What Lifeguards, Ski Patrol, and Other Recreational Protective Service Workers earn in Lake County, IL
The median pay for Lifeguards, Ski Patrol, and Other Recreational Protective Service Workers in Lake County, IL is $33,750 per year, which works out to $16.23 per hour. The figure comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics wage survey for the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN metropolitan area, the labor market that Lake County, IL belongs to. Half of the workers in this occupation earn more than the median and half earn less, which makes it a sturdier yardstick than an average that a few very high earners can pull upward.
The mean wage is $34,330, which is 1.7% above the median, so pay is spread fairly evenly. The survey counts about 4,960 people working in this occupation across the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN metropolitan area, so the estimate rests on a substantial pool of workers. Lake County, IL has roughly 714,223 residents, according to the population figures used by the rent data.
The salary range, from entry level to top earners
Pay for Lifeguards, Ski Patrol, and Other Recreational Protective Service Workers in the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN metropolitan area is not one number. The lowest-paid tenth of workers earn up to $31,200 a year ($15.00 an hour), while the highest-paid tenth earn $37,780 or more ($18.16 an hour). That is a gap of $6,580 between the bottom and the top of the scale. The middle half of workers falls between $31,320 at the 25th percentile and $35,440 at the 75th percentile. A top-tier earner makes 1.2 times what someone at the bottom makes, so experience, certification and employer all matter.
What the hourly rate looks like
Converted to an hourly wage, the median for Lifeguards, Ski Patrol, and Other Recreational Protective Service Workers in Lake County, IL is $16.23. A full-time schedule of 40 hours for 52 weeks adds up to $33,750, and the same salary is $2,813 a month before taxes or about $1,298 per biweekly pay period. After taxes the same job pays $13.33 per hour of take-home income, which is the number that actually has to cover rent and groceries.
About this occupation: Lifeguards, Ski Patrol, and Other Recreational Protective Service Workers
The U.S. Department of Labor's O*NET database describes the work of Lifeguards, Ski Patrol, and Other Recreational Protective Service Workers this way: "Monitor recreational areas, such as pools, beaches, or ski slopes, to provide assistance and protection to participants."
Core tasks recorded by O*NET include: "Rescue distressed persons, using rescue techniques and equipment"; "Contact emergency medical personnel in case of serious injury"; "Patrol or monitor recreational areas, such as trails, slopes, or swimming areas, on foot, in vehicles, or from towers"; "Examine injured persons and administer first aid or cardiopulmonary resuscitation, if necessary, using training and medical supplies and equipment".
Job outlook for Lifeguards, Ski Patrol, and Other Recreational Protective Service Workers
The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects national employment in this occupation to grow from 162,000 jobs in 2025 to 170,800 in 2035, a change of +5.5%, faster than the 3.5% projected for all occupations. The projection counts 45,400 openings a year on average, including positions created by growth and positions left by workers who retire or move to another occupation; that equals 28.0% of current employment each year.
Typical entry-level education: no formal educational credential. Typical on-the-job training to reach competency: short-term on-the-job training. BLS lists a national median annual wage of $33,580 for this occupation; the Lake County, IL median of $33,750 is 0.5% above it.
How pay in Lake County, IL compares
Compared with the Illinois average
Lake County, IL pays above the state benchmark. The Illinois employment-weighted average for Lifeguards, Ski Patrol, and Other Recreational Protective Service Workers is $32,780; the local median of $33,750 beats it by $970, or 3.0%. Within Illinois, Lake County, IL already has the highest median we track for this job.
Compared with the national average
Nationally, Lifeguards, Ski Patrol, and Other Recreational Protective Service Workers earn an employment-weighted average of $33,651 across the contiguous United States, so $33,750 in Lake County, IL is essentially average. Keep in mind that a higher salary only helps if living costs do not rise faster, which is why the cost sections below matter as much as the headline number.
Where this job ranks in Lake County, IL
Among the 618 occupations with published wages in Lake County, IL, Lifeguards, Ski Patrol, and Other Recreational Protective Service Workers ranks number 612 by median pay, ahead of about 1% of them. The best-paying occupation we track here is Airline Pilots, Copilots, and Flight Engineers at $293,490 a year, which is $259,740 more than the median for Lifeguards, Ski Patrol, and Other Recreational Protective Service Workers.
From gross pay to take-home pay
A salary of $33,750 does not arrive in full. We model a single filer with wage income only, the standard deduction and tax-year 2025 rules, and we keep the three tax layers apart: federal income tax, FICA (Social Security and Medicare) and state income tax. Together they take $6,033 a year, which leaves $27,717, or $2,310 a month.
