The Cultural Signal

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Art world salaries

What do art-world jobs actually pay? The ranges below are aggregated from 412 job postings with disclosed salaries on the museum, gallery, and auction-house career pages we track daily. Figures are published only where at least five postings back them — no extrapolation, no self-reported surveys, just what employers put in writing.

The median disclosed salary for technology & digital roles is USD 138k, across 8 postings tracked by The Cultural Signal.

Source: culturalsignal.com/salaries — citable with attribution

What does each role pay?

Salary ranges by role, all cities
RoleCityPostings25th pctMedian75th pctFull range
Technology & DigitalAll cities8USD 110kUSD 138kUSD 163kUSD 80k–USD 320k
DevelopmentAll cities12USD 69kUSD 103kUSD 155kUSD 60k–USD 200k
FinanceAll cities14USD 91kUSD 103kUSD 120kUSD 55k–USD 250k
Marketing & CommunicationsAll cities13USD 78kUSD 93kUSD 143kUSD 55k–USD 215k
Sales & Client AdvisoryAll cities34USD 66kUSD 90kUSD 139kUSD 47k–USD 250k
CuratorAll cities8USD 89kUSD 90kUSD 138kUSD 60k–USD 260k
ConservationAll cities5USD 73kUSD 83kUSD 83kUSD 71k–USD 235k
OtherAll cities23USD 63kUSD 83kUSD 125kUSD 50k–USD 240k
RegistrarAll cities7USD 74kUSD 83kUSD 138kUSD 60k–USD 240k
Editorial & ResearchAll cities12USD 59kUSD 68kUSD 76kUSD 50k–USD 120k
OperationsAll cities66USD 55kUSD 68kUSD 85kUSD 40k–USD 275k
Technology & DigitalAll cities10GBP 37kGBP 46kGBP 55kGBP 21k–GBP 61k
FinanceAll cities11GBP 30kGBP 43kGBP 53kGBP 21k–GBP 65k
Marketing & CommunicationsAll cities17GBP 34kGBP 43kGBP 55kGBP 16k–GBP 65k
ConservationAll cities8GBP 29kGBP 37kGBP 48kGBP 20k–GBP 63k
Marketing & CommunicationsAll cities6HKD 25kHKD 35kHKD 414kHKD 20k–HKD 660k
OperationsAll cities5EUR 34kEUR 35kEUR 39kEUR 32k–EUR 42k
OperationsAll cities57GBP 30kGBP 35kGBP 40kGBP 12k–GBP 65k
DevelopmentAll cities7GBP 33kGBP 33kGBP 40kGBP 29k–GBP 45k
CuratorAll cities14GBP 29kGBP 33kGBP 36kGBP 19k–GBP 41k
Editorial & ResearchAll cities15GBP 29kGBP 32kGBP 37kGBP 6,000–GBP 45k
EducationAll cities5GBP 31kGBP 32kGBP 36kGBP 27k–GBP 40k
OtherAll cities22GBP 27kGBP 29kGBP 33kGBP 16k–GBP 63k
RegistrarAll cities12GBP 29kGBP 29kGBP 31kGBP 20k–GBP 40k

How does pay vary by city?

Salary ranges by role and city
RoleCityPostings25th pctMedian75th pctFull range
Technology & DigitalNew York8USD 110kUSD 138kUSD 163kUSD 80k–USD 320k
FinanceNew York11USD 94kUSD 110kUSD 123kUSD 60k–USD 250k
Sales & Client AdvisoryNew York30USD 68kUSD 96kUSD 139kUSD 47k–USD 250k
Marketing & CommunicationsNew York13USD 78kUSD 93kUSD 143kUSD 55k–USD 215k
DevelopmentNew York11USD 69kUSD 90kUSD 139kUSD 60k–USD 200k
CuratorNew York8USD 89kUSD 90kUSD 138kUSD 60k–USD 260k
OtherNew York22USD 65kUSD 84kUSD 135kUSD 50k–USD 240k
ConservationNew York5USD 73kUSD 83kUSD 83kUSD 71k–USD 235k
RegistrarNew York7USD 74kUSD 83kUSD 138kUSD 60k–USD 240k
Editorial & ResearchNew York9USD 60kUSD 70kUSD 80kUSD 50k–USD 120k
OperationsNew York62USD 55kUSD 70kUSD 86kUSD 40k–USD 275k
FinanceLondon9GBP 37kGBP 48kGBP 53kGBP 26k–GBP 65k
Technology & DigitalLondon10GBP 37kGBP 46kGBP 55kGBP 21k–GBP 61k
Marketing & CommunicationsLondon16GBP 37kGBP 43kGBP 55kGBP 32k–GBP 65k
ConservationLondon8GBP 29kGBP 37kGBP 48kGBP 20k–GBP 63k
OperationsLondon50GBP 30kGBP 35kGBP 40kGBP 12k–GBP 65k
Marketing & CommunicationsHong Kong6HKD 25kHKD 35kHKD 414kHKD 20k–HKD 660k
OperationsParis5EUR 34kEUR 35kEUR 39kEUR 32k–EUR 42k
DevelopmentLondon7GBP 33kGBP 33kGBP 40kGBP 29k–GBP 45k
CuratorLondon12GBP 30kGBP 33kGBP 36kGBP 26k–GBP 41k
Editorial & ResearchLondon12GBP 30kGBP 32kGBP 38kGBP 6,000–GBP 45k
EducationLondon5GBP 31kGBP 32kGBP 36kGBP 27k–GBP 40k
OtherLondon22GBP 27kGBP 29kGBP 33kGBP 16k–GBP 63k
RegistrarLondon10GBP 29kGBP 29kGBP 32kGBP 20k–GBP 40k

Methodology

Source. Every figure comes from a salary range an employer disclosed on its own posting — scraped daily from the career systems of the institutions The Cultural Signal monitors (currently ~10 major museums and auction houses, expanding). Both open and closed postings count; closed postings remain valid market data.

Aggregation. Percentiles are computed on the midpoint of each posting’s disclosed range; “full range” spans the lowest disclosed minimum to the highest disclosed maximum. Currencies are never mixed or converted. Hourly-rate artifacts are excluded.

Publication threshold. A row appears only when at least five postings back it (n is shown). With a young corpus this means few rows at launch and honest ones — the table grows as coverage does.

Reuse. The data is CC BY 4.0 — cite “The Cultural Signal” with a link to this page. A machine-readable version is at /api/public/salaries.

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