Recreation Workers vs Residential Advisors: $37K vs $42K Median Pay

Recreation Workers vs Residential Advisors: what changes?

Consider Recreation Workers if you want to conduct recreation activities with groups in public, private, or volunteer agencies or recreation facilities. Consider Residential Advisors if you would rather coordinate activities in resident facilities in secondary school and college dormitories, group homes, or similar establishments. Both list high school diploma or equivalent; compare training and prior experience separately.

Try this next: Compare three local entry-level postings for Recreation Workers and Residential Advisors. 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

Recreation Workers

National median pay (2025): $36,560
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: Enforce rules and regulations of recreational facilities to maintain discipline and ensure safety.
Annual openings (2025–2035): 67,000

Know before you choose

Review the full career brief for day-to-day working conditions.

See the full Recreation Workers brief

Residential Advisors

National median pay (2025): $42,240
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: Communicate with other staff to resolve problems with individual students.
Annual openings (2025–2035): 16,500

Know before you choose

Conflict, distress, or difficult interactions are recurring parts of the work, not rare exceptions.

See the full Residential Advisors brief

How the national numbers differ

Recreation Workers has the edge on annual openings

Recreation Workers is at 67,000 annual openings, compared with 16,500 annual openings for Residential Advisors.

Typical preparation differs.

Recreation Workers: High school diploma or equivalent; One month or less of on-the-job training, in addition to any qualifying education or licensing Residential Advisors: High school diploma or equivalent; One month or less of on-the-job training, in addition to any qualifying education or licensing Preparation categories do not establish admission difficulty, calendar time, tuition, time without earnings, or licensing difficulty.

Residential Advisors has the edge on median pay

Residential Advisors is at $42,240, compared with $36,560 for Recreation Workers.

Recreation Workers has the edge on projected growth

Recreation Workers is at 4.3% projected growth, compared with 3.5% projected growth for Residential Advisors.

49.8/ 100

Recreation Workers

47.7/ 100

Residential Advisors

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

Recreation Workers vs Residential Advisors

Dimension	Recreation Workers	Residential Advisors
Median pay (2025)	$36,560	$42,240
Pay percentile	5.9 percentile	13.6 percentile
Projected growth (2025–2035)	4.3%	3.5%
Annual openings (2025–2035)	67,000	16,500
2025 employment	346,900	94,100
How you qualify	High school diploma or equivalent; 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 4	Job Zone 3
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 Recreation Workers brief Read Residential Advisors brief

Recreation Workers vs Residential Advisors: what changes?

The facts most likely to affect your decision

Recreation Workers

Residential Advisors

How the national numbers differ

Recreation Workers has the edge on annual openings

Typical preparation differs.

Residential Advisors has the edge on median pay

Recreation Workers has the edge on projected growth

Recreation Workers vs Residential Advisors

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