Virginia · BLS May 2025

How much do lifeguards, ski patrol, and other recreational protective service workers make in Virginia?

Lifeguards, ski patrol, and other recreational protective service workers in Virginia earn a median of $30,070 a year ($14.46 an hour), about $2,119 a month after federal, state and FICA tax. Figure from the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey. The survey counted 8,920 of these jobs in Virginia in May 2025.

Median pay · Virginia

$30,070A year, or $14 an hour.
Take-home a month$2,119After federal, state and FICA tax at 15.4%
Worth at national prices$29,742Prices here sit at 101.1 against 100
Against the nation10.5% belowNational median $33,580
What lifeguards, ski patrol, and other recreational protective service workers earn in Virginia, May 2025
PercentileAnnualHourly
10th percentile1 in 10 earn less$26,790$13
25th percentile$28,320$14
MedianHalf earn more, half less$30,070$14
75th percentile$34,340$17
90th percentile1 in 10 earn more$37,450$18
MeanAll pay divided by all jobs$31,700$15

Wage survey · BLS May 2025

How we got this
  1. Median wage in VirginiaBLS OEWS May 2025. Half of the people in this job were paid more than this, half less.$30,070
  2. Median hourly wagePublished separately by BLS, not divided out of the annual figure.$14.46
  3. Take-home after federal, state and FICA tax$2,119 a month at an effective rate of 15.4%.$25,426 a year
  4. Worth at national average pricesPrices in Virginia sit at 101.1 against a national 100 (BEA, 2024).$29,742
  5. Against the national medianThe national median is $33,580.10.5% below
  6. Jobs countedA concentration of 2.14 against the nation's 1.00.8,920
What we assumed
  • Wages are BLS OEWS survey estimates for May 2025, not job postings or offers.
  • OEWS surveys wage and salary workers. The self-employed and business owners are outside it.
  • Take-home assumes one 2026 filer, filing single, taking the standard deduction, with no dependents, pre-tax retirement contributions or local income tax.
  • Regional price parities compare price levels between places in one year. They are not inflation, and they do not adjust for what a household actually buys.
Technical details

Method occupation-wage-v1Data bls-oews-2025-05-v1, us-tax-2026-v1, bea-rpp-2024-v1, census-acs5-2024-v1

What lands in the bank

Tax year 2026 · Interactive

Estimated on the median salary of $30,070 in Virginia, for a single filer taking the standard deduction in 2026. Explore other wage levels and filing statuses below.

$30,070
$25,000$40,000
Filing status:
Gross salary breakdown$30,070
Net 85%
Fed 5%
VA 3%
FICA 8%
Annual take-home$25,426After all taxes
Monthly deposit$2,119Estimated per month
Biweekly paycheck$978Every 2 weeks (26/yr)
Effective tax rate15.4%Total tax burden
Federal income tax$1,428 / yr
Virginia state income tax$915 / yr
FICA (Social Security & Medicare)$2,300 / yr

Run the numbers on your own pay

Same U.S. tax tables as the rest of the site. Change the salary, state, or filing status.

What $30,070 is worth in Virginia

Prices in Virginia sit at 101.1 against a national average of 100, so $30,070 earned here buys what $29,742 buys at national average prices.

  • Rents. 106.8 against 100, the component that moves most between states.
  • Against local households. The median household in Virginia takes in $93,170, so this occupation's median is 0.32 times that, on one income.
  • How common the job is here. 114% more concentrated in Virginia than in the country as a whole.

Compare two places properly →

Reading the numbers

What stands out for lifeguards, ski patrol, and other recreational protective service workers in Virginia

Lifeguards, ski patrol, and other recreational protective service workers hold 2.1 times the share of jobs in Virginia that they hold nationally, with 8,920 counted.

Pay is tightly grouped: the 90th percentile ($37,450) is only 1.4 times the 10th ($26,790), so most lifeguards, ski patrol, and other recreational protective service workers here earn within a narrow band.

