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Employment and wages in sporting and outdoor recreational industries

October 31, 2018

It’s the end of October, and depending on where you live, early snow may be a hopeful herald of the upcoming ski season, or it might still be warm enough to go sailing. Either way, it’s often a good time get outside and have fun. Let’s take a look at employment and wages in sports and outdoor recreational industries.

In March 2018, employment in the sports and recreation instruction industry in New Hampshire was 1.6 times higher than the national rate of employment in the industry. New Hampshire was followed by Colorado (about 1.6), and Utah (1.5). Even though fewer employees worked in sports and recreation instruction in New Hampshire than in some other states, it was relatively more compared to its total employed population.

Employment location quotient and wages in select sporting and outdoor recreational industries

Employment location quotient and wages in sports and recreation instruction, total private, March 2018
State March employment location quotient March employment Average weekly wage Total quarterly wages location quotient

U.S. total

1.00 131,284 $346 1.00

Alabama

0.67 1,178 255 0.62

Alaska

1.08 304 291 1.07

Arizona

1.02 2,603 298 0.98

Arkansas

0.83 909 315 1.00

California

1.02 15,851 424 1.07

Colorado

1.56 3,738 374 1.66

Connecticut

1.17 1,762 402 1.06

District of Columbia

0.27 192 323 0.15

Florida

0.92 7,270 495 1.53

Georgia

0.83 3,337 372 0.93

Hawaii

1.12 668 386 1.48

Idaho

0.89 578 262 0.97

Illinois

0.93 4,998 348 0.87

Indiana

0.88 2,426 247 0.75

Iowa

0.81 1,118 184 0.55

Kansas

0.75 935 288 0.86

Kentucky

0.61 1,042 262 0.58

Louisiana

0.80 1,393 241 0.68

Maine

0.56 302 275 0.60

Maryland

1.47 3,531 340 1.37

Massachusetts

1.41 4,490 377 1.18

Michigan

0.78 3,034 269 0.65

Minnesota

1.20 3,079 292 0.98

Mississippi

0.38 390 210 0.35

Missouri

0.74 1,875 238 0.61

Montana

1.31 542 190 1.04

Nebraska

1.02 894 215 0.84

Nevada

0.86 1,052 358 1.05

New Hampshire

1.63 958 413 1.98

New Jersey

1.26 4,563 382 1.15

New Mexico

0.64 476 238 0.59

New York

1.36 11,521 382 1.08

North Carolina

1.01 4,002 312 1.03

North Dakota

0.72 268 234 0.59

Ohio

0.75 3,633 275 0.68

Oklahoma

0.78 1,138 266 0.73

Oregon

1.07 1,844 300 1.04

Pennsylvania

0.85 4,460 330 0.82

Rhode Island

0.91 387 379 1.08

South Carolina

0.62 1,159 341 0.80

South Dakota

0.83 316 205 0.64

Tennessee

0.71 1,913 289 0.70

Texas

1.05 11,566 354 1.05

Utah

1.51 2,004 272 1.42

Virginia

1.12 3,919 345 1.13

Washington

1.46 4,390 275 1.09

West Virginia

0.34 211 244 0.33

Wisconsin

0.89 2,298 237 0.74

Note: This table excludes rows with suppressed employment and wages


Employment location quotient in nature parks and other similar institutions, total private, March 2018
State March employment location quotient March employment Average weekly wage Total quarterly wages location quotient

