Sculpture statistics span several different measures: employment in occupations that include sculptors, public participation in visual art, museum catalog records, public commissions, and individual auction results. The figures below are primarily U.S. measures, with the relevant year or access date stated for each statistic. Because official labor and participation series generally combine sculpture with related visual-art categories, those broader definitions are kept explicit.
Contents
- Sculpture employment and pay
- Industries employing fine artists
- Where fine artists are located
- How many adults create visual art
- Audience engagement with art
- Museum collections and sculpture records
- Public commissions and auction results
Sculpture employment and pay
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports craft and fine artists as a combined occupational group. In 2025, this group held about 53,400 U.S. jobs. The narrower published occupation of fine artists, including painters, sculptors, and illustrators, accounted for 28,900 jobs. These totals are occupation proxies: they include sculptors but do not isolate sculpture as a standalone labor series. (Craft and Fine Artists: Occupational Outlook Handbook)
Pay varies substantially across the broader craft-and-fine-artist group. The median annual wage for fine artists including sculptors was $55,490 in May 2025. For all craft and fine artists, the median annual wage was $55,290 in the same month. The lower 10 percent earned below $31,490 annually, while the highest 10 percent earned above $131,810. These are U.S. wage statistics for the stated occupational categories, not a sculpture-only income distribution. (Craft and Fine Artists: Occupational Outlook Handbook)
Self-employment is a major part of the occupational picture. Self-employed workers represented 58% of craft and fine artists in 2025. That share helps explain why employment and wage statistics may not describe every working sculptor in the same way: commissions, studio sales, teaching, exhibitions, and other income arrangements can sit across different work classifications. (Craft and Fine Artists: Occupational Outlook Handbook)
The outlook is measured rather than expansive. Employment of fine artists including painters, sculptors, and illustrators is projected to fall by 3% from 2025 to 2035, a projected decline of 800 jobs for that occupation group. Across all craft and fine artists, about 4,300 openings per year are projected during 2025–2035, mainly because workers leave or need to be replaced. The projected openings therefore coexist with a declining total employment outlook. (Craft and Fine Artists: Occupational Outlook Handbook)
Industries employing fine artists
A different Bureau of Labor Statistics table counts fine artists including painters, sculptors, and illustrators across the U.S. economy. It reported 11,220 workers in May 2025, with a mean hourly wage of $35.17 and a mean annual wage of $73,150. This series uses mean rather than median pay, and its employment total should not be treated as interchangeable with the 28,900-job figure from the occupational outlook series. (National employment and wage data, May 2025)
Industry-specific estimates show that sculpture-related work appears in more than one setting. In performing-arts, spectator-sports, and related industries, 4,420 fine artists including sculptors were employed in May 2023. They represented 0.81% of employment in that industry group. Their mean hourly wage was $42.08, corresponding to a mean annual wage of $87,520. (Performing Arts, Spectator Sports, and Related Industries, May 2023)
Independent creative work was another significant category. Independent artists, writers, and performers employed 2,900 fine artists including sculptors in May 2023. Fine artists represented 4.50% of employment in that industry, with a mean hourly wage of $31.82 and a mean annual wage of $66,180. (Independent Artists, Writers, and Performers, May 2023)
Manufacturing also appears in the official industry estimates, though at a much smaller reported scale. Other miscellaneous manufacturing employed 150 fine artists including sculptors in May 2023. The occupation represented 0.05% of employment in that industry. (Other Miscellaneous Manufacturing, May 2023)
| Industry or measure | Period | Employment | Mean annual wage | Share of industry employment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Performing arts, spectator sports, and related industries | May 2023 | 4,420 | $87,520 | 0.81% |
| Independent artists, writers, and performers | May 2023 | 2,900 | $66,180 | 4.50% |
| Other miscellaneous manufacturing | May 2023 | 150 | Not reported here | 0.05% |
The comparison shows why an industry lens adds context: the same broad fine-artist occupation is concentrated differently depending on whether the measure is creative independence, performance-related production, or manufacturing.
