How to Become a Tour Guide
Lead groups through historic sites, museums, cities and natural areas, and bring the story of a place to life. It typically requires a high school diploma, with a median salary of $38,120 per year and much faster than average projected job growth.
Median pay
$38,120/yr
Job growth
Much faster than average
Openings / yr
13,000
Majors that lead here
Key skills
- Public Speaking
- Storytelling
- Customer Service
- Local Knowledge
Related careers
- Food Service Manager$69,390 median
- Hotel Manager (Lodging)$69,250 median
- Chef / Head Cook$62,470 median
- Event Planner$61,160 median
Frequently asked questions
How much does a Tour Guide make?
The median pay for a Tour Guide is $38,120 a year (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2025). Actual pay varies with experience, location, and employer.
What degree do you need to become a Tour Guide?
The usual entry point is a high school diploma. Common majors are History and Hospitality Management.
Is Tour Guide a growing field?
Projected job growth for this role from 2024 to 2034 is much faster than average (BLS projections via O*NET), with roughly 13,000 U.S. openings a year.
What skills does a Tour Guide use most?
Common skills for this role are Public Speaking, Storytelling, Customer Service, and Local Knowledge.
Planning to become a Tour Guide?
Save this career to your PlanexAI path and track the majors, courses, and milestones that lead to it.
Not sure this is right for you?
Take our free 2-minute quiz to match your interests to majors and careers.
Take the major quizWhere these pay figures come from
Career pay is the annual wage of everyone working in that occupation, not only recent graduates, so it includes people who have done the job for decades. The middle half is the 25th to the 75th percentile. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and O*NET OnLine (median and percentile annual wages May 2025; employment projections 2024-2034).
All figures are national. What you earn depends on where you work, who you work for, and how far you take the degree.
Job-growth figures: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and O*NET OnLine (median and percentile annual wages May 2025; employment projections 2024-2034).