Cover every event today
Match the roster to today's events, then shift posts when someone is missing so everyone knows their spot.
Career profile
Entertainment and Recreation Supervisor
Recreation supervisors lead the workers who run recreation programs and entertainment events.
Build staff schedules, train and coach employees, and step in to fix guest problems. It suits people who like helping a whole team succeed.
A day in the life
Teach sign-ups and payments
In guest-service jobs, you show a worker how to take sign-ups and payments, then check and fix errors.
Inspect the center before events
Inspect a community center's rooms and grounds, spot upkeep problems, and submit repair requests.
Settle a guest's complaint
Hear the guest, talk with the employee involved, choose a response, and use the feedback to improve service.
Quick facts
High school + related experience
United States · 2025
$48,560/year
United States · May 2025
5.3% projected growth
United States · 2025–2035
Quick orientation
Preparation, pay & outlook
Preparation
High school + related experienceTypical preparation is a high school diploma or equivalent and less than five years of related work. Employer requirements vary.
Pay
$48,560/yearNational median pay, equivalent to $23.34 an hour, excluding gambling-service supervisors.
Outlook
5.3% projected growthAbout 10,600 openings a year nationally across this occupation, excluding gambling services.
Fit, tradeoffs & changing tools
You might like this if…
- You like explaining a task and helping someone improve.
- You enjoy fitting people and activities into a workable schedule.
- You can listen to a complaint without immediately taking sides.
Things to weigh
- Evening and weekend programs can put your work hours inside other people's free time.
- Leading staff includes uncomfortable conversations about performance and handling unhappy guests.
Where AI may help
Registration software keeps membership and payment records together. In guest services, you also help staff and customers fix problems in that system.
What people still lead
You still coach workers and decide how to respond when a customer's problem needs judgment.
What we can’t predict yet
How much routine customer help becomes automated remains uncertain; unusual payment or membership problems may still need personal attention.
Pay in context
Earnings
The national median was $48,560 a year, or $23.34 an hour, in May 2025. These figures cover entertainment and recreation supervisors excluding gambling services.
The pay spread
The lowest-paid 10% earned $34,760 or less annually; the highest-paid 10% earned $79,060 or more. These are wage percentiles, not beginner and experienced pay levels.
Workplace type matters
A historical comparison shows annual mean pay of $61,500 in local government, excluding schools and hospitals, versus $42,760 in amusement parks and arcades. These May 2023 averages are not current offers or medians.
Openings include replacement hiring
Employment is projected to grow 5.3% from 2025 to 2035. The projected 10,600 annual openings include workers leaving the occupation as well as growth; they are not all newly created jobs.
Getting started
Build experience on the activity floor
- What the route involves
- Finish high school or its equivalent and build related experience in recreation or entertainment work. Learn the routines you would later help other workers follow.
- What it can lead to
- That experience prepares you to compete for first-line supervisor roles; the national typical-entry category is less than five years of related work.
Combine college with relevant work
- What the route involves
- Build relevant experience alongside college. For example, Livonia's guest-services route pairs associate-level education with two years of related experience or training, or a bachelor's degree with one year of relevant work.
- What it can lead to
- This can meet education-and-experience screening requirements for municipal guest-services supervision.
- What to check
- Requirements belong to the individual employer. Meeting them does not guarantee selection.
Related work experience is the usual foundation. Some municipal roles also ask for college education.
After entry
Career paths
This starts where the entry routes leave off: early work, growing capability, and advancement or specialization.
Get established
Learn the facility's opening and closing routines, then make sure your staff can carry them out consistently.
Improve the operation
Learn to evaluate programs, track spending and turn participation records into decisions about activities and staffing.
Take on broader responsibility
Explore senior recreation supervisor roles as your experience grows. Their qualifications depend on the employer.
- Specialize in aquatics supervision, checking the position's experience and lifeguard-training expectations.
Where you can work
Community recreation centers
You balance gym use, classes and room rentals, working with activity staff, contractors and volunteers. Facility walkthroughs sit alongside scheduling and public contact.
- Indoors
- Office
- Shift work
Amusement parks
Ride supervision puts you close to operating crews, training checks and guest concerns. Expect substantial walking and schedules that can include nights, weekends and holidays.
- Outdoors
- Shift work
- Physical demands
- Safety-sensitive
Try it
See whether the job clicks before you commit to the path.
Sketch a staffing plan for a pretend two-hour recreation event with a welcome desk and two activity stations. Give four workers breaks, then remove one worker from the plan. Explain what you would change and tell the crew. Notice whether coordinating people interests you.
Stay safe: Keep this a paper exercise, not a staffing plan for a real event.
Sources
- O*NET OnLine. First-Line Supervisors of Entertainment and Recreation Workers, Except Gambling Services. Accessed 2026-10-03.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Occupational projections and worker characteristics, 2025–35. Accessed 2026-10-03.
- O*NET OnLine / U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. National wages for occupation 39-1014.00. Accessed 2026-10-03.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. May 2023 wages: First-Line Supervisors of Entertainment and Recreation Workers, Except Gambling Services. Accessed 2026-10-03.
- City of Livonia. Recreation Supervisor – Guest Services. Accessed 2026-10-03.
- City of Winston-Salem. Senior Recreation Center Supervisor. Accessed 2026-10-03.
- City of Laguna Beach. Recreation Supervisor class specification. Accessed 2026-10-03.
- City of Petaluma. Recreation Supervisor. Accessed 2026-10-03.
- Six Flags Entertainment Corporation. Rides Senior Supervisor. Accessed 2026-10-03.