Librarians and library media specialists
Salary, job outlook, AI risk & career information
Librarians and library media specialists in the United States earn a median salary of $68,270 per year — about $33 per hour, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Roughly 142K people work in this occupation nationwide, with projected employment growth of +2%.
AI & Automation Risk
Librarianship is fundamentally about information retrieval, organization, and research—domains where LLMs and AI search engines excel. While the physical presence in schools and public libraries provides a buffer through community programming and interpersonal support, the core technical tasks of cataloging, database management, and reference assistance are highly exposed to AI automation and displacement.
Salary by City — What You Actually Take Home
Real purchasing power = salary adjusted for cost of living. Higher = more money in your pocket.
| City | Local Salary | Cost of Living | Real Purchasing Power |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kennewick-Richland, WABEST VALUE | $105,240 | Average (100.1) | $105,157 |
| Naples-Marco Island, FL | $106,550 | Above avg (103.2) | $103,246 |
| Yakima, WA | $96,250 | Below avg (95.5) | $100,738 |
| Merced, CA | $98,630 | Average (98.3) | $100,361 |
| Bremerton-Silverdale-Port Orchard, WA | $100,240 | Above avg (105.6) | $94,918 |
| McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, TX | $81,470 | Below avg (85.9) | $94,848 |
| Laredo, TX | $82,130 | Below avg (87.0) | $94,450 |
| San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA | $103,240 | Above avg (110.4) | $93,495 |
| Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA | $101,780 | Above avg (111.1) | $91,584 |
| Brunswick-St. Simons, GA | $79,660 | Below avg (87.7) | $90,824 |
| Brownsville-Harlingen, TX | $77,930 | Below avg (86.0) | $90,643 |
| Odessa, TX | $84,260 | Below avg (93.9) | $89,738 |
| Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater, WA | $92,610 | Above avg (103.7) | $89,332 |
| Lincoln, NE | $81,810 | Below avg (91.6) | $89,331 |
| Rochester, MN | $80,250 | Below avg (90.8) | $88,361 |