Anthropology is a people-oriented degree that establishes foundations in a range of subjects and requires transferable skills, which means that endless career options and educational pathways are available. Anthropologists can be found in an impressive array of fields and career paths, including business, research, teaching, advocacy, public service, museums, health care, and more. The field is projected to expand 6% by 2031, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), and anthropologists earned a median of $61,910 in 2021.

Here are some careers that an anthropology degree can help prepare you for:

• Archeologist: With a bachelor’s degree, you might start as a field technician. As a field technician, you could survey land for archeological resources whenever there are plants for ground disruption — such as installing a highway or oil pipeline.
• Academic Anthropologist: On campuses, in departments of anthropology, and in research laboratories, anthropologists teach and conduct research. They spend a great deal of time preparing for classes, writing lectures, grading papers, working with individual students, composing scholarly articles, and writing books.
• Federal Government Employee: The federal government is one of the largest employers of anthropologists outside of academia. Possible career paths include international development, cultural resource management, the legislative branch, forensic and physical anthropology, natural resource management, and defense and security sectors.
• Non-Governmental Organization Employee: Many non-governmental organizations, such as international health organizations and development banks, employ anthropologists to help design and implement a wide variety of programs.
• Community-Based Researcher: Many anthropologists work in local, community-based settings for non-profit agencies. Sometimes, they work through community-based research organizations.

A bachelor’s degree in anthropology opens many doors to potential career paths, equipping you with broad skills and teaching you how to interact with and understand people. Anthropology graduates can also pursue a role in advertising, conservation, health and social work, heritage management, museums, sales and marketing, and more. Some students go on to Masters degrees and specialize in an anthropological area, such as visual or medical anthropology, while others pursue related disciplines, such as community health, sociology, social research methods, politics, human geography, and economics.