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Report cites declining job opportunities, though notes civics centers could create up hundreds of new jobs
The job market for aspiring history professors has some dark clouds on the horizon as well as a few bright spots, according to a new report.
The American Historical Association released its annual academic jobs report on May 20, looking at hiring data and developments in the field.
The academic group found there was a 40 percent drop in history professor job listings in its own career center database along with a 20 percent drop in tenure-track positions following the market crash and recession in 2008.
More recently, the group found “a decline of 13 percent from 2010 to 2025” in full-time faculty listed in its “Directory of History Departments.”
Still, the total number of history professors is much higher today than in 2000, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
In 2000, there were approximately 16,560 history professors – as of 2024, there were 19,860 professors, representing a 20 percent increase.
However, the distribution of history professor jobs is not even across the country.
“As the national trend indicates, the number of history faculty is down since 2015 but still higher than where it was in 2000, and that was true in every region except the Midwest,” the report states. “In the Southwest and West, the number of history faculty was more than 80 percent higher than it had been in 2000.”
The group found there are more history professors in the Northeast compared to 2000, but fewer in the Midwest.
The report also noted that civics centers starting at various universities could provide a hiring boost, “though the best available estimates indicate that to date they account for less than 1,000 academic jobs.” Yet, 1,000 or so new jobs would amount to a six percent increase in history jobs.
Culture’s interest in humanities could be affecting hiring, expert says
Several academics provided further insights to The College Fix on this report and the job market for history graduates more broadly.
Messiah University Professor John Fea said the current situation is partly because the surrounding culture “does not seem to value humanities-based disciplines.”
He also told The Fix that parents paying for their kids’ college may not consider history a degree that will generate a return on investment.
“Most studies find that history majors do quite well in the marketplace, but the message has not reached parents who are paying high tuition costs,” Fea said. “College has become a place to gain specialized skills that lead to a specific job upon graduation.”
Focusing just on the return on investment misses the need for “thoughtful members of a democracy,” Fea said.
“Colleges and universities’ history departments, administrations, admissions offices, and career centers must develop a culture that celebrates the humanities, and history specifically, for its many career trajectories,” he said.
The president of the Jack Miller Center provided similar insights into the value of a history degree.
“Research is the coin of the realm in academia, and the research of history drives so much of what is actually rewarded and what happens in the profession,” Hans Zeiger told The Fix via email.
“That isn’t always the same thing as what is interesting to students, who want to be drawn into the adventure of the past and what it means for us in the present,” he said. “The recovery of academic history requires a full-scale revitalization of history teaching.”
Zeiger said there are good job opportunities for history majors.
“The study of history is absolutely essential for every citizen as we face a future with AI technologies, economic disruptions, and other changes — and we’ll need the perspective that only history can offer us.”
