Guide vs outdoor guide

The differences between guides and outdoor guides can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 1-2 years to become both a guide and an outdoor guide. Additionally, an outdoor guide has an average salary of $49,220, which is higher than the $34,479 average annual salary of a guide.

The top three skills for a guide include brand awareness, product knowledge and safety rules. The most important skills for an outdoor guide are responder, GPS, and outdoor education.

Guide vs outdoor guide overview

	Guide	Outdoor Guide
Yearly salary	$34,479	$49,220
Hourly rate	$16.58	$23.66
Growth rate	28%	-
Number of jobs	1,195	911
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 61%	Bachelor's Degree, 84%
Average age	34	34
Years of experience	2	2

Guide vs outdoor guide salary

Guides and outdoor guides have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Guide	Outdoor Guide
Average salary	$34,479	$49,220
Salary range	Between $17,000 And $68,000	Between $12,000 And $199,000
Highest paying City	San Francisco, CA	-
Highest paying state	Alaska	-
Best paying company	Salesforce	-
Best paying industry	Technology	-

Differences between guide and outdoor guide education

There are a few differences between a guide and an outdoor guide in terms of educational background:

	Guide	Outdoor Guide
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 61%	Bachelor's Degree, 84%
Most common major	Business	Recreation Management
Most common college	Stanford University	Stanford University

Guide vs outdoor guide demographics

Here are the differences between guides' and outdoor guides' demographics:

	Guide	Outdoor Guide
Average age	34	34
Gender ratio	Male, 49.3% Female, 50.7%	Male, 67.8% Female, 32.2%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 6.5% Unknown, 5.4% Hispanic or Latino, 10.4% Asian, 9.9% White, 67.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7%	Black or African American, 6.7% Unknown, 5.4% Hispanic or Latino, 10.8% Asian, 9.4% White, 67.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7%
LGBT Percentage	9%	9%

Differences between guide and outdoor guide duties and responsibilities

Guide example responsibilities.

Manage kayaks, guest and guide gear and repaired/ordered as needed.
Lead VIP guests on guide tours of the property and facilitate their involvement in special events, productions, and conventions.
Manage payroll - specifically manage overtime.
Provide hands on experience in stream exploration, plant identification, and survival classes.
Wrangle horses, clean fish, and elk.
Generate high quality reports in the form of listing, HTML, XML, RTF and PDF formats using SAS ODS.

Outdoor guide example responsibilities.

Manage payroll - specifically manage overtime.
Steer a large voyageur canoe, teach paddling skills, and safety practices.
Guide backpacking, canoe, white-water raft trips with a non-profit outdoor youth development program.
Facilitate a therapeutic outdoor adventure experience for teenagers struggling with a variety of behavioral, mental health and substance abuse challenges.
Manage commercial whitewater rafting outfit.

Guide vs outdoor guide skills

Common guide skills

Brand Awareness, 26%
Product Knowledge, 12%
Safety Rules, 12%
Customer Service, 8%
Safety Procedures, 5%
CPR, 5%

Common outdoor guide skills

Responder, 25%
GPS, 16%
Outdoor Education, 14%
Natural History, 14%
Adventure Programs, 7%
Customer Service, 6%