# Anthropology and Archeology Teachers, Postsecondary

US SOC code 25-1061. Markdown version of https://futurehistory.earth/timeline/25-1061

Also called: Anthropology professor, Archaeology professor, Archeology postsec teacher, Anthropology faculty, Archaeology faculty.

## In brief

In May 2025, [BLS](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm25nat.zip) counted **5,240** US postsecondary anthropology and archeology teachers, with median pay of **$99,650** a year. Of the BLS counts since 2021, the highest was **5,260**, in May 2024, close to the May 2025 count. The earliest figure here is [an estimate](https://americananthro.org/about/history/) of **50** from 1902, not measured the same way as today's count. The last full technology era in this work: LiDAR remote sensing, 2010 to 2022.

## What the sources say

### Official outlook

BLS projects employment to grow 2.6% from 2025 to 2035. Source: [BLS Employment Projections 2025-35](https://data.bls.gov/projections/nationalMatrix?queryParams=25-1061&ioType=o).

### AI exposure studies

- **40.8%** of this job's tasks are exposed to large language models. Not a forecast of job losses. [Eloundou and others, 2023](https://github.com/openai/GPTs-are-GPTs/blob/main/data/occ_level.csv)

Data as of BLS OEWS May 2025; BLS Employment Projections 2025-35. BLS publishes these counts as yearly survey snapshots and cautions against reading them as a precise trend.

## Anthropology and Archeology Teachers, Postsecondary employment and pay by year

- On record since: 1879
- Latest US employment: 5,240 (May 2025). Source: BLS OEWS May 2025 [6]
- Latest US median pay: $99,650 (May 2025). Source: BLS OEWS May 2025 [9]
- Outlook: +2.6% by 2035. Source: BLS Employment Projections 2025-35 [18]

### All 29 years of cited US data

| Year | US employment | Annual pay (median unless marked) | Source |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1902 | 50 (estimate) | n/a | Est., American Anthropological Association [1] |
| 1945 | 300 (estimate) | n/a | Est., University of New Mexico [2] |
| 1963 | n/a | $9,470 (estimate) | Est., AAUP 1962-63 faculty salary survey via… [7] |
| 1970 | 3,500 (estimate) | n/a | Est., Expanding American Anthropology [3] |
| 1985 | 4,200 (estimate) | n/a | Est., Fussell et al. (2018) [4] |
| 2000 | 4,400 | $56,540 | BLS OEWS 2000 [5] |
| 2003 | 4,690 | $59,710 | BLS OEWS May 2003 [6] |
| 2004 | 4,990 | $60,860 | BLS OEWS May 2004 [6] |
| 2005 | 5,320 | $60,710 | BLS OEWS May 2005 [6] |
| 2006 | 5,040 | $62,820 | BLS OEWS May 2006 [6] |
| 2007 | 5,290 | $64,530 | BLS OEWS May 2007 [6] |
| 2008 | 5,500 | $67,750 | BLS OEWS May 2008 [6] |
| 2009 | 5,880 | $69,520 | BLS OEWS May 2009 [6] |
| 2010 | 5,850 | $73,600 | BLS OEWS May 2010 [6] |
| 2011 | 5,790 | $75,460 | BLS OEWS May 2011 [6] |
| 2012 | 5,690 | $76,020 | BLS OEWS May 2012 [6] |
| 2013 | 5,920 | $75,930 | BLS OEWS May 2013 [6] |
| 2014 | 6,100 | $74,750 | BLS OEWS May 2014 [6] |
| 2015 | 6,000 | $77,650 | BLS OEWS May 2015 [6] |
| 2016 | 5,700 | $81,350 | BLS OEWS May 2016 [6] |
| 2017 | 5,770 | $81,580 | BLS OEWS May 2017 [6] |
| 2018 | 5,890 | $83,940 | BLS OEWS May 2018 [6] |
| 2019 | 5,850 | $86,220 | BLS OEWS May 2019 [6] |
| 2020 | 5,590 | $89,220 | BLS OEWS May 2020 [6] |
| 2021 | 5,010 | $97,340 | BLS OEWS May 2021 [6] |
| 2022 | 4,930 | $85,000 | BLS OEWS May 2022 [6] |
| 2023 | 5,030 | $93,650 | BLS OEWS May 2023 [6] |
| 2024 | 5,260 | $95,770 | BLS OEWS May 2024 [6] |
| 2025 | 5,240 | $99,650 | BLS OEWS May 2025 [6] |