U.S. total

1.00 9,562 $641 1.00

Alaska

2.96 61 849 4.27

California

0.95 1,079 809 1.06

Colorado

1.49 260 642 1.28

Connecticut

1.97 215 720 1.84

Florida

0.96 551 455 0.81

Georgia

2.11 616 472 1.64

Illinois

0.21 82 728 0.22

Indiana

0.58 115 443 0.49

Kentucky

3.20 397 298 1.86

Maine

0.51 20 842 0.81

Maryland

0.26 46 720 0.31

Massachusetts

0.47 109 671 0.40

Michigan

1.67 474 741 2.18

Minnesota

0.23 43 588 0.25

Missouri

1.57 288 656 1.59

Montana

1.93 58 1,017 4.38

Nevada

0.70 63 550 0.78

New Jersey

0.22 57 494 0.17

New York

1.60 988 962 1.77

North Carolina

1.01 293 570 1.01

Ohio

0.98 347 543 1.00

Pennsylvania

0.51 195 516 0.41

South Carolina

2.24 306 386 1.78

South Dakota

4.53 125 831 8.05

Tennessee

2.10 409 611 2.24

Texas

1.03 833 670 1.07

Virginia

1.21 308 417 0.65

Washington

0.42 93 720 0.45

Wisconsin

0.88 164 539 0.86

Note: This table excludes rows with suppressed employment and wages


Employment location quotient in skiing facilities, total private, March 2018
State March employment location quotient March employment Average weekly wage Total quarterly wages location quotient

U.S. total

1.00 69,933 $386 1.00

Alaska

2.01 303 244 1.10

California

0.88 7,322 476 0.85

Colorado

13.59 17,351 524 16.33

Connecticut

1.11 886 219 0.54

Idaho

5.45 1,880 318 6.20

Iowa

0.07 53 227 0.20

Maine

7.27 2,082 380 8.57

Massachusetts

1.50 2,539 281 0.92

Michigan

0.82 1,708 259 0.63

Minnesota

1.54 2,106 221 0.85

Montana

5.40 1,190 323 5.93

Nevada

1.27 832 433 1.60

New Hampshire

9.15 2,869 290 6.90

New Mexico

3.62 1,425 442 5.15

New York

0.63 2,859 292 0.37

North Carolina

0.27 564 433 0.56

Ohio

0.35 911 173 0.24

Oregon

2.77 2,539 329 2.42

Pennsylvania

1.54 4,306 228 1.06

Utah

9.74 6,874 576 16.18

Vermont

3.76 558 355 4.33

Washington

2.20 3,534 320 1.58

Wisconsin

1.28 1,757 243 1.16

Wyoming

2.60 331 372 3.08

Note: This table excludes rows with suppressed employment and wages


Employment location quotient and wages in golf courses and country clubs, total private, March 2018
State March employment location quotient March employment Average weekly wage Total quarterly wages location quotient