The median for this job is 0.3 times the median household income in Virginia ($93,170). Many households have two earners, so one paycheck at this level falls short of what a typical local household brings in.

The lowest-paid 10% make $26,790 a year or less, in a state where prices index at 101.1 against a national 100.

Common questions

Lifeguards, Ski Patrol, and Other Recreational Protective Service Workers pay in Virginia, answered

How much do lifeguards, ski patrol, and other recreational protective service workers make in Virginia?

The median wage for lifeguards, ski patrol, and other recreational protective service workers in Virginia is $30,070 a year, or $14.46 an hour.

Half earn more than that and half earn less. The figure comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics occupational wage survey for May 2025.

What is the average Lifeguards, Ski Patrol, and Other Recreational Protective Service Workers salary in Virginia?

BLS’s mean (average) wage for lifeguards, ski patrol, and other recreational protective service workers in Virginia is $31,700 a year. The median is $30,070.

The mean sits higher when a smaller group of high earners pulls the average up. For a typical paycheck, the median is the better middle.

What is the hourly pay for lifeguards, ski patrol, and other recreational protective service workers in Virginia?

The median hourly wage is $14.46. At a full-time year that lines up with about $30,070 a year.

BLS May 2025; hourly and annual figures come from the same survey.

What is the starting salary for lifeguards, ski patrol, and other recreational protective service workers in Virginia?

BLS does not publish starting pay. The closest figure it does publish is the low end of the range: in Virginia, the lowest-paid 10% of lifeguards, ski patrol, and other recreational protective service workers earn under $26,790 a year and a quarter earn under $28,320 ($12.88 and $13.62 an hour).

New hires often start somewhere in that band, but the May 2025 survey does not record experience, so read it as a floor to compare an offer against rather than a typical first salary.

What is the salary range for lifeguards, ski patrol, and other recreational protective service workers in Virginia?

The overall salary range for lifeguards, ski patrol, and other recreational protective service workers in Virginia spans from $26,790 for the bottom 10% to $37,450 for top earners.

The middle 50% earn between $28,320 and $34,340 a year, with the overall median at $30,070.

What is the take-home pay for lifeguards, ski patrol, and other recreational protective service workers in Virginia?

On the median wage of $30,070, a single filer taking the 2026 standard deduction keeps an estimated $25,426 a year, or roughly $2,119 a month.

That is after federal, state and FICA tax, an effective rate of 15.4%.

Virginia takes $915 of it in state income tax.

How much does lifeguards, ski patrol, and other recreational protective service workers make a month in Virginia?

On the median annual salary of $30,070, estimated take-home pay is roughly $2,119 a month after federal, state, and FICA taxes.

For workers paid on a standard biweekly schedule (26 pay periods per year), each paycheck is approximately $978 net.

Do lifeguards, ski patrol, and other recreational protective service workers earn more in Virginia than in the rest of the country?

No. The median in Virginia is 10.5% below the national median of $33,580.

Nominal pay is only half the comparison: prices in Virginia sit at 101.1 against a national 100, so the gap in what the money buys is different from the gap in the salary.

Is $30,070 a good salary in Virginia?

It is 0.32 times the median household income of $93,170. A household often has more than one earner, so a single salary at this level goes further than the ratio alone suggests.

Prices in Virginia run at 101.1 against a national average of 100, with rents at 106.8, so $30,070 here buys about what $29,742 buys at national average prices.

What do the highest-paid lifeguards, ski patrol, and other recreational protective service workers earn in Virginia?

The top tenth earn $37,450 a year or more. The 10th-percentile wage is $26,790.

Experience, specialty, employer and the part of Virginia someone works in all move a wage inside that range; the survey reports the spread, not the reason for it.

How many lifeguards, ski patrol, and other recreational protective service workers are there in Virginia?

The survey counted 8,920 of these jobs in Virginia for May 2025.

That makes the occupation 114% more concentrated here than in the country as a whole. It counts wage and salary jobs, so the self-employed are outside it.

Sources

Where this data comes from

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