What Can I Do With a Masters in Anthropology?

Jobs you can get with a Masters in Anthropology include forensic anthropologist, higher education lecturer/professor, commercial archaeologist (US) and  archaeology field technician (US). A Masters in Anthropology may be worth it as a ‘conversion’ from an unrelated undergrad or as a stepping stone to PhD study. The highest paying job in anthropology is likely as an advertising and promotions manager / marketing manager, with experienced workers earning upwards of £53,000 / $100,000 a year.

If you’ve wondered about what it means to be human (but not in the philosophical sense), you may be considering a Masters in Anthropology. There’s a bit of overlap with philosophy in other ways, actually—for one, it’ll give you a new lens to see the rest of the world through. This is useful in quite a few careers, though there aren’t many that literally have ‘anthropologist’ in the title (just like no one’s hiring ‘philosophers’ unless you’ve travelled back in time to ancient Greece).

I suppose what this also means is that, if you bump into a philosophy postgrad at a party, there’s a distinct chance you’ll be chatting about the nature of humanity for the rest of the evening. I see this as an absolute win, but if you want to avoid this particular scenario, maybe give a wide berth to anyone wearing an ‘Eat. Sleep. Philosophy.’ t-shirt.

Still, if the chatting is over and you’re ready for your job search, what exactly can you do with a Masters in Anthropology? The answer is ‘quite a lot’, but I’ve narrowed down to some directly and indirectly related jobs, along with some transferable skills from studying humanity. Some of the jobs are ‘US only’ due to how anthropology differs between the US and the UK, so I’ll make a note of those when they come up.

Masters in Anthropology jobs (directly related)

Forensic anthropologist

Average starting salary: £25,000 / $57,000

Duties: assist law enforcement with location and recovery of human remains at a crime scene, analyse skeletal remains to establish the biological profile of an individual, interpret trauma evident on bones to establish type an extent of injuries.

Note: If you’re aiming for this one, bear in mind that it’s quite a rare job with a lot of competition. You may also need a PhD to qualify.

Higher education lecturer (UK) / professor (USA)

Average starting salary: £39,859 / $77,799

Example duties: deliver lectures, seminars and tutorials, assess students’ coursework, develop courses, modules and teaching materials.

Note: In the UK, this would be a lecturer at a college or sixth form rather than at a university—in the majority of cases, you need a PhD to become a university lecturer. In the US, this would be professor at a community college (typically an adjunct professor).

Archaeological field technician (USA)

Average starting salary: £26,000 / $49,000

Example duties: recognise surface and subsurface archaeological resources, unit extraction, photography and exploratory trenching.

Note: Archaeology isn’t typically part of anthropology in the UK, so I’ve marked this as US only. See ‘tips from the author’ for more information.

Commercial archaeologist (USA)

Average starting salary: £22,000 / $49,000

Duties: survey an area prior to construction work, collect and record any artefacts discovered, perform geophysical surveys.

Note: As above.

Masters in Anthropology jobs (indirectly related)

User experience (UX) researcher

Average starting salary: £35,000 / $85,000

Example duties: design and execute custom research to support business initiatives, build user journeys and personas, collaborate with design team to define intent, development, testing and refinement of prototypes.

Policy analyst

Average starting salary: £32,465 / $66,064

Duties: analyse data and interpret research findings, write policy proposals, develop performance indicators and evaluations for new policies.

Research analyst

Average starting salary: £28,799 / $68,082

Duties: conduct data collection and analysis, undertake market research, create strategic recommendations.

Data analyst

Average starting salary: £23,000 / $65,302

Example duties: organise and transform information into comprehensible structures, use data to predict trends, prepare reports and present to management or clients.

Transferable skills for a Masters in Anthropology

Here are some typical transferable skills for a Masters in Anthropology:

• Research (qualitative and quantitative)
• Survey, questionnaire and interview design
• Critical thinking and communication
• Cultural understanding

Since research skills are useful in a lot of careers (and most jobs involve dealing with humanity in some form or another), you can consider the jobs list incomplete. Social work is another possibility I didn’t mention, but I kept it off the list since you’ll need another qualification to get your foot in the door (typically a Masters in Social Work).

What are some of my options for studying Anthropology?

Tips from the author

#1 Anthropology in the USA and the UK cover slightly different things (usually)

This will impact you if you’re looking at studying a degree across the pond. In the UK, ‘anthropology’ typically covers what the US know as ‘cultural anthropology’, whereas in the US, it covers a variety of different areas (including archaeology). This means US students may find the UK courses too specific and UK students may find US courses too broad, so make sure to read the course description carefully!

#2 If you have a Bachelors in Anthropology, consider work experience before committing to a Masters

The transferable skills from a Bachelors vs a Masters in Anthropology are fairly similar, and aside from lecturer/professor and forensic anthropologist (the latter of which is very difficult to get), a Masters doesn’t typically unlock any jobs you couldn’t already get with a Bachelors. If you opt to get some work experience first, you’ll be in a better position to see how a Masters would benefit your career (and may even get employer sponsorship if you’re persuasive!).

#3 People don’t know they’re looking for an anthropologist’s skillset until you pitch it

What I mean is, you may see a job ad that lists the transferable skills listed above…but of course, they likely won’t advertise it as looking for ‘anthropology graduates’. It’s your job to connect the dots and show how your Masters gives you a specific leg up compared to someone who picked up those skill more generically. Don’t underestimate the subject knowledge either—it’s that kind of knowledge which makes anthropology postgrads such good UX researchers.

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