U.S. total

1.00 291,935 $557 1.00

Alabama

1.19 4,685 428 1.15

Arizona

1.67 9,519 546 1.92

Arkansas

0.97 2,381 448 1.03

California

0.98 34,023 587 0.92

Colorado

0.80 4,261 616 0.84

Connecticut

0.82 2,747 896 0.96

Delaware

1.08 960 546 1.01

Florida

2.79 49,096 620 3.77

Georgia

1.18 10,527 512 1.16

Hawaii

2.56 3,402 691 3.97

Idaho

0.80 1,157 547 1.03

Illinois

0.73 8,678 563 0.63

Indiana

0.63 3,836 456 0.58

Iowa

0.78 2,406 425 0.70

Kansas

1.01 2,800 443 0.97

Kentucky

0.60 2,258 462 0.57

Louisiana

0.68 2,623 424 0.65

Maine

0.51 604 623 0.75

Maryland

0.86 4,572 615 0.87

Massachusetts

0.72 5,127 755 0.73

Michigan

0.72 6,263 511 0.66

Minnesota

0.59 3,370 532 0.56

Mississippi

0.74 1,679 363 0.72

Missouri

0.81 4,562 466 0.76

Montana

0.84 774 583 1.23

Nebraska

1.00 1,943 460 0.98

Nevada

1.45 3,956 532 1.68

New Hampshire

0.83 1,084 671 1.02

New Jersey

0.85 6,861 692 0.79

New Mexico

0.64 1,044 401 0.61

New York

0.42 7,934 900 0.45

North Carolina

1.40 12,338 472 1.35

North Dakota

0.31 256 469 0.31

Ohio

0.81 8,708 463 0.73

Oklahoma

0.87 2,809 430 0.84

Oregon

0.76 2,898 488 0.74

Pennsylvania

1.03 12,065 519 0.95

South Carolina

2.24 9,332 419 2.27

South Dakota

0.86 722 403 0.86

Tennessee

0.70 4,186 480 0.70

Texas

0.92 22,632 541 0.91

Utah

0.57 1,680 579 0.72

Vermont

0.36 222 648 0.52

Virginia

0.96 7,462 504 0.85

Washington

0.70 4,660 540 0.59

West Virginia

0.52 715 433 0.51

Wisconsin

0.85 4,858 406 0.73

Wyoming

0.75 397 603 0.97

Puerto Rico

0.16 270 441 0.29

Note: This table excludes rows with suppressed employment and wages


Employment location quotient and wages in marinas, total private, March 2018
State March employment location quotient March employment Average weekly wage Total quarterly wages location quotient

U.S. total

1.00 30,068 $706 1.00

Alabama

1.20 488 596 1.24

Arkansas

1.18 297 460 0.95

California

0.57 2,032 698 0.49

Colorado

0.10 53 747 0.10

Connecticut

2.93 1,008 978 3.24

Delaware

0.39 36 481 0.28

Florida

3.97 7,205 725 4.89

Georgia

0.71 647 612 0.63

Hawaii

0.88 121 658 1.01

Idaho

0.28 42 681 0.41

Iowa

0.35 111 499 0.31

Kansas

0.13 36 623 0.13

Louisiana

0.73 292 487 0.62

Maine

7.32 901 827 11.22

Maryland

2.76 1,517 724 2.59

Massachusetts

1.91 1,395 957 2.03

Michigan

1.33 1,183 705 1.40

Minnesota

0.36 211 766 0.39

Mississippi

0.53 124 522 0.60

Montana

0.05 5 558 0.06

Nebraska

0.08 16 725 0.08

Nevada

0.73 204 626 0.77

New Hampshire

1.28 172 837 1.54

New York

1.01 1,953 821 0.85

North Carolina

0.62 560 608 0.61

Ohio

0.66 726 589 0.62

Oregon

0.31 122 662 0.33

Pennsylvania

0.16 190 449 0.10

Rhode Island

4.74 463 951 6.91

South Carolina

1.63 699 464 1.40

Texas

0.48 1,207 582 0.37

Utah

0.09 27 409 0.07

Vermont

0.85 54 934 1.26

Washington

0.76 521 648 0.61

Wisconsin

1.17 691 652 1.36

South Dakota employed people in nature parks and similar institutions at 4.53 times the national rate in March 2018. This was followed by Kentucky (3.2), and Alaska (3.0). Nature park employees, who work in conservation areas, national parks and wildlife sanctuaries, made a weekly average of $831 in South Dakota.

In Colorado, people worked at skiing facilities at about 13.5 times the national rate in March 2018. Utah and New Hampshire followed, employing ski facility workers at 9.7 and 9.2 times the national rate. The 17,351 employees at ski facilities in Colorado earned $524 a week, on average.

Florida led in relative golf course and country club employment, at 2.8 times the national rate. Florida was followed by Hawaii (2.6) and South Carolina (2.2). The 49,096 Florida golf course employees made an average of $620 a week.

Compared to the national rate, Maine employed 7.3 times more employees at marinas, followed by Rhode Island (4.7), and Florida (4.0). The 901 marina employees in Maine made an average of $827 a week in March 2018.

Location quotients are useful for studying the composition of jobs in an area relative to the rate, or for finding areas that have high concentrations of jobs in certain industries. As measured here, a location quotient shows the industry’s share of a state’s employment relative to the national rate.

These data are from the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages. You can get more industry employment data for the nation, states, counties, and metropolitan areas through the data viewer tool.

SUGGESTED CITATION

Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, The Economics Daily, Employment and wages in sporting and outdoor recreational industries at https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2018/employment-and-wages-in-sporting-and-outdoor-recreational-industries.htm (visited April 26, 2024).

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