City of Seattle / Parks and Recreation Department / Recreation Leader

Job-title file

Recreation Leader

Carry out the duties of this position in support of the agency's public mission.

110 employees hold this title in Parks and Recreation Department. Median total compensation for the role is $70,886, below the department median of $71,386.

Employees: 110
Total payroll: $8.6M
Role median: $70,886
Agency median: $71,386
Comparison: Below

What the records show

Role pay distribution

Pay distribution for this role

$70,886$94,931+

Hover a bar for its range; click to filter the list below.

How total compensation varies among the 110 people in this role. Even for one job title, pay differs with seniority, step, overtime, and tenure. Each bar is a pay range; the far-right bar collects the highest earners.

Compared with the local labor market

Recreation Leader pay vs. the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA area

Across all employers in the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA area, the median wage for Recreation Workers — about 3,600 people — is $45,990. Parks and Recreation Department pays a median base salary of $70,886 for this role, 54% above that figure — above the 90th percentile of local pay for the occupation.

Where Parks and Recreation Department sits in the local pay range

10th

25th

Median

75th

90th

$36,600

$39,280

$45,990

$51,800

$61,070

Parks and Recreation Department median · $70,886

The bar is the range of annual wages for Recreation Workers across every employer in the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA area, from the 10th to the 90th percentile, with the middle 50% highlighted. The marker shows Parks and Recreation Department’s median base salary for this role. Both figures are base pay only.

And across the country

Nationwide, the median wage for Recreation Workers — about 331,490 people — is $36,560. Parks and Recreation Department’s median base salary is 94% above that national figure, above the 90th percentile of pay for the occupation nationally.

10th

25th

Median

75th

90th

$27,600

$31,780

$36,560

$43,470

$50,410

Parks and Recreation Department median · $70,886

Local and national wages differ for reasons beyond how well a job pays — cost of living, the mix of employers, and local demand for the occupation all move the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA range relative to the national one.

Median total compensation for this role at Parks and Recreation Department is $70,886, which includes overtime and employer-paid benefits. The benchmark above excludes both, so total compensation is deliberately not compared against it.

Benchmark: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (May 2025). BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) covers all employers in the area — private, non-profit, and government alike — so this is a comparison against the whole local labor market for the occupation, not against private-sector pay. OEWS wages are straight-time pay and exclude overtime, shift differentials, and employer-paid benefits, so the government figure shown here is base pay on the same basis. Total compensation is not comparable to it. Job titles are matched to the closest standard occupation, so the comparison is between similar work rather than an identical job classification.

Compare jurisdictions

Recreation Leader beyond City of Seattle

This role is reported in 10 jurisdictions. In City of Seattle, the median of $70,886 ranks #2 of 10. See Recreation Leader across all of City of Seattle →

Highest-paying jurisdictions for this role

City of Las Vegas

$83,870 · 65

New York Public Authorities

$48,285 · 5

City of Baltimore

$38,243 · 437

City of Memphis

$31,200 · 224

City of Philadelphia

$22,691 · 243

City of Phoenix, Arizona

$17,141 · 354

Metro Nashville

$14,023 · 759

City and County of San Francisco

$8,014 · 585

Median total compensation for comparable Recreation Leaderroles in other jurisdictions. Titles are matched by normalized name across sources, not identical job classification, and pay is not cost-of-living adjusted. Each bar links to that jurisdiction’s page for the role.

Record list