Lawyer (with law school)
$80,000 – $150,000+
Weighing evidence and building arguments is the LSAT's core
Degree guide
what can i do with a history degree?
You spent four years learning to weigh evidence, spot bad sources and write like it matters. In an era drowning in confident nonsense, that aged surprisingly well.
The skills are elite; the job title doesn't exist
Nobody hires 'a historian' outside academia — and academia is a lottery not worth planning a life around. What converts: research + writing + evidence evaluation, sold into law, government, journalism, archives, education and increasingly content and intelligence work. History grads who pick a conversion path early do notably well; the degree's bad reputation comes from the ones who didn't.
Jobs and salary context
Typical Canadian ranges from Job Bank medians, checked Oct 2026. Actual outcomes vary by role, location, experience, and employer.
Policy analyst
$60,000 – $95,000
Precedent and context are the actual work
Teacher (with B.Ed)
$55,000 – $105,000
Socials is a solid teachable
Archivist / records manager
$55,000 – $80,000
Archival studies training required, often a master's; stable and loved
Researcher / intelligence analyst
$60,000 – $95,000
Government and corporate research units
Content / communications
$50,000 – $85,000
Narrative plus rigour is rarer than either alone
FAQ
Is a history degree really employable?
As a foundation plus a second step (law, B.Ed, policy processes, information management), yes — the outcomes look like the list above. As a standalone plan, it under-performs. The degree's value is real but latent; the second step activates it.
Should I do a master's in history?
For archives and museum work, an information-studies or public-history master's, yes. For an academic career — go in knowing tenure-track odds are brutal and have a parallel plan. For everything else, a professional credential beats a second history degree.
What do employers actually value from history?
The ability to take a mess of conflicting sources and produce a defensible, well-written account. That is due diligence, policy work, journalism and litigation support in one sentence — name it that way in applications.