Education: Master’s degree
Median yearly pay: $53,910
Job growth, 2008-2018: 28%
If donning khaki and digging dirt is your passion, you’re in luck. Opportunities for archaeologists span from contracting for the government to consulting for research firms to working for museums. “Beginning in the mid to late 1970s, a lot of opportunities [outside of consulting or academia] became available because of federal and state mandates,” says Stephen R. Claggett, the state archaeologist for North Carolina. He says what brings most people to the field is “the chance to discover things that have not been seen for a long time, and the thrill of finding artifacts.”