How To Become A Museum Docent: What It Is and Career Path

What is a museum docent and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

Quoted expert

Sally Shelton

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a museum docent. For example, did you know that they make an average of $19.53 an hour? That's $40,630 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 12% and produce 4,200 job opportunities across the U.S.

What general advice would you give to a museum docent?

Sally Shelton

Associate Professor of Practice and Associate Chair

The world of museums, libraries, galleries, and archives is wide-ranging and rapidly evolving. 21st-century skills are very much needed as we find new ways to manage our science, history, and heritage resources, in terms of both object care and information management. In addition, we are more aware than ever before of the complex issues surrounding objects removed from their country or culture of origin, and of the need for museums to be proactive and responsible in dealing with these issues. For example, to mention a few, provenance research and repatriation expertise have never been more important than they are now. Digital heritage issues and born-digital materials need a different and rapidly changing level of care and management, in ways that are different from the care and management of tangible materials. At the same time, tangible objects and records also need care, and there is no substitute for hard-copy records. Museums are also strengthening their roles as keepers of intangible heritage: the documentation of the cultures and contexts that give objects their significance and meaning. So the 21st-century museum professional needs to be attuned to community and cultural concerns just as much as they are to physical and digital management of resources. Finally, funding will most likely always be a concern for the survival of our institutions. Keeping them relevant, valuable, and important to their communities and audiences without compromising their core values will always be the balance that we need to find. Grantwriting, creating marketable programs, and finding other sources of funding should be dynamic parts of managing the institution.

ScoreMuseum DocentUS Average

Salary

3.2

Avg. Salary $40,630

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

4.6

Growth rate 12%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

5.0

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 1.21%

Asian 4.93%

Black or African American 5.13%

Hispanic or Latino 7.07%

Unknown 4.18%

White 77.48%

Gender

female 62.87%

male 37.13%

Age - 43

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 43

Stress level

4.6

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level

7.9

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

8.7

Work life balance is excellent

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a museum docent

Explore museum docent education requirements

Most common museum docent degrees

Bachelor's

81.0 %

Associate

7.6 %

Master's

6.3 %

Start to develop specific museum docent skills

Skills	Percentages
Natural History	39.26%
Museum Gift Shop	9.33%
Museum Exhibits	7.99%
Front Desk	7.38%
Public Speaking	7.01%

Complete relevant museum docent training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New museum docents learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a museum docent based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real museum docent resumes.

Research museum docent duties and responsibilities

Conduct tours of the anthropology and paleontology museums * Write/edit exhibit- and art show-relate materials
Create and present educational PowerPoint oral presentations.

Prepare your museum docent resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your museum docent resume.

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