There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a swim lesson instructor. For example, did you know that they make an average of $12.35 an hour? That's $25,697 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 11% and produce 30,500 job opportunities across the U.S.

What Does a Swim Lesson Instructor Do

There are certain skills that many swim lesson instructors 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 dedication, interpersonal skills and leadership skills.

Learn more about what a Swim Lesson Instructor does

How To Become a Swim Lesson Instructor

If you're interested in becoming a swim lesson instructor, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 75.2% of swim lesson instructors have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 7.9% of swim lesson instructors have master's degrees. Even though most swim lesson instructors have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.

Swim Lesson Instructor Career Paths

Average Salary for a Swim Lesson Instructor

Swim Lesson Instructors in America make an average salary of $25,697 per year or $12 per hour. The top 10 percent makes over $35,000 per year, while the bottom 10 percent under $18,000 per year.
Average Swim Lesson Instructor Salary
$25,697 Yearly
$12.35 hourly

What Am I Worth?

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Roles and Types of Swim Lesson Instructor

There are several types of swim lesson instructor, including:

Instructor

Role:

Instructors are knowledgable about a topic and work to pass that knowledge off to their students. Whether you work in a gym or a school, instructors are super important to the students' success.

There are lots of possibilities for you as an instructor. You could work at a health club or a gym or you could work for a school and instruct math. There are so many different instructors out there, basically any topic you can think of probably needs an instructor.

Your hours will vary depending on what industry you decide to go with. You may find some jobs require you to work nights and weekends, like if you were to become a fitness instructor, while school instructors only work during school hours. Your schedule really depends on what you're passionate and knowledgable about and when people want to learn it.

  • Average Salary: $53,426
  • Degree: Bachelor's Degree

Swim Instructor

Role:

A swim instructor teaches swimming techniques, swimming strokes, and water safety rules to students with varying levels of swimming abilities, assists more experienced swimmers to enhance their swimming abilities, and assesses the progress of students and adjusting teaching programs accordingly. They monitor students to prevent accidents or injuries, implement ground rules, plan swimming sessions that take into account student's abilities and progressive development, identify incorrect swimming techniques, and correct students appropriately ensuring that the swimming pools and locker rooms are kept clean and tidy.

As a rule, they require certain skills such as CPR and first aid and American Safety Instructor and Basic Swim Instructor certifications. They should have sound knowledge of proper swimming techniques and water safety, effective communication skills, and be passionate and enthusiastic.

A high school diploma or GED is enough, plus being an experienced swimmer, for example a retired professional swimmer. On average, they earn $24,852 per year, which translates to $11.95 per hour. Though generally, they earn anywhere between $18,000 and $35,000 a year.

  • Average Salary: $25,815
  • Degree: Bachelor's Degree

Swim Coach

Role:

A swim coach may either work as an instructor for people who want to learn how to swim or a coach for non-professional or professional swim teams. Either way, their main duty is to analyze swim techniques, develop training programs, and train swimmers on various techniques.

Other duties of swim coach include providing water safety education, assessing training results, and preparing swimmers for meets and competitions. Swim coaches for teams may also be responsible for recruiting new talent and coordinating with sports officials during competitions.

A swim coach must at least have a high school diploma or GED. More importantly, they must have completed a swimming instruction course and first aid training. In some states, swim coaches must have a certification or license to teach swimmers legally.

Apart from these formal requirements, a swim coach should have a good amount of patience and dedication to teach students how to swim. They must also have strong instructional and training skills to relay lessons effectively, especially when teaching young students.

The average salary of a swim coach is $28,000 a year. But for swim coaches of professional teams, the average salary may go well into hundreds of thousands.

  • Average Salary: $33,923
  • Degree: Bachelor's Degree

States With The Most Swim Lesson Instructor Jobs

Mouse over a state to see the number of active swim lesson instructor jobs in each state. The darker areas on the map show where swim lesson instructors earn the highest salaries across all 50 states.