Put another way, of every $100 earned, about $18 goes to taxes and $82 reaches the paycheck. The overall effective tax rate is 17.9%.
Federal income tax
After the $15,750 standard deduction, taxable income is $18,000. Federal brackets are marginal, so only the slice of income above each threshold is taxed at the higher rate; the last dollars of this salary fall in the 12% bracket. The resulting federal income tax is $1,922, an effective 5.7% of gross pay, well below the 12% marginal rate because the lower brackets are cheaper.
Social Security and Medicare (FICA)
Payroll taxes are a flat percentage of wages. Social Security takes 6.2% up to a wage base of $176,100, which costs $2,093 on this salary. Medicare takes 1.45%, or $489. FICA totals $2,582, which is 7.7% of gross pay.
State income tax in Illinois
Illinois income tax on this salary is $1,530 a year, or 4.5% of gross pay, after the state's own deductions and exemptions are applied. That is 80% of the federal income tax bill, and it comes out to $127 a month. Local taxes such as county or city income taxes are not included, so a few jurisdictions may withhold slightly more.
A cross-check with IRS data for Lake County, IL
IRS Statistics of Income data for Lake County, IL show an average adjusted gross income of $147,648 per return and an average effective federal income tax rate of 18.4% across all filers. Filers in the $25,000 to under $50,000 bracket, where this salary falls, paid an average of 5.0%, compared with the 5.7% estimated here for a single filer taking the standard deduction. Gaps between the two reflect filing status, dependents, credits and other income, none of which a single-person wage estimate includes.
Cost of living in Lake County, IL
Take-home pay only means something next to what life costs. We price four basics for one adult in Lake County, IL: a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline. All of them are converted to annual figures first, then compared with the $27,717 of take-home pay.
Rent
The HUD Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Lake County, IL is $1,780 a month, or $21,360 a year. A two-bedroom costs $2,011 a month. For Lifeguards, Ski Patrol, and Other Recreational Protective Service Workers, a one-bedroom absorbs 77.1% of take-home pay and 63.3% of gross pay.
Food
The USDA Thrifty Food Plan (August 2026) puts the cost of a nutritious home-cooked diet for an adult at about $3,436 a year, which is $286 a month or $66.07 a week. That equals 10.2% of gross pay for Lifeguards, Ski Patrol, and Other Recreational Protective Service Workers in Lake County, IL. It is a thrifty budget with no restaurant meals, so treat it as a floor.
Energy and gasoline
Using Illinois residential prices from the Energy Information Administration and national household averages for consumption, electricity costs about $1,677 a year and other home energy such as natural gas about $434, for $2,110 in total. Gasoline in Illinois averages $3.18 per gallon; at about 463 gallons a year (11,106 miles at 24 miles per gallon) fuel adds $1,471.
What is left over
The basics cost $28,377 a year in Lake County, IL, but take-home pay for Lifeguards, Ski Patrol, and Other Recreational Protective Service Workers is $27,717. That is a shortfall of $660 a year, or $55 a month, before health care, transportation beyond fuel, debt or savings. Closing the gap would take roughly 50 extra paid hours a year at the take-home hourly rate of $13.33, or a second earner, a cheaper home or a roommate.
Local housing and commute data for Lake County, IL
The budget above covers rent, food, energy and gasoline. Three more local facts shape what a paycheck buys in Lake County, IL: property taxes, housing prices and the daily commute. The figures below are exact U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-year estimates for Lake County, IL, set beside the Illinois and national medians.
Property taxes in Lake County, IL
Homeowners in Lake County, IL pay a median of $8,923 a year in real estate taxes, 68% above the Illinois median of $5,298 and 186% above the U.S. median of $3,119. Against a median home value of $345,700, the median tax bill is 2.58% of that value (the ratio of the two county medians). For a worker paid the local Lifeguards, Ski Patrol, and Other Recreational Protective Service Workers median of $33,750, a tax bill of that size would equal 26.4% of gross pay, which matters for anyone planning to buy rather than rent.
Rents, home prices and household income in Lake County, IL
Renters in Lake County, IL pay a median gross rent of $1,477 a month in the Census survey, 16% above the Illinois median of $1,274. HUD's Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment, which this site uses in the budget, is $1,780 a month; the two measures differ because the Census figure covers units of every size that renters already occupy, while the HUD figure is a one-bedroom benchmark. The median value of an owner-occupied home is $345,700, 31% above the Illinois median of $263,300. Median household income is $110,416, 32% above the Illinois median of $83,390, so a year of one-bedroom Fair Market Rent equals 19.3% of that income.
