---
title: "Museum Technician and Conservator"
description: "Restore, maintain, or prepare objects in museum collections for storage, research, or exhibit. May work with specimens such as fossils, skeletal parts…"
canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/museum-technician-and-conservator"
last-updated: "2026-10-09T10:57:55.138Z"
---

# Museum Technician and Conservator

**Category:** Educational Instruction and Library · **SOC code:** 25-4013 · **O\*NET-SOC code:** 25-4013.00

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. May identify and record objects or install and arrange them in exhibits. Includes book or document conservators.

Also advertised as: Conservation Technician (Conservation Tech); Conservator; Exhibit Technician (Exhibit Tech); Museum Registrar; Museum Technician (Museum Tech); Objects Conservator; Paintings Conservator; Paper Conservator.

## At a glance

- **Median annual wage:** $51,440 (BLS OEWS, May 2025)
- **Median hourly wage:** $24.73/hr
- **Wage range (10th–90th percentile):** $33,780 to $87,530, with the middle half between $41,050 and $67,640
- **Total US employment:** 12,310
- **Typical entry education:** Bachelor's
- **Preparation required:** Considerable preparation — O\*NET rates this "Job Zone Five: Extensive Preparation Needed"
- **Projected growth:** +3.6% over 2025–2035 (BLS EP, 2025–2035)
- **Annual job openings:** 1,600 openings a year
- **AI-resilience score:** 40/100 — a NueCareer heuristic over O\*NET work activities and context, not a BLS or O\*NET figure

## Pay

National wage distribution, BLS OEWS, May 2025, across 12,310 US jobs.

| Percentile | Annual wage |
| --- | --- |
| 10th | $33,780 |
| 25th | $41,050 |
| 50th (median) | $51,440 |
| 75th | $67,640 |
| 90th | $87,530 |
| Mean (average) | $57,410 |

### Pay by state

The 15 highest-paying states, by median annual wage. The cost-of-living-adjusted column divides the state median by that state's BEA Regional Price Parity, so the columns answer different questions: the first is what the job pays there, the second is what that pay buys there.

| State | Median annual wage | Cost-of-living adjusted | Employment |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| MD | $76,900 | $73,267 | 450 |
| DC | $76,110 | $69,253 | 520 |
| NY | $74,550 | $69,078 | 1,050 |
| CT | $62,030 | $59,869 | 280 |
| CA | $61,550 | $55,591 | 1,610 |
| AK | $60,840 | $59,438 | 60 |
| WA | $59,610 | $55,704 | 280 |
| MA | $58,530 | $55,344 | 440 |
| IL | $56,720 | $56,744 | 400 |
| NM | $56,670 | $61,456 | 100 |
| NV | $56,470 | $56,482 | 70 |
| WY | $56,420 | $60,869 | 60 |
| RI | $55,470 | $54,233 | 70 |
| FL | $53,460 | $51,695 | 250 |
| VA | $52,190 | $51,620 | 310 |

30 more states with published wage data are omitted here. The full table for all 45 states is at https://nuecareer.com/careers/museum-technician-and-conservator/salary-by-state, or as JSON at https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/museum-technician-and-conservator.

## Outlook

BLS projects employment to move from 14,000 in the 2025–2035 base year to 14,500 by the end of the cycle — a gain of 500 jobs, or +3.6%. About as fast as average: 3.6% against 3.5% projected for all occupations over the same cycle. About 1,600 openings a year are expected on average, counting openings from growth as well as from workers leaving the occupation permanently. Source: BLS EP, 2025–2035.

## How to get in

- **Typical entry education:** Bachelor's degree (BLS Employment Projections).
- **Preparation level:** Considerable preparation — O\*NET's preparation band for this occupation is "Job Zone Five: Extensive Preparation Needed".
- **Related work experience typically required:** None.
- **Typical on-the-job training:** None.

## What the work involves

- Determine whether objects need repair and choose the safest and most effective method of repair.
- Recommend preservation procedures, such as control of temperature and humidity, to curatorial and building staff.
- Study object documentation or conduct standard chemical and physical tests to ascertain the object's age, composition, original appearance, need for treatment or restoration, and appropriate preservation method.
- Clean objects, such as paper, textiles, wood, metal, glass, rock, pottery, and furniture, using cleansers, solvents, soap solutions, and polishes.
- Repair, restore, and reassemble artifacts, designing and fabricating missing or broken parts, to restore them to their original appearance and prevent deterioration.
- Perform tests and examinations to establish storage and conservation requirements, policies, and procedures.
- Direct and supervise curatorial, technical, and student staff in the handling, mounting, care, and storage of art objects.
- Photograph objects for documentation.

