---
title: "Tour Guide and Escort"
description: "Escort individuals or groups on sightseeing tours or through places of interest, such as industrial establishments, public buildings, and art galleries."
canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/tour-guide-and-escort"
last-updated: "2026-10-09T10:57:55.138Z"
---

# Tour Guide and Escort

**Category:** Personal Care and Service · **SOC code:** 39-7011 · **O\*NET-SOC code:** 39-7011.00

Escort individuals or groups on sightseeing tours or through places of interest, such as industrial establishments, public buildings, and art galleries.

Also advertised as: Art Museum Docent; Discovery Guide; Docent; Guide; Historical Interpreter; Museum Docent; Museum Educator; Museum Guide.

## At a glance

- **Median annual wage:** $38,120 (BLS OEWS, May 2025)
- **Median hourly wage:** $18.33/hr
- **Wage range (10th–90th percentile):** $28,520 to $60,930, with the middle half between $32,910 and $47,700
- **Total US employment:** 53,500
- **Typical entry education:** High school
- **Preparation required:** Some preparation — O\*NET rates this "Job Zone Three: Medium Preparation Needed"
- **Projected growth:** +6.3% over 2025–2035 (BLS EP, 2025–2035)
- **Annual job openings:** 11,900 openings a year
- **AI-resilience score:** 46/100 — 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 53,500 US jobs.

| Percentile | Annual wage |
| --- | --- |
| 10th | $28,520 |
| 25th | $32,910 |
| 50th (median) | $38,120 |
| 75th | $47,700 |
| 90th | $60,930 |
| Mean (average) | $43,720 |

### 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 |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| VI | $102,020 | No BEA price parity | 50 |
| WA | $54,160 | $50,611 | 1,420 |
| DC | $49,210 | $44,777 | 380 |
| WY | $47,020 | $50,728 | 560 |
| CA | $46,000 | $41,546 | 6,900 |
| HI | $45,940 | $41,782 | 1,370 |
| VT | $45,920 | $46,877 | 140 |
| ME | $44,940 | $46,306 | 270 |
| NY | $44,450 | $41,188 | 2,870 |
| AK | $44,210 | $43,191 | 1,660 |
| KS | $43,700 | $48,519 | 400 |
| CO | $42,840 | $41,571 | 2,150 |
| FL | $41,600 | $40,227 | 2,720 |
| NH | $41,600 | $39,937 | 260 |
| MD | $40,310 | $38,405 | 510 |

37 more states with published wage data are omitted here. The full table for all 52 states is at https://nuecareer.com/careers/tour-guide-and-escort/salary-by-state, or as JSON at https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/tour-guide-and-escort.

## Outlook

BLS projects employment to move from 62,200 in the 2025–2035 base year to 66,100 by the end of the cycle — a gain of 3,900 jobs, or +6.3%. Faster than average: 6.3% against 3.5% projected for all occupations over the same cycle. About 11,900 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:** High school diploma or equivalent (BLS Employment Projections).
- **Preparation level:** Some preparation — O\*NET's preparation band for this occupation is "Job Zone Three: Medium Preparation Needed".
- **Related work experience typically required:** None.
- **Typical on-the-job training:** Moderate-term on-the-job training.

### Education people in this job actually hold

O\*NET surveys incumbents, so this distribution describes who is in the job today and can differ from the BLS entry requirement above.

| Education level | Share of workers |
| --- | --- |
| Associate's Degree or other 2-year degree | 31.0% |
| Bachelor's Degree | 30.0% |
| High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED) | 21.8% |
| Post-Secondary Certificate | 7.7% |
| Less than a High School Diploma | 4.1% |
| Master's Degree | 2.1% |

## What the work involves

- Describe tour points of interest to group members, and respond to questions.
- Provide directions and other pertinent information to visitors.
- Research various topics, including site history, environmental conditions, and clients' skills and abilities to plan appropriate expeditions, instruction, and commentary.
- Escort individuals or groups on cruises, sightseeing tours, or through places of interest, such as industrial establishments, public buildings, or art galleries.
- Conduct educational activities for school children.
- Monitor visitors' activities to ensure compliance with establishment or tour regulations and safety practices.
- Select travel routes and sites to be visited based on knowledge of specific areas.

## Skills and knowledge

### Essential skills

- Speaking — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Listening — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Reading Comprehension — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Monitoring — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Critical Thinking — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Writing — importance 2.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Learning — importance 2.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Learning Strategies — importance 2.3 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.

- Social Perceptiveness — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Service Orientation — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Coordination — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Time Management — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Judgment and Decision Making — importance 2.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Persuasion — importance 2.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Instructing — importance 2.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Negotiation — importance 2.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Knowledge areas

- Customer and Personal Service — importance 4.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- English Language — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- History and Archeology — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Communications and Media — importance 3.2 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Education and Training — importance 3.2 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Geography — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Abilities

- Oral Expression — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Oral Comprehension — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speech Clarity — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Written Comprehension — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Far Vision — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speech Recognition — importance 3.1 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 Social (S), Enterprising (E), Artistic (A).

| Interest area | Score (1–7) |
| --- | --- |
| S — Social | 5.35 |
| E — Enterprising | 3.64 |
| A — Artistic | 3.46 |
| R — Realistic | 3.33 |
| C — Conventional | 2.85 |
| I — Investigative | 2.40 |

### 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) |
| --- | --- |
| ESFP | 82.1 |
| ENFJ | 79.0 |
| ESFJ | 77.5 |
| ENFP | 73.1 |
| ISFJ | 55.8 |

Best-fitting types: ESFP, ENFJ, ESFJ.

## Related occupations

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

- [Travel Guide](https://nuecareer.com/careers/travel-guide) — median $38,120
- [Park Naturalist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/park-naturalist) — median $73,010
- [Usher, Lobby Attendant, and Ticket Taker](https://nuecareer.com/careers/usher-lobby-attendant-and-ticket-taker) — median $32,910
- [Travel Agent](https://nuecareer.com/careers/travel-agent) — median $50,160
- [Reservation and Transportation Ticket Agent and Travel Clerk](https://nuecareer.com/careers/reservation-and-transportation-ticket-agent-and-travel-clerk) — median $44,390
- [Concierge](https://nuecareer.com/careers/concierge) — median $38,950
- [Historian](https://nuecareer.com/careers/historian) — median $76,750
- [Curator](https://nuecareer.com/careers/curator) — median $63,420
- [Recreation Worker](https://nuecareer.com/careers/recreation-worker) — median $36,560
- [Self-Enrichment Teacher](https://nuecareer.com/careers/self-enrichment-teacher) — median $46,800

## 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/tour-guide-and-escort