Museum Directors and Curators

The salaries of museum directors and curators cover a broad range, reflecting the diversity, size, and budget of U.S. museums, along with the director or curator's academic and professional achievements. In general, museum workers' salaries are low compared to salaries for similar positions in the business world or in academia. This is due in part to the large number of people competing for the relatively small number of positions available. At the high end of the scale, museum directors at museums like the Whitney and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, or the Art Institute of Chicago earn more than $500,000 a year.

Salaries for museum directors vary depending upon the demands of the job and the museum's overall budget—they can start at less than $100,000 per year and range to $500,000 or much higher. Larger, well-established museums generally pay higher salaries than smaller museums.

The median annual earnings of museum curators were $68,430 in May 2023, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. Salaries for all curators ranged from less than $38,000 to more than $107,860. Curators employed by local government agencies had mean annual earnings of $63,460.

Fringe benefits, including paid vacations and sick leave, medical and dental insurance, and retirement plans, vary between museum directors and curators and according to each employing institution's policies.