Salary

Average Salary: $55,370

Expected Lifetime Earnings: $2,312,000


When you hear librarians say things like, "Money? We do this work because we love it, love helping people get the best information"—you know you won't be getting rich anytime soon as a librarian.

The stats are okay—the median income of your typical hardworking librarian was around $54,000 (source) as of a couple of years ago. The pay hasn't increased all that much, but it's still a decent wage. 

And hey—if you're playing percentages, the Bureau of Labor folks say the lowest ten percent still pulled in around $34,000, and the top ten percent earned a little less than $84,000. Plus, who knows how much you'll save without paying any overdue fees.

Okay, you definitely don't go into library science because of the big bucks. (But ahhh, the free library cards...)

If you want to be among the big earners, check out working in a specialty, like law or medicine, or work toward presiding over the information tech team at a big company. The pay is better but, unlike the set nine-to-five hours of educational or government outfits, you'll be at the beck and call of your corporate taskmasters.

Your non-corporate colleagues may have regular hours, but your hours may mean night and weekend work. Wait...that's not a good thing.