Average Salary: Job Openings:

Number Of Swim Lesson Instructor Jobs By State

RankStateNumber of JobsAverage Salary
1California1,686$33,115
2Texas784$21,153
3Florida722$24,147
4Georgia673$23,756
5North Carolina639$22,327
6Virginia579$24,933
7New York533$35,519
8Colorado503$28,460
9Illinois450$23,608
10New Jersey427$29,768
11Michigan426$29,089
12Pennsylvania360$24,827
13South Carolina354$23,334
14Ohio347$19,401
15Massachusetts318$35,263
16Maryland288$25,455
17Oregon250$25,743
18Minnesota244$24,796
19Washington229$33,953
20Arizona226$25,074
21Wisconsin184$25,061
22Tennessee178$21,417
23Iowa164$20,203
24Missouri154$22,615
25Kentucky148$25,648
26Alabama145$21,814
27Louisiana136$22,226
28Nevada130$24,458
29Indiana127$18,219
30Utah123$23,614
31Kansas102$22,176
32Connecticut100$32,282
33Mississippi89$22,852
34Oklahoma88$19,880
35New Mexico77$24,100
36Montana70$22,909
37Delaware67$25,149
38Nebraska66$23,194
39Hawaii58$26,649
40West Virginia55$26,351
41Alaska52$23,394
42Idaho51$29,536
43New Hampshire49$32,066
44Wyoming44$23,940
45Rhode Island42$28,585
46Maine41$35,245
47Arkansas37$23,524
48South Dakota35$22,844
49North Dakota34$24,470
50Vermont30$32,982

Swim Lesson Instructor Education

Swim Lesson Instructor Majors

16.7 %

Swim Lesson Instructor Degrees

Bachelors

75.2 %

Masters

7.9 %

High School Diploma

7.7 %

Top Skills For a Swim Lesson Instructor

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, 23.9% of swim lesson instructors listed cleanliness on their resume, but soft skills such as dedication and interpersonal skills are important as well.

Choose From 10+ Customizable Swim Lesson Instructor Resume templates

Zippia allows you to choose from different easy-to-use Swim Lesson Instructor templates, and provides you with expert advice. Using the templates, you can rest assured that the structure and format of your Swim Lesson Instructor resume is top notch. Choose a template with the colors, fonts & text sizes that are appropriate for your industry.

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Swim Lesson Instructor diversity

Swim Lesson Instructor Gender Distribution

Female
Female
66%
Male
Male
34%

After extensive research and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:

  • Among swim lesson instructors, 66.3% of them are women, while 33.7% are men.

  • The most common race/ethnicity among swim lesson instructors is White, which makes up 68.0% of all swim lesson instructors.

  • The most common foreign language among swim lesson instructors is Spanish at 56.0%.

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Best States For a Swim Lesson Instructor

Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a swim lesson instructor. The best states for people in this position are New York, Massachusetts, Maine, and Washington. Swim lesson instructors make the most in New York with an average salary of $35,519. Whereas in Massachusetts and Maine, they would average $35,263 and $35,245, respectively. While swim lesson instructors would only make an average of $33,953 in Washington, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.

1. New York

Total Swim Lesson Instructor Jobs: 533
Highest 10% Earn:
$49,000
Location Quotient:
0.93

2. California

Total Swim Lesson Instructor Jobs: 1,686
Highest 10% Earn:
$47,000
Location Quotient:
1.29

3. Vermont

Total Swim Lesson Instructor Jobs: 30
Highest 10% Earn:
$43,000
Location Quotient:
0.88
Full List Of Best States For Swim Lesson Instructors

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Top Swim Lesson Instructor Employers

Most Common Employers For Swim Lesson Instructor

RankCompanyAverage SalaryHourly RateJob Openings
1Hartwick College$41,602$20.003
2City$31,996$15.384
3Swimtastic Swim School$26,618$12.806
4Jewish Community Center Inc$26,606$12.794
5Guitar Center$25,785$12.404
6Schaumburg Parks$25,102$12.075
7Splash$25,085$12.065
8City of Sioux City$24,813$11.934
9Springfield$24,810$11.934
10City of Cedar Rapids$24,805$11.934