Saving, restoring, and reusing old buildings and places so their stories survive.
Top pay: highest pay, longest training
Preservation Architect: Restores and adapts historic buildings, like old train stations and courthouses, for modern use. Typical pay $110k.
State Historic Preservation Officer: Leads a state's historic preservation office, reviewing projects that affect historic places. Typical pay $115k.
Preservation Structural Engineer: Figures out how to keep old churches, bridges, and towers standing without destroying their character. Typical pay $110k.
Mid pay: solid pay, degree or apprenticeship
Architectural Conservator: Scientifically analyzes and repairs historic materials like stone, plaster, and paint. Typical pay $75k.
Architectural Historian: Researches and documents the history of buildings and decides which are historically significant. Typical pay $72k.
Historic Preservation Planner: Works for a city reviewing changes to historic buildings and districts. Typical pay $74k.
Cultural Resources Archaeologist: Surveys construction sites for buried artifacts and historic sites before bulldozers arrive. Typical pay $66k.
Historic Tax Credit Consultant: Helps developers use tax credits worth millions to restore old buildings instead of tearing them down. Typical pay $88k.
Restoration Carpenter: Repairs and recreates historic woodwork, porches, and timber frames with traditional methods. Typical pay $62k.
Main Street Program Manager: Revives historic downtowns by helping local businesses and restoring old storefronts. Typical pay $62k.
Ornamental Plaster Restorer: Recreates and repairs ornate plaster ceilings, cornices, and medallions in historic buildings. Typical pay $58k.
Architectural Paint Analyst: Scrapes tiny paint samples from old buildings and studies the layers under a microscope to find their original colors. Typical pay $65k.
Historic Masonry Restoration Specialist: Repairs old brick and stone buildings with traditional lime mortar so the walls can breathe and last another century. Typical pay $58k.
Heritage Documentation Specialist: Measures historic buildings, bridges and landscapes in exact detail and draws them for the Library of Congress’s permanent record. Typical pay $72k.
Architectural Metals Restorer: Repairs and recasts the cast-iron storefronts, fences, fountains and lampposts that decorate historic buildings and parks. Typical pay $58k.
Starter: fastest way in
Historic Window Restorer: Repairs old wooden windows by hand instead of replacing them. Typical pay $48k.
Preservation Field Technician: Photographs and documents historic buildings for surveys and reports. Typical pay $46k.
Archaeological Field Technician: Digs, screens, and records artifacts on archaeology crews, often ahead of construction. Typical pay $42k.
Historic Site Interpreter: Leads tours and demonstrations at historic houses, forts, and villages. Typical pay $38k.
Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.