## Skills and knowledge

### Essential skills

- Reading Comprehension — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Listening — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speaking — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Writing — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Critical Thinking — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Monitoring — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Learning — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Learning Strategies — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Transferable skills

These are the skills that carry into other occupations, and they drive the related-occupation and career-change rankings on this site.

- Complex Problem Solving — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Judgment and Decision Making — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Social Perceptiveness — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Coordination — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Instructing — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Time Management — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Service Orientation — importance 2.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Quality Control Analysis — importance 2.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Knowledge areas

- Chemistry — importance 4.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Fine Arts — importance 4.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- History and Archeology — importance 4.2 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- English Language — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Education and Training — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Administrative — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Abilities

- Oral Comprehension — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Written Comprehension — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Oral Expression — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Near Vision — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Written Expression — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Information Ordering — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

## Who it suits

O\*NET rates every occupation on the six Holland (RIASEC) interest areas, on a 1–7 scale. This occupation's strongest areas are Realistic (R), Conventional (C), Investigative (I).

| Interest area | Score (1–7) |
| --- | --- |
| R — Realistic | 5.67 |
| C — Conventional | 4.58 |
| I — Investigative | 3.21 |
| A — Artistic | 3.14 |
| S — Social | 2.64 |
| E — Enterprising | 1.51 |

### Personality fit

These scores are **derived by NueCareer**, not published by any government agency: they are cosine similarities between a personality type's trait profile and this occupation's O\*NET interest and work-style ratings, expressed 0–100. Treat them as a starting point for exploration, not as evidence that a type belongs in a job.

| Type | Fit score (0–100) |
| --- | --- |
| ISTJ | 84.8 |
| ISTP | 76.3 |
| ISFJ | 74.9 |
| INTJ | 67.8 |
| ESTJ | 62.6 |

Best-fitting types: ISTJ. The bank also flags this occupation as introvert-friendly, meaning O\*NET work-context ratings put it low on public contact and performing for the public.

## Related occupations

O\*NET's primary related occupations, in its own ranked order.

- [Curator](https://nuecareer.com/careers/curator) — median $63,420
- [Set and Exhibit Designer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/set-and-exhibit-designer) — median $75,240
- [Archivist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/archivist) — median $64,550
- [Historian](https://nuecareer.com/careers/historian) — median $76,750
- [Craft Artist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/craft-artist) — median $46,080
- [Fine Artist, Including Painters, Sculptors, and Illustrators](https://nuecareer.com/careers/fine-artist) — median $55,490
- [Painter, Construction and Maintenance](https://nuecareer.com/careers/painter-construction-and-maintenance) — median $49,400
- [Forest and Conservation Technician](https://nuecareer.com/careers/forest-and-conservation-technician) — median $54,560
- [Chemical Technician](https://nuecareer.com/careers/chemical-technician) — median $60,390
- [Librarian](https://nuecareer.com/careers/librarian) — median $68,270

## Sources

- **O\*NET** — O\*NET 31.0 Database, August 2026. https://www.onetcenter.org/database.html
- **BLS OEWS** — BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. https://www.bls.gov/oes/
- **BLS EP** — BLS Employment Projections, Table 1.2, 2025–2035. https://www.bls.gov/emp/
- **BLS OOH** — BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2025–2035 edition. https://www.bls.gov/ooh/
- **BEA RPP** — BEA Regional Price Parities by State, 2024. https://www.bea.gov/data/prices-inflation/regional-price-parities-state-and-metro-area

---

This bank includes information from the O\*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). O\*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. NueCareer has transformed the data by joining it to BLS wage and projection data and deriving facet, personality-fit and AI-resilience scores. BLS and BEA data are public domain (17 U.S.C. §105).

O\*NET content is used under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). How these figures are sourced and derived: https://nuecareer.com/careers/methodology

JSON representation of this page: https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/museum-technician-and-conservator