## Sources (77)

### Employment series

1. [American Anthropological Association — History page: AAA founded 1902 with initial membership of 175](https://americananthro.org/about/history/), American Anthropological Association
2. [University of New Mexico Department of Anthropology History: six faculty in 1945, twenty-three by 1972](https://anthropology.unm.edu/about-us/history.html), University of New Mexico
3. [Expanding American Anthropology, 1945-1980 (University of Alabama Press) — documented rapid postwar expansion of departments and faculty positions](https://www.uapress.ua.edu/9780817356880/expanding-american-anthropology-1945-1980/), University of Alabama Press
4. [Fussell et al. (2018) — "Market share and recent hiring trends in anthropology faculty positions" (PLOS One): tenure-track share fell from 55.8% (1975) to 29.2% (2011); doctoral production increased from ~350/year (1985) to ~530/year (2014)](https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0202528), PLOS One
5. [BLS OES 2000 national estimates (flat file)](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oes00nat.zip), Bureau of Labor Statistics
6. BLS OEWS, national cross-industry estimates (flat file), Bureau of Labor Statistics. Editions: [2003](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm03nat.zip), [2004](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm04nat.zip), [2005](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm05nat.zip), [2006](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm06nat.zip), [2007](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm07nat.zip), [2008](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm08nat.zip), [2009](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm09nat.zip), [2010](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm10nat.zip), [2011](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm11nat.zip), [2012](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm12nat.zip), [2013](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm13nat.zip), [2014](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm14nat.zip), [2015](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm15nat.zip), [2016](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm16nat.zip), [2017](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm17nat.zip), [2018](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm18nat.zip), [2019](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm19nat.zip), [2020](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm20nat.zip), [2021](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm21nat.zip), [2022](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm22nat.zip), [2023](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm23nat.zip), [2024](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm24nat.zip), [2025](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm25nat.zip)

### Wage series

7. [AAUP 1962-63 faculty salary survey via Dartmouth Alumni Magazine (June 1963): assistant professor average $9,470](https://archive.dartmouthalumnimagazine.com/article/1963/6/1/faculty-salary-study), American Association of University Professors (reported in Dartmouth Alumni Magazine)
8. [BLS OES 2000 national estimates (flat file)](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oes00nat.zip), Bureau of Labor Statistics
9. BLS OEWS, national cross-industry estimates (flat file), Bureau of Labor Statistics. Editions: [2003](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm03nat.zip), [2004](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm04nat.zip), [2005](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm05nat.zip), [2006](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm06nat.zip), [2007](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm07nat.zip), [2008](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm08nat.zip), [2009](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm09nat.zip), [2010](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm10nat.zip), [2011](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm11nat.zip), [2012](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm12nat.zip), [2013](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm13nat.zip), [2014](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm14nat.zip), [2015](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm15nat.zip), [2016](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm16nat.zip), [2017](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm17nat.zip), [2018](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm18nat.zip), [2019](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm19nat.zip), [2020](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm20nat.zip), [2021](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm21nat.zip), [2022](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm22nat.zip), [2023](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm23nat.zip), [2025](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm25nat.zip)
10. [BLS OEWS May 2024, national cross-industry estimates (flat file)](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm24nat.zip), U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

### Tool eras

11. [History of anthropology — Wikipedia: Franz Boas and the methodological foundations of American anthropology, including field notebooks and physical anthropometry](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_anthropology), Wikipedia
12. [Wikipedia — Radiocarbon dating: Willard Libby 1949, Nobel Prize 1960, transformation of archaeological chronology](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiocarbon_dating), Wikipedia
13. [O\*NET 25-1061.00 — Technology skills including SPSS and SAS among top software skills for anthropology and archaeology faculty](https://www.onetonline.org/link/summary/25-1061.00), O\*NET / BLS
14. [Digital and computational archaeology in Germany (De Gruyter, 2024): "the 1990s will probably be remembered in the history of archaeology as the age of GIS"](https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/itit-2024-0091/html?lang=en), De Gruyter / IT Information Technology
15. [Society for American Archaeology — The SAA Archaeological Record (member magazine, five issues/year): covers LiDAR ML, photogrammetry, and AI in archaeological practice; Vol. 25 (2025) context for site documentation workflows](https://saa.org/Member/SAAMember/Publications/The-SAA-Archaeological-Record.aspx), Society for American Archaeology
16. [OpenTopography (opentopography.org): NSF-funded LiDAR data portal with automated ground-filtering and archaeological feature detection workflows; launched 2009; used in Cornell and UCSB anthropology courses](https://opentopography.org/), OpenTopography / NSF
17. [Federal Reserve FEDS Notes — Educational Exposure to Generative Artificial Intelligence (Timmerman and Xiao, February 2026): Social Sciences among highest LLM-exposed academic disciplines](https://www.federalreserve.gov/econres/notes/feds-notes/educational-exposure-to-generative-artificial-intelligence-20250226.html), Federal Reserve / FEDS Notes

