of artifacts requires outside experts.
- Supervise and work with volunteers.
- Perform on-site field work which may involve interviewing people, inspecting and identifying artifacts, note-taking, viewing sites and collections, and repainting exhibition spaces.
- Lead tours and teach educational courses to students and the general public.
Pay and outlook
What the job pays and where it is heading
Annual earnings range
Reported earnings by percentile, United States
- 10th percentile
- $31,633
- 25th percentile
- $39,166
- 50th percentile
- $50,311
- 75th percentile
- $69,461
- 90th percentile
- $96,328
The gold marker shows the median. Half earn more than $50,311 and half earn less.
Employment outlook
2025 to 2035 projection
+9.2%faster than average
202515,241 jobs
2035 projected16,645 jobs
1,404 more positions over the decade, before replacement hiring.
Preparation
Education levels
What people currently working in the career hold. These are not entry requirements.
- Master's or Professional degree
- 47.1%
- Bachelor's degree
- 24.1%
- Certificate
- 20.3%
- Associate degree
- 7.2%
- High school diploma or less
- 1.3%
Skills
Skills employers ask for
Technical skills appearing most often in job postings for this occupation.
How the work gets done
Core competencies
Broad capabilities associated with strong performance in this occupation.
- Active Listening
- Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
- Reading Comprehension
- Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work-related documents.
- Speaking
- Talking to others to convey information effectively.
- Writing
- Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.
- Critical Thinking
- Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions, or approaches to problems.
- Monitoring
- Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
- Judgment and Decision Making
- Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.
- Complex Problem Solving
- Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.
- Instructing
- Teaching others how to do something.
- Coordination
- Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions.
- Active Learning
- Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.
- Social Perceptiveness
- Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
- Learning Strategies
- Selecting and using training/instructional methods and procedures appropriate for the situation when learning or teaching new things.
- Time Management
- Managing one's own time and the time of others.
- Service Orientation
- Actively looking for ways to help people.
- Systems Analysis
- Determining how a system should work and how changes in conditions, operations, and the environment will affect outcomes.
- Systems Evaluation
- Identifying measures or indicators of system performance and the actions needed to improve or correct performance, relative to the goals of the system.
- Persuasion
- Persuading others to change their minds or behavior.
- Negotiation
- Bringing others together and trying to reconcile differences.
- Operations Monitoring
- Watching gauges, dials, or other indicators to make sure a machine is working properly.
In the market
Job titles and employers
Recent job postings in United StatesCommon job titles
- 01Museum Technicians53 postings
- 02Museum Preparators21 postings
- 03Exhibit Preparators3 postings
- 04Conservation Specialists2 postings
- 05Conservators1 postings
- 06Directors of Exhibitions1 postings
- 07Exhibit Consultants1 postings
Top employers
- 01U.S National Park Service17 postings
- 02National Park Service10 postings
- 03City & County of San Francisco4 postings
- 04Indiana University-Bloomington3 postings
- 05State of California3 postings
- 06University of California-Berkeley2 postings
- 07University of New Mexico2 postings
- 08Arts & Culture1 postings
- 09Asian Art Museum1 postings
- 10C&O Canal Trust1 postings
- 11California State University-San Bernardino1 postings
- 12Ciconix1 postings
- 13City Of Albuquerque1 postings
- 14City Of Cleburne1 postings
- 15City Of El Paso1 postings
- 16Conservation Legacy1 postings
- 17Country Music Foundation1 postings
- 18Department Of Parks And Recreation1 postings
- 19Florida State University1 postings
- 20General Secretariat Of The Organization Of American States1 postings
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