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Pay · 39-9032

Recreation Workers earn $36,560 a year at the midpoint

Across roughly 331,490 people in this work, the midpoint is $36,560 a year, with most starting near $31,780.

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$36,560median a year · United States
$17.58an hour $38,520average 331,490people
Nine in ten people in this work earn between the two ends. The shaded part is the middle half — where most people are.
$31,78025th $36,560median $43,47075th
$27,60010th percentile $50,41090th percentile
$31,780a year at the 25th percentile, nearer a first job
$46,460best-paying state · District of Columbia
$27,770lowest-paying state · Arkansas
+27%top state against the national median
  • Read the spread, not the middle. The median is the midpoint across everyone in the occupation, most of them years into the work. A beginner starts nearer the 10th to 25th percentile, which is why the spread is published alongside it.
  • What the figure counts. The figure counts base pay plus tips, commissions and production bonuses. It leaves out the self-employed, unpaid family workers, private household workers, and the value of benefits or profit sharing.
  • The annual figure is arithmetic. For hourly occupations the annual figure is the hourly rate times 2080 hours. It is a calculation, not observed earnings: part time is the norm in retail and food service.
  • Where you live moves it more than your resume does. National figures. A state or metro area can sit far from the national number, and that gap is usually larger than any difference a resume makes.
  • Not in these numbers. Growth and annual openings are not in this dataset. They come from the separate Employment Projections tables, where an opening is a modelled ten year average and not a posted vacancy.

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, 2025. Retrieved through the BLS Public Data API on 2026-08-13. bls.gov/oes “BLS.gov cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from BLS.gov.”

State matters a lotThe same job pays $46,460 in District of Columbia and $27,770 in Arkansas — a gap of $18,690 a year.

Recreation worker earnings, from starting pay to the top 10%

Pick the job, where you work and how long you have done it. The range comes from the published wage percentiles for that job.

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An estimate from survey percentiles, not an offer. Employer, industry, shift and credentials move pay within and beyond this range. Full wage page for this job →

A resume for recreation workers

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Microsoft Office softwareMicrosoft PublisherMicrosoft PowerPointMicrosoft OutlookMicrosoft WordMicrosoft ExcelGroupMeMicrosoft Windows
  • Enforced rules and regulations of recreational facilities to maintain discipline and ensure safety.
  • Organized, led, and promoted interest in recreational activities, such as arts, crafts, sports, games, camping, and hobbies.
  • Assessed the needs and interests of individuals and groups and plan activities accordingly, given the available equipment or facilities.

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This page includes information from the O*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. The owner of tiersi.com has modified all or some of this information. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications.

Recreation worker wages in each state

The 42 states where the most people do this work, of 51 with a published figure: their medians range by 1.62 times. Figures are the 2025 survey.

State Median a year Where most start 10th to 90th Employed
Washington $44,890 $35,660 $35,660 — $59,790 6,380
Hawaii $41,000 $31,690 $31,690 — $45,270 1,590
California $39,780 $35,900 $35,900 — $56,150 48,560
Oregon $39,610 $32,330 $32,330 — $56,730 4,640
Colorado $38,820 $31,080 $31,080 — $53,580 6,100
Massachusetts $38,540 $32,910 $32,910 — $50,090 11,280
New York $38,040 $33,260 $33,260 — $54,610 24,790
Minnesota $37,510 $29,460 $29,460 — $52,190 7,940
Maine $37,450 $30,790 $30,790 — $53,620 1,260
Maryland $37,200 $32,390 $32,390 — $56,160 4,350
New Hampshire $37,040 $27,040 $27,040 — $51,240 2,030
New Jersey $36,880 $32,220 $32,220 — $49,240 7,550
Connecticut $36,610 $34,010 $34,010 — $51,340 5,000
Virginia $36,120 $27,390 $27,390 — $53,800 9,260
Arizona $35,800 $31,130 $31,130 — $51,310 12,650
Pennsylvania $35,710 $24,940 $24,940 — $55,030 9,850
Wisconsin $35,530 $26,440 $26,440 — $50,980 6,840
Florida $35,490 $29,130 $29,130 — $49,130 18,010
Illinois $35,480 $31,200 $31,200 — $47,480 17,650
Michigan $35,090 $29,020 $29,020 — $47,740 10,850
Nebraska $34,590 $28,520 $28,520 — $46,500 1,510
Missouri $34,320 $28,600 $28,600 — $46,830 5,380
Delaware $33,790 $31,200 $31,200 — $44,930 1,230
Iowa $33,700 $24,420 $24,420 — $46,740 2,870
Tennessee $33,580 $23,960 $23,960 — $46,550 3,420
Utah $32,890 $22,520 $22,520 — $47,450 5,760
North Carolina $32,720 $22,060 $22,060 — $50,810 9,520
Texas $32,720 $22,910 $22,910 — $47,870 18,660
Georgia $32,540 $22,340 $22,340 — $48,870 8,160
Ohio $32,420 $24,580 $24,580 — $47,220 12,340
Kentucky $32,400 $22,770 $22,770 — $46,120 3,290
Kansas $31,760 $22,160 $22,160 — $45,250 2,990
Oklahoma $31,580 $21,330 $21,330 — $47,390 2,380
South Carolina $31,420 $21,050 $21,050 — $48,230 5,270
Indiana $30,190 $22,470 $22,470 — $45,710 8,050
Nevada $30,150 $26,930 $26,930 — $50,220 2,570
Idaho $30,100 $21,150 $21,150 — $50,370 2,080
West Virginia $29,710 $22,340 $22,340 — $53,400 1,410
Louisiana $28,580 $19,300 $19,300 — $45,320 2,830
Alabama $28,360 $19,150 $19,150 — $45,110 4,700
Mississippi $28,060 $19,350 $19,350 — $40,710 2,220
Arkansas $27,770 $23,700 $23,700 — $42,530 1,740

Recreation worker pay rate, hourly and yearly

Starts at this job’s median. Change the rate or the hours; a full-time year is 40 hours for 52 weeks.

$36,566a year

Ranked 744 of 788 by median pay

Better paid than 6% of the occupations in the survey.

  1. 742 Farmworkers, Farm, Ranch, and Aquacultural Animals $36,670
  2. 743 Sewing Machine Operators $36,670
  3. 744 Recreation Workers $36,560
  4. 745 Sewers, Hand $36,480
  5. 746 Gambling Service Workers, All Other $36,310

Examples

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Real sheets, filled in end to end — for this job and the ones beside it.

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Related work, and what it pays

Occupations in the same group of the federal classification — the usual next steps, or the ones beside this one.

Recreation Workers$36,560
Exercise Trainers and Group Fitness Instructors$47,160+$10,600 Personal Care and Service Workers, All Other$41,600+$5,040 Childcare workers$34,980−$1,580

Questions people often ask

What is a recreation worker’s yearly income?

A recreation worker makes a median of $36,560 a year (2025 survey). The middle half earn between $31,780 and $43,470.

What is a recreation worker’s hourly pay rate?

The median pay rate is $17.58 an hour; the average is $38,520 a year.

What is the starting pay for a recreation worker?

Starting pay is usually near the 25th percentile, $31,780 a year, and sometimes as low as the 10th, $27,600.

Which state pays recreation workers the most?

District of Columbia, with a median of $46,460 a year.

How many people work as recreation workers?

About 331,490 in the United States — number 744 of 788 occupations by median pay.

Work that pays about the same

Median pay within $220 of what recreation workers earn — $36,560 a year — but not always the same spread.

See all 788 occupations