Commuting in Lake County, IL
Workers in Lake County, IL who travel to a workplace spend an average of 28.5 minutes each way, 3% above the Illinois average of 27.8. For someone who commutes five days a week, that is 4.8 hours of round-trip travel every week, a cost the budget does not price. 19.5% of workers in Lake County, IL work from home, compared with 15.1% nationally, which removes the commute for them.
Can Lifeguards, Ski Patrol, and Other Recreational Protective Service Workers afford to live in Lake County, IL?
The 30% rent guideline
A common rule of thumb says rent should stay under 30% of gross income. For a gross salary of $33,750 that ceiling is $844 a month. The one-bedroom Fair Market Rent of $1,780 is $936 over it, so rent breaks the guideline. Put as a wage, covering a one-bedroom at the 30% guideline takes $34.23 an hour; the median for Lifeguards, Ski Patrol, and Other Recreational Protective Service Workers is $16.23, which is 53% below that mark. Another way to see it: at $13.33 of take-home pay an hour, a one-bedroom takes about 30.8 working hours every week.
Splitting a two-bedroom
Sharing a two-bedroom at $2,011 a month means $1,006 each. Compared with renting a one-bedroom alone, that saves $9,294 a year. With a roommate, the yearly margin after the basics becomes $8,634, which turns the shortfall into a surplus.
How fast you can save
With no monthly margin after the four basics, saving requires a change on one side of the ledger: higher pay than the $33,750 median, lower housing costs than the $1,780 one-bedroom rent, or a second income.
Frequently asked questions about Lifeguards, Ski Patrol, and Other Recreational Protective Service Workers pay in Lake County, IL
What is the hourly wage for Lifeguards, Ski Patrol, and Other Recreational Protective Service Workers in Lake County, IL?
The median is $16.23 per hour, based on $33,750 a year over 2,080 hours. Hourly pay runs from about $15.00 at the 10th percentile to $18.16 at the 90th percentile.
What is the take-home pay for Lifeguards, Ski Patrol, and Other Recreational Protective Service Workers in Lake County, IL?
After federal income tax, FICA and state income tax, the median salary of $33,750 becomes $27,717 a year. That is $2,310 a month, $1,066 every two weeks or $533 a week.
What percentage of pay goes to taxes for Lifeguards, Ski Patrol, and Other Recreational Protective Service Workers in Lake County, IL?
Total taxes are $6,033 a year, an effective rate of 17.9%: $1,922 federal income tax, $2,582 FICA and $1,530 Illinois income tax.
Is pay for Lifeguards, Ski Patrol, and Other Recreational Protective Service Workers in Lake County, IL above the Illinois average?
Yes. The local median of $33,750 is +3.0% versus the Illinois average of $32,780, a difference of $970 a year.
Is a one-bedroom rent affordable on the median Lifeguards, Ski Patrol, and Other Recreational Protective Service Workers salary in Lake County, IL?
A one-bedroom costs $1,780 a month against take-home pay of $2,310, which is 77.1% of take-home pay. That does not meet the 30%-of-gross guideline, which allows up to $844 a month.
How much is left after rent, food and energy for Lifeguards, Ski Patrol, and Other Recreational Protective Service Workers in Lake County, IL?
Nothing remains: the basics cost $28,377 a year, which is $660 more than take-home pay, a monthly shortfall of $55.
What hourly wage covers a one-bedroom in Lake County, IL at the 30% guideline?
$34.23 an hour for a full-time schedule, calculated as the $21,360 annual rent divided by 0.30 and by 2,080 hours. The median for Lifeguards, Ski Patrol, and Other Recreational Protective Service Workers is $16.23.
How we calculated these numbers
Wages are May 2025 medians from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN metropolitan area; hourly-only values are annualized at 2,080 hours. Rents are HUD Fair Market Rents, food costs come from the USDA Thrifty Food Plan, and energy prices come from the Energy Information Administration. County-level tax statistics come from the IRS Statistics of Income.
Taxes use tax-year 2025 federal brackets, FICA rates and the Illinois rules for a single filer with wage income only. Figures are estimates for planning and comparison, not tax or financial advice, and they exclude local income taxes, benefits, retirement contributions and individual circumstances.