Walk rounds and report repairs
Walk your regular rounds of common areas and tell maintenance staff where a light has gone out.
Career profile
Residential Advisor
Residential advisors support people living together in dormitories, group homes, and similar communal housing.
Keeping daily life on track means noticing what needs repair, settling arguments between residents, and linking them to help when a problem outgrows house rules.
A day in the life
Help roommates rework their agreement
Hear college roommates' complaints about sleep or guests, then help them rework their agreement so expectations are clear.
Check in a shelter newcomer
At an emergency shelter, you check in a newcomer, explain house rules, and update the sign-in log.
Bring the house together
Run an educational event or house meeting, pass on key information, and leave time for questions.
Quick facts
High school + workplace training
United States · 2025
$42,240 a year
United States · May 2025
3.5% projected growth
United States · 2025–2035
Quick orientation
Preparation, pay & outlook
Preparation
High school + workplace trainingTypical entry preparation is a high school diploma or equivalent, followed by short-term training on the job. Employer requirements vary.
Pay
$42,240 a yearNational median for residential advisors across settings; the hourly median is $20.31.
Outlook
3.5% projected growthAbout 16,500 openings a year are projected across the occupation.
Fit, tradeoffs & changing tools
You might like this if…
- You can listen patiently while still being clear about a rule.
- You notice small problems in shared spaces before someone complains.
- You like leaving useful notes so the next person can follow through.
Things to weigh
- Campus duty can run overnight and include weekends or holidays, cutting into your own plans.
- Being approachable and enforcing rules can pull you in different directions, especially when you live beside the residents.
Where AI may help
Campus staff already use online incident forms to record concerns and share them with the people responsible for follow-up.
What people still lead
You still have to notice what happened, listen to residents, and decide when to call for help.
What we can’t predict yet
How much reporting software will eventually draft or sort is uncertain. Faster paperwork could also bring more information for staff to check.
Pay in context
Earnings
Compare the whole offer, especially when the job includes living where you work. National wages cover residential advisors across several settings.
The national range
The May 2025 median was $42,240 a year, or $20.31 an hour. The 10th and 90th annual wage percentiles were $29,870 and $61,060. Those mark the wage spread, not starting and experienced pay.
Workplace pay differs
In May 2023, annual mean pay was $40,920 in colleges, universities, and professional schools, versus $38,590 in community food and housing, and emergency and other relief services. These historical averages are separate from the current national median.
Housing can be the compensation
Some student resident assistant jobs provide room and meals as compensation. Check the cash pay, housing terms, meal benefits, and duty schedule before comparing that package with a salaried job.
Openings exceed net growth
Employment is projected to grow 3.5% from 2025 to 2035, with about 16,500 openings annually. Openings include replacing workers who leave the occupation; they are not all newly created positions.
Getting started
Apply for shelter residential work
- What the route involves
- Look for positions accepting a high school diploma or equivalent. Learn resident check-in, house records, and shift routines while reporting to a manager.
- What it can lead to
- You can begin doing the daily work that keeps an emergency residence organized and responsive to residents.
- What to check
- Check employer requirements for computer skills, background clearances, and child-abuse reporting training; these can depend on the location and residents served.
Become a campus resident assistant
- What the route involves
- While enrolled in college, apply through housing, interview, and complete staff training. Check your college's enrollment, grade, and conduct requirements.
- What it can lead to
- You gain residential work experience alongside your studies, with ongoing support from a community director.
- What to check
- At the University of Arizona, applicants need a completed semester there as a full-time student and both semester and cumulative grade-point averages of at least 2.5. Other colleges set their own rules.
You can enter through residential employment or a student housing position. The eligibility rules and compensation can be quite different.
After entry
Career paths
This starts where the entry routes leave off: early work, growing capability, and advancement or specialization.
Get established
Learn the emergency procedures and referral contacts. Use training and supervisor meetings to work through situations you have not handled before.
Improve your judgment
Learn which concerns keep coming up in your residence. Use resident feedback to improve meetings and activities.
Mentor newer staff
A senior resident assistant role can add peer mentoring and staff training. Some colleges require previous residential staff experience before you can apply.
Where you can work
College residence halls
In live-in student roles, your neighbors are also the people you support. Move-in and move-out shape the academic year, and evening duty must fit around classes.
- Indoors
- On call
Emergency shelters
Residents are dealing with a housing crisis. Work follows shifts, with handoffs about arrivals, room checks, meals, and concerns needing follow-up.
- Indoors
- Shift work
Try it
See whether the job clicks before you commit to the path.
Imagine two roommates disagree about lights and visitors. Write three neutral questions you would ask, then draft a short agreement and a follow-up plan. Notice whether you enjoy turning competing needs into clear expectations.
Stay safe: Use a made-up situation; do not take responsibility for resolving a real conflict.
Sources
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Occupational projections and worker characteristics, 2025–35. Accessed 2026-10-03.
- O*NET OnLine. 39-9041.00 — Residential Advisors. Accessed 2026-10-03.
- O*NET OnLine / U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Residential Advisors wages — United States and California, 2025. Accessed 2026-10-03.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Occupational Employment and Wages, May 2023 — Residential Advisors. Accessed 2026-10-03.
- University of California, Los Angeles. Resident Assistant Job Description. Accessed 2026-10-03.
- University of Arizona. Resident Assistant Recruitment Information. Accessed 2026-10-03.
- University of California, Berkeley. Senior Resident Assistant. Accessed 2026-10-03.
- The Salvation Army. Residential Advisor — Eliza Shirley House, Philadelphia. Accessed 2026-10-03.