An Activity Therapist needs to have communication, leadership, and coordinating skills. Most Activity Therapists work in the health care, non-profit, and city government industries. You will be required to plan, direct, and coordinate medically-approved recreation programs for patients in nursing homes, hospitals, or skilled care homes. You will need to coordinate sports, trips, drama, social activities, as well as arts and crafts. You may need to assess a patient's condition to do activities and recommend the appropriate recreational activity.
An Activity Therapist will also perform administrative activities like maintaining files and processing paperwork. You will need to keep equipment in good repair as well as controlling resources. You will need to be a leader of volunteers or staff members who assist in activities. You will need at least a bachelor's degree or extensive social work experience, sports management, and be an intern as a recreation therapist or volunteer. You can make an average yearly salary of $42,000.
What is an Activity Therapist?
What Does an Activity Therapist Do
There are certain skills that many activity therapists have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed leadership skills, listening skills and speaking skills.
How To Become an Activity Therapist
If you're interested in becoming an activity therapist, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 71.4% of activity therapists have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 14.1% of activity therapists have master's degrees. Even though most activity therapists have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Activity Therapist Career Paths
In addition to switching up your job search, it might prove helpful to look at a career path for your specific job. Now, what's a career path you ask? Well, it's practically a map that shows how you might advance from one job title to another. Our career paths are especially detailed with salary changes. So, for example, if you started out with the role of recreation therapist you might progress to a role such as program coordinator eventually. Later on in your career, you could end up with the title lead therapist.
Average Salary for an Activity Therapist
What Am I Worth?
States With The Most Activity Therapist Jobs
Mouse over a state to see the number of active activity therapist jobs in each state. The darker areas on the map show where activity therapists earn the highest salaries across all 50 states.
Number Of Activity Therapist Jobs By State
| Rank | State | Number of Jobs | Average Salary |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | California | 4,030 | $73,735 |
| 2 | Texas | 2,656 | $48,246 |
| 3 | Illinois | 1,644 | $46,153 |
| 4 | New York | 1,565 | $63,754 |
| 5 | Pennsylvania | 1,503 | $57,551 |
| 6 | Georgia | 1,476 | $45,573 |
| 7 | Ohio | 1,400 | $50,660 |
| 8 | North Carolina | 1,221 | $42,250 |
| 9 | Indiana | 1,203 | $56,825 |
| 10 | New Jersey | 1,125 | $59,894 |
| 11 | Virginia | 1,081 | $47,576 |
| 12 | Washington | 1,003 | $63,222 |
| 13 | Michigan | 942 | $49,530 |
| 14 | Missouri | 904 | $47,797 |
| 15 | Maryland | 859 | $59,877 |
| 16 | Colorado | 831 | $48,512 |
| 17 | Tennessee | 707 | $45,154 |
| 18 | South Carolina | 696 | $46,756 |
| 19 | Wisconsin | 673 | $41,514 |
| 20 | Minnesota | 627 | $51,015 |
| 21 | Alabama | 538 | $49,956 |
| 22 | Iowa | 505 | $45,036 |
| 23 | Oregon | 494 | $74,623 |
| 24 | Kansas | 486 | $43,886 |
| 25 | Kentucky | 477 | $47,955 |
| 26 | Oklahoma | 440 | $45,962 |
| 27 | Nebraska | 383 | $50,521 |
| 28 | Arkansas | 328 | $51,841 |
| 29 | Utah | 247 | $67,704 |
| 30 | Nevada | 246 | $66,934 |
| 31 | Massachusetts | 219 | $54,587 |
| 32 | Maine | 218 | $50,995 |
| 33 | Idaho | 198 | $60,678 |
| 34 | North Dakota | 192 | $63,992 |
| 35 | Florida | 183 | $47,651 |
| 36 | Montana | 176 | $48,793 |
| 37 | Delaware | 165 | $45,097 |
| 38 | Arizona | 67 | $55,249 |
| 39 | Connecticut | 45 | $57,889 |
| 40 | Mississippi | 37 | $61,887 |
| 41 | Louisiana | 35 | $48,719 |
| 42 | New Hampshire | 29 | $52,385 |
| 43 | West Virginia | 27 | $50,459 |
| 44 | Rhode Island | 27 | $42,688 |
| 45 | South Dakota | 22 | $48,279 |
| 46 | New Mexico | 19 | $57,449 |
| 47 | Hawaii | 13 | $47,605 |
| 48 | Wyoming | 6 | $48,993 |
| 49 | Vermont | 5 | $49,820 |
| 50 | Alaska | 3 | $70,038 |
Top Colleges for Activity Therapists
1. Columbia University in the City of New York
New York, NY • Private
2. Washington University in St Louis
Saint Louis, MO • Private
3. California State University - Long Beach
Long Beach, CA • Private
4. Hunter College of the City University of New York
New York, NY • Private
5. SUNY Stony Brook
Stony Brook, NY • Private
6. University of Washington
Seattle, WA • Private
7. New York University
New York, NY • Private
8. University of South Florida
Tampa, FL • Private
9. Duke University
Durham, NC • Private
10. Howard University
Washington, DC • Private
Top Skills For an Activity Therapist
The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 29.3% of activity therapists listed patients on their resume, but soft skills such as leadership skills and listening skills are important as well.
Choose From 10+ Customizable Activity Therapist Resume templates
Zippia allows you to choose from different easy-to-use Activity Therapist templates, and provides you with expert advice. Using the templates, you can rest assured that the structure and format of your Activity Therapist resume is top notch. Choose a template with the colors, fonts & text sizes that are appropriate for your industry.
Activity Therapist Demographics
Activity Therapist Gender Distribution
After extensive research and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:
- Among activity therapists, 74.2% of them are women, while 25.8% are men.
- The most common race/ethnicity among activity therapists is White, which makes up 66.9% of all activity therapists.
- The most common foreign language among activity therapists is Spanish at 67.7%.
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How Do Activity Therapist Rate Their Jobs?
Top Activity Therapist Employers
Most Common Employers For Activity Therapist
| Rank | Company | Average Salary | Hourly Rate | Job Openings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jefferson County Health Center | $64,471 | $31.00 | 4 |
| 2 | Queens Health Systems | $64,335 | $30.93 | 5 |
| 3 | Mental Health Center | $58,567 | $28.16 | 6 |
| 4 | BronxCare Health System | $57,992 | $27.88 | 4 |
| 5 | Spectrum for Living | $53,608 | $25.77 | 14 |
| 6 | United Way of Anchorage | $51,173 | $24.60 | 7 |
| 7 | Philhaven | $51,100 | $24.57 | 8 |
| 8 | Tri-County Mental Health Services | $50,984 | $24.51 | 5 |
| 9 | Delaware Center for Justice | $50,321 | $24.19 | 6 |
| 10 | Pine Rest | $50,113 | $24.09 | 7 |