Elementary School Teacher vs Museum Technicians and Conservators: $64K vs $51K Median Pay

Elementary School Teacher vs Museum Technicians and Conservators: what changes?

Consider Elementary School Teacher if you want to teach academic and social skills to students at the elementary school level. Consider Museum Technicians and Conservators if you would rather restore, maintain, or prepare objects in museum collections for storage, research, or exhibit. Both list bachelor's degree; compare training and prior experience separately.

Try this next: Compare three local entry-level postings for Elementary School Teacher and Museum Technicians and Conservators. List the duties, credentials, prior experience, and paid training each employer actually asks for. Try a supervised class or sample project from each field before choosing a program.

BLS 2025 wages and 2025–2035 projections. National medians are not starting offers. Occupation size is not a count of vacancies. View the BLS data.

Compare the practical differences

Elementary School Teacher

National median pay (2025): $63,970
Route into the job: Bachelor's degree
Prior related experience: No prior related occupation is typically required; employer requirements vary.
Training and licensing: BLS does not list a separate on-the-job training requirement. Employers may still provide orientation and role-specific training.
Work to investigate: Instruct students individually and in groups, using teaching methods such as lectures, discussions, and demonstrations.
Annual openings (2025–2035): 87,500

Know before you choose

BLS projects employment to shrink 0.4% from 2025 to 2035. Openings can still occur when existing workers leave.

See the full Elementary School Teacher brief

Museum Technicians and Conservators

National median pay (2025): $51,440
Route into the job: Bachelor's degree
Prior related experience: No prior related occupation is typically required; employer requirements vary.
Training and licensing: BLS does not list a separate on-the-job training requirement. Employers may still provide orientation and role-specific training.
Work to investigate: Install, arrange, assemble, and prepare artifacts for exhibition, ensuring the artifacts' safety, reporting their status and condition, and identifying and correcting any problems with the set up.
Annual openings (2025–2035): 1,600

Know before you choose

This is a small national occupation (14,000 jobs in 2025), so location and employer concentration can matter more than the national median suggests.

See the full Museum Technicians and Conservators brief

How the national numbers differ

Elementary School Teacher has the edge on annual openings

Elementary School Teacher is at 87,500 annual openings, compared with 1,600 annual openings for Museum Technicians and Conservators.

Museum Technicians and Conservators has the edge on projected growth

Museum Technicians and Conservators is at 3.6% projected growth, compared with -0.4% projected growth for Elementary School Teacher.

Elementary School Teacher has the edge on median pay

Elementary School Teacher is at $63,970, compared with $51,440 for Museum Technicians and Conservators.

55/ 100

Elementary School Teacher

37.7/ 100

Museum Technicians and Conservators

Each available metric is ranked from 0 to 100 against the careers on ChooseField. The weighted average uses this profile: pay 30%, growth 25%, openings 30%, preparation level 15%. Missing values are not scored as zero; their weights are redistributed across available metrics. Occupation size has zero weight: employment is not accessible vacancies. Preparation categories do not measure admission difficulty or years without earnings. The score summarizes national measures; local opportunities and personal fit still need separate consideration.

Detailed evidence

Elementary School Teacher vs Museum Technicians and Conservators

Dimension	Elementary School Teacher	Museum Technicians and Conservators
Median pay (2025)	$63,970	$51,440
Pay percentile	55.3 percentile	35.8 percentile
Projected growth (2025–2035)	-0.4%	3.6%
Annual openings (2025–2035)	87,500	1,600
2025 employment	1,419,300	14,000
How you qualify	Bachelor's degree	Bachelor's degree
O*NET preparation group	Job Zone 4	Job Zone 4
Related work experience	No prior related occupation is typically required; employer requirements vary.	No prior related occupation is typically required; employer requirements vary.
On-the-job training	BLS does not list a separate on-the-job training requirement. Employers may still provide orientation and role-specific training.	BLS does not list a separate on-the-job training requirement. Employers may still provide orientation and role-specific training.

The table reports national benchmarks and reviewed work descriptions. It does not rate personal suitability, job security, or physical safety.

Read Elementary School Teacher brief Read Museum Technicians and Conservators brief

Elementary School Teacher vs Museum Technicians and Conservators: what changes?

The facts most likely to affect your decision

Elementary School Teacher

Museum Technicians and Conservators

How the national numbers differ

Elementary School Teacher has the edge on annual openings

Museum Technicians and Conservators has the edge on projected growth

Elementary School Teacher has the edge on median pay

Elementary School Teacher vs Museum Technicians and Conservators

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