Crossing Guards and Flaggers vs Parking Enforcement Workers: $38K vs $47K Median Pay

Crossing Guards and Flaggers vs Parking Enforcement Workers: what changes?

Consider Crossing Guards and Flaggers if you want to guide or control vehicular or pedestrian traffic at such places as streets, schools, railroad crossings, or construction sites. Consider Parking Enforcement Workers if you would rather patrol assigned area, such as public parking lot or city streets to issue tickets to overtime parking violators and illegally parked vehicles. Entry credentials differ: Crossing Guards and Flaggers, no formal educational credential; Parking Enforcement Workers, high school diploma or equivalent.

Try this next: Compare three local entry-level postings for Crossing Guards and Flaggers and Parking Enforcement Workers. List the duties, credentials, prior experience, and paid training each employer actually asks for. Try a supervised class or sample project from each field before choosing a program.

BLS 2025 wages and 2025–2035 projections. National medians are not starting offers. Occupation size is not a count of vacancies. View the BLS data.

Compare the practical differences

Crossing Guards and Flaggers

National median pay (2025): $38,100
Route into the job: No formal educational credential; One month or less of on-the-job training, in addition to any qualifying education or licensing
Prior related experience: No prior related occupation is typically required; employer requirements vary.
Training and licensing: One month or less of on-the-job training, in addition to any qualifying education or licensing.
Work to investigate: Direct or escort pedestrians across streets, stopping traffic, as necessary.
Annual openings (2025–2035): 17,300

Know before you choose

The work can involve real occupational hazards. Training, protective equipment, and routine safety discipline matter every day.

See the full Crossing Guards and Flaggers brief

Parking Enforcement Workers

National median pay (2025): $46,730
Route into the job: High school diploma or equivalent; One month or less of on-the-job training, in addition to any qualifying education or licensing
Prior related experience: No prior related occupation is typically required; employer requirements vary.
Training and licensing: One month or less of on-the-job training, in addition to any qualifying education or licensing.
Work to investigate: Enter and retrieve information pertaining to vehicle registration, identification, and status, using hand-held computers.
Annual openings (2025–2035): 800

Know before you choose

BLS projects employment to shrink 1.1% from 2025 to 2035. Openings can still occur when existing workers leave.

See the full Parking Enforcement Workers brief

How the national numbers differ

Crossing Guards and Flaggers has the edge on annual openings

Crossing Guards and Flaggers is at 17,300 annual openings, compared with 800 annual openings for Parking Enforcement Workers.

Crossing Guards and Flaggers has the edge on projected growth

Crossing Guards and Flaggers is at 3.5% projected growth, compared with -1.1% projected growth for Parking Enforcement Workers.

Parking Enforcement Workers has the edge on median pay

Parking Enforcement Workers is at $46,730, compared with $38,100 for Crossing Guards and Flaggers.

51.5/ 100

Crossing Guards and Flaggers

29/ 100

Parking Enforcement Workers

Each available metric is ranked from 0 to 100 against the careers on ChooseField. The weighted average uses this profile: pay 30%, growth 25%, openings 30%, preparation level 15%. Missing values are not scored as zero; their weights are redistributed across available metrics. Occupation size has zero weight: employment is not accessible vacancies. Preparation categories do not measure admission difficulty or years without earnings. The score summarizes national measures; local opportunities and personal fit still need separate consideration.

Detailed evidence

Crossing Guards and Flaggers vs Parking Enforcement Workers

Dimension	Crossing Guards and Flaggers	Parking Enforcement Workers
Median pay (2025)	$38,100	$46,730
Pay percentile	8.5 percentile	22.5 percentile
Projected growth (2025–2035)	3.5%	-1.1%
Annual openings (2025–2035)	17,300	800
2025 employment	94,800	9,400
How you qualify	No formal educational credential; One month or less of on-the-job training, in addition to any qualifying education or licensing	High school diploma or equivalent; One month or less of on-the-job training, in addition to any qualifying education or licensing
O*NET preparation group	Job Zone 2	Job Zone 2
Related work experience	No prior related occupation is typically required; employer requirements vary.	No prior related occupation is typically required; employer requirements vary.
On-the-job training	One month or less of on-the-job training, in addition to any qualifying education or licensing.	One month or less of on-the-job training, in addition to any qualifying education or licensing.

The table reports national benchmarks and reviewed work descriptions. It does not rate personal suitability, job security, or physical safety.

Read Crossing Guards and Flaggers brief Read Parking Enforcement Workers brief

Crossing Guards and Flaggers vs Parking Enforcement Workers: what changes?

The facts most likely to affect your decision

Crossing Guards and Flaggers

Parking Enforcement Workers

How the national numbers differ

Crossing Guards and Flaggers has the edge on annual openings

Crossing Guards and Flaggers has the edge on projected growth

Parking Enforcement Workers has the edge on median pay

Crossing Guards and Flaggers vs Parking Enforcement Workers

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