Employees at smaller U.S. museums report higher job satisfaction than their peers at major institutions, according to a new survey by Museums Moving Forward (MMF), even as persistent issues of low pay, burnout, and inequity continue to define the field.
The 2025 Report on Workplace Equity and Organizational Culture in U.S. Art Museums surveyed more than 3,100 staff members across 91 institutions—nearly twice as many as in MMF’s 2023 study. While the findings show modest gains in career satisfaction, they also highlight how little progress has been made toward equitable pay and sustainable working conditions.
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MMF, founded in 2023 to promote workplace justice in museums, identified a sharp rise in union organizing as one of the few areas of change. “We are seeing a massive wave,” executive director Mia Locks, told The Art Newspaper. “Fifty-five percent of unions at art museums were formed in the last five years.”
Non-union staff, the report found, earn about 78 percent of what their unionized counterparts make, though unionized workers tend to report higher levels of dissatisfaction overall.
Smaller museums—defined as those with annual operating budgets under $15 million—outperformed larger institutions on nearly every measure of employee well-being, including job satisfaction and sense of belonging, even when pay was lower. The report suggests that workplace culture and agency play a larger role in satisfaction than compensation alone.
The 195-page study also notes that museum leaders face mounting external pressures, including cultural censorship and political polarization. MMF will release two more reports before its planned sunset in 2030.
“We now have a pretty nuanced understanding of who can afford to work at a museum and at an entry level,” Locks said. “That is really, in my opinion, one of the biggest threats to diversity in the field. It’s not just who can afford to work here but who can afford to stay.”