### Forecasts and exposure studies

18. [BLS Employment Projections 2025-35, National Employment Matrix: 25-1061 Anthropology and archeology teachers, postsecondary (2025: 6.5 thousand; 2035: 6.7 thousand; +2.6%)](https://data.bls.gov/projections/nationalMatrix?queryParams=25-1061&ioType=o), Bureau of Labor Statistics
19. [Eloundou, Manning, Mishkin & Rock (2023), "GPTs are GPTs", occupation-level exposure data occ\_level.csv (O\*NET-SOC 25-1061.00, human-rated β 0.408)](https://github.com/openai/GPTs-are-GPTs/blob/main/data/occ_level.csv), OpenAI

### Historical notes

20. [History of anthropology — Wikipedia: Bureau of American Ethnology (1879) as first institutional home for professional anthropology in the United States](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_anthropology), Wikipedia
21. [Columbia University Department of Anthropology — "Beginnings: The Boasian Legacy at Columbia": first independent department 1902, Boas as founding chair](https://anthropology.columbia.edu/content/beginnings-boasian-legacy-columbia), Columbia University
22. [Expanding American Anthropology, 1945-1980 (University of Alabama Press): "students who earned anthropology PhDs during these years obtained academic positions before the ink on their diplomas was dry"](https://www.uapress.ua.edu/9780817356880/expanding-american-anthropology-1945-1980/), University of Alabama Press
23. [Fussell et al. (2018) — PLOS One: tenure-track share fell from 55.8% (1975) to 29.2% (2011); budgets declined by one-third since the 1970s](https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0202528), PLOS One
24. [SAA 90th Annual Meeting (Denver, CO, 2025): program archive including symposia on AI, digital methods, and archaeological practice](https://www.saa.org/SAAAnnualMeeting/P-Archives/90th-Annual-Meeting-Denver-CO-2025.aspx), Society for American Archaeology

### Predecessors & successors

25. [AAA History: Bureau of American Ethnology (1879) and natural history museum curatorial roles as institutional precursors to university anthropology faculty positions](https://americananthro.org/about/history/), American Anthropological Association
26. [Fussell et al. (2018) — PLOS One: doctoral anthropology graduates obtained academic positions before ink on diplomas was dry in the 1950s-1960s expansion era](https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0202528), PLOS One

### Present-day analysis

- [O\*NET 30.3 — Anthropology and Archeology Teachers, Postsecondary (25-1061.00)](https://www.onetonline.org/link/summary/25-1061.00), accessed 2026-05-24
- [Eloundou et al. 2024 — GPTs are GPTs (Science 384:1306-1308 / arXiv 2303.10130)](https://arxiv.org/abs/2303.10130), accessed 2026-05-24
- [BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook — Postsecondary Teachers (2024–2034, +7% projected growth)](https://www.bls.gov/ooh/education-training-and-library/postsecondary-teachers.htm), accessed 2026-05-24
- [American Anthropological Association: Anthropological Ethics (page): the AAA Code of Ethics and Principles of Professional Responsibility, with ethics resources for anthropology students, researchers and practitioners](https://americananthro.org/about/anthropological-ethics/), accessed 2026-10-08
- [Society for American Archaeology: Publications (page): SAA publishes three quarterly peer-reviewed journals with Cambridge University Press (American Antiquity, Latin American Antiquity and Advances in Archaeological Practice), a magazine and a book series](https://saa.org/Member/SAAMember/Publications/Publications.aspx), accessed 2026-10-08
- [Federal Reserve FEDS Notes — Educational Exposure to Generative Artificial Intelligence (Timmerman & Xiao, Feb 2026): Social Sciences among highest LLM-exposed academic disciplines](https://www.federalreserve.gov/econres/notes/feds-notes/educational-exposure-to-generative-artificial-intelligence-20250226.html), accessed 2026-05-24
- [Gradescope (Turnitin, 2025): AI-assisted grading deployed at 3,000+ institutions; anthropology/archaeology use for structured identification assessments and site analysis reports](https://www.gradescope.com/), accessed 2026-05-24
- [Elicit — 138M+ academic papers; AI-assisted systematic review and literature extraction with up to 80% time reduction (2025)](https://elicit.com/), accessed 2026-05-24

How to read these figures: https://futurehistory.earth/methodology. Every figure links to its own source; gaps stay gaps.