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Salary data from BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics

Lifeguards, Ski Patrol, And Other Recreational Protective Service Workers Salary: Texas vs District of Columbia

Lifeguards, Ski Patrol, And Other Recreational Protective Service Workers earn a median of $29,240 in Texas and $58,640 in District of Columbia. That is a nominal gap of $29,400 (-50.1%), with District of Columbia paying more before any cost-of-living adjustment.

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey, May 2024 estimates. Cost-of-living adjustment uses BEA Regional Price Parities, most recent release.

$29,240
Texas median
$30,127 after COL
$58,640
District of Columbia median
$53,357 after COL
-50.1%
Nominal gap
District of Columbia leads
-43.5%
Adjusted gap
District of Columbia leads after COL

The story behind the numbers

On raw wages, District of Columbia pays $29,400 more per year than Texas for lifeguards, ski patrol, and other recreational protective service workers, a gap of +50.1%.

After adjusting for cost of living, District of Columbia still comes out ahead, with roughly $23,230 of extra purchasing power (+43.5% real gap). Local prices do not reverse the nominal advantage.

Full breakdown by location

Detailed wage, employment, and cost-of-living figures for lifeguards, ski patrol, and other recreational protective service workers in each location. Click through to the full local salary page for percentiles, outlook, and peer areas.

Lifeguards, Ski Patrol, And Other Recreational Protective Service Workers

Texas

Median salary
$29,240
Mean salary
$30,280
Employment
11,600
Location quotient
0.90
Jobs per 1,000
0.8
COL-adjusted median
$30,127
Regional Price Parity
97.1%

Exact state RPP match.

Full Lifeguards, Ski Patrol, And Other Recreational Protective Service Workers page for Texas →

Lifeguards, Ski Patrol, And Other Recreational Protective Service Workers

District of Columbia

Median salary
$58,640
Mean salary
$60,130
Employment
350
Location quotient
0.52
Jobs per 1,000
0.5
COL-adjusted median
$53,357
Regional Price Parity
109.9%

Exact state RPP match.

Full Lifeguards, Ski Patrol, And Other Recreational Protective Service Workers page for District of Columbia →

Related pages

Keep digging into lifeguards, ski patrol, and other recreational protective service workers from a different angle.

Common questions about this comparison

What does the cost-of-living adjustment actually do? +

It divides each location's nominal median wage by its Regional Price Parity (RPP), which measures how local prices compare to the national average (100 = national). A wage of $100,000 in an area with RPP 120 has the same purchasing power as roughly $83,000 nationally.

Why would the nominal and adjusted winners disagree? +

High-cost metros often pay higher salaries, but not by enough to fully offset the higher cost of housing, goods, and services. When that happens, the location with the lower nominal wage actually offers more real purchasing power.

What is a location quotient? +

The location quotient measures how concentrated an occupation is in a given area versus the national average. A value of 2.0 means the occupation is twice as common there as nationally. It is a signal of what a state specializes in.