How To Become A National Park Ranger: What It Is and Career Path

What is a national park ranger and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a national park ranger. For example, did you know that they make an average of $19.14 an hour? That's $39,808 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 5% and produce 1,800 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreNational Park RangerUS Average

Salary

3.1

Avg. Salary $39,808

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

7.6

Growth rate 5%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

7.1

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 1.11%

Asian 1.41%

Black or African American 0.79%

Hispanic or Latino 2.48%

Unknown 2.94%

White 91.28%

Gender

female 36.97%

male 63.03%

Age - 41

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 41

Stress level

7.6

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.2

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

7.2

Work life balance is good

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a national park ranger

Explore national park ranger education requirements

Most common national park ranger degrees

Bachelor's

71.4 %

Associate

14.3 %

High School Diploma

7.1 %

Start to develop specific national park ranger skills

Skills	Percentages
Visitor Safety	24.27%
Law Enforcement	19.37%
NPS	19.31%
Natural Resources	12.45%
Educational Programs	8.52%

Complete relevant national park ranger training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New national park rangers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a national park ranger based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real national park ranger resumes.

Research national park ranger duties and responsibilities

Evaluate students on leadership, time management, organization and ability to accomplish missions.
Examine injure persons and administer first aid or cardiopulmonary resuscitation, if necessary, using training and medical supplies and equipment.
Examine injure persons and administer first aid or cardiopulmonary resuscitation, if necessary, using training and medical supplies and equipment.

Prepare your national park ranger resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your national park ranger resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a national park ranger resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable national park ranger resume templates

Build a professional national park ranger resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your national park ranger resume.