Where fine artists are located
State-level Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates provide another view of the occupation. In May 2021, California had 1,280 fine artists including painters, sculptors, and illustrators, with a mean annual wage of $65,660. Texas had 930 workers in the same occupation and a mean annual wage of $27,250. (Fine Artists, Including Painters, Sculptors, and Illustrators, May 2021)
Georgia had 650 fine artists including sculptors in May 2021. Its location quotient was 2.22, indicating that the occupation’s concentration was measured at more than twice the national comparison level used in that statistic. Georgia’s mean annual wage was $63,480. Florida had 400 workers and a mean annual wage of $55,150, while Ohio had 380 workers. (Fine Artists, Including Painters, Sculptors, and Illustrators, May 2021)
These state figures are from May 2021, earlier than the national 2025 estimates. They are useful for geographic comparison, but they should not be read as a current ranking or as sculpture-only counts. The occupation includes painters and illustrators as well as sculptors, and the reported wage is a state-level mean.
How many adults create visual art
The National Endowment for the Arts measures participation in broader visual-art categories. In the 2022 Survey of Public Participation in the Arts, 10.7% of U.S. adults created “other visual art,” a category that explicitly included sculpture, during the 12 months ending July 2022. The comparable 2020 share was 8.1%, a 2.6 percentage-point increase. (Arts Participation Patterns in 2022)
The 2017 NEA visual-art-making measure, which included sculpting, reached 13.4% of U.S. adults. Because the report changed wording between survey years, the 2017, 2020, and 2022 figures are descriptive comparisons rather than a sculpture-only time series. They indicate participation in categories that include sculpture, not the number of adults who made sculpture exclusively. (Arts Participation Patterns in 2022)
Learning pathways were also recorded in 2022. Some 2.6% of U.S. adults learned other visual arts including sculpture through classes or lessons. Another 6.4% learned through other means, such as friends, family, or self-teaching. The two figures describe reported learning routes within the NEA’s broader category. (Arts Participation Patterns in 2022)
Audience engagement with art
The same NEA survey recorded attendance and digital engagement rather than sculpture-specific visitor totals. In the 12 months ending July 2022, 17.7% of U.S. adults attended an art museum or gallery, venues that can include sculpture exhibitions. The comparable 2017 rate was 23.7%, a decline of 6.1 percentage points. (Arts Participation Patterns in 2022)
Digital viewing was also lower in 2022 than in the comparable 2017 measure. In 2022, 11.1% of U.S. adults viewed art via a device; the 2017 rate was 16.0%. The device measure can include sculpture but does not identify sculpture as a separate subject. In addition, 7.1% of adults viewed or interacted with an art exhibit or performance via a device in a museum, theater, or concert hall in 2022. (Arts Participation Patterns in 2022)
Museum collections and sculpture records
Collection databases offer counts of records rather than a census of every sculpture. The Smithsonian Collections Search Center listed 122,692 sculpture records in its Art & Design browse counts when accessed in September 2026. The same browse counts listed 39,325 outdoor-sculpture records. Across museum objects, archives, and library materials, the center contained more than 18.7 million records. (Smithsonian Collections Search Center)
The National Museum of African Art reported more than 12,000 pieces in its permanent collection. Its collection browse listed 3,350 sculpture records, 8,901 records with online images, and 6 with 3D models when accessed in September 2026. These figures describe the museum’s collection and online catalog views; they are not estimates for African sculpture worldwide. (National Museum of African Art Collection)
The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden reported about 11,500 artworks in its collection, including sculptures. This is a current collection count accessed in September 2026, while the Smithsonian browse figures above are catalog counts. The different counting methods are important when comparing institutions. (How many objects are in the collection?)
Public commissions and auction results
Public-art statistics show activity through approvals and holdings. New York City’s Public Design Commission approved 136 public artworks from January 2022 through 2025. Those approvals came from 2,131 unique projects represented by 2,749 submissions. The figures cover public artworks broadly, rather than sculpture alone. (The Public Design Commission Celebrates Four Years of Design Excellence)
New York City’s Public Schools official art collection contains more than 2,000 artworks, including architecturally integrated works and sculpture. This is a current collection count reported on a 2026 page, not a count of standalone sculptures. (Public Art for Public Schools)
Auction results provide individual price observations rather than a global sculpture-market estimate. Christie’s Modern British and Irish Evening Art Sale on 16 October 2024 realized £14,370,000, with sculpture among the highlighted works. At that sale, Henry Moore’s sculpture Rocking Chair No. 3 sold for £2,883,500. These figures describe one sale and one artwork result; they do not represent all sculpture auctions or the entire sculpture market. (Christie’s Modern British and Irish Evening Art Sale)