High-Wage Jobs in the Leisure and Hospitality Industry
November 24, 2025You might consider the title of this article a bit of an oxymoron, and if you were to compare just average figures across industries, you’d be right. Leisure and hospitality has a high share of low-wage jobs, and a lower average wage than most industries. However, in 2024 about 57,000 leisure and hospitality jobs paid more than $30 per hour, or about one out of seven jobs in that industry. And in the peak summer season, about one out of four jobs in the sector paid $25 or more per hour. This high-wage employment is spread across many occupations, and top high-wage jobs include many managerial and supervisory roles, emphasizing the role longevity and experience in the industry may play in attaining higher wages.
Large Leisure Industry Includes 57,000 Jobs Paying $30 or More
The Oregon Employment Department’s annual wage file report shows jobs by wage range and industry. Every quarter Oregon employers are required to file unemployment insurance tax reports which list every job covered by unemployment insurance, the wages paid, and the hours worked. These quarterly records cover more than two million individuals employed in the state but exclude self-employed workers and Federal government workers. The data allow us to calculate hourly wages for each job by industry and firm size. These statistics are not directly comparable to the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW) and Current Employment Statistics (CES) data.
The leisure and hospitality industry has a greater share of all jobs that pay under $15 than the all-industry average for Oregon, about 11.2% compared with 4.1% for all industries less leisure and hospitality. In the next lowest wage category, those paying $15 to $19.99 per hour, about 43% of leisure and hospitality jobs had wages in this range, while 21.8% of jobs for all industries excluding leisure and hospitality had hourly wages in that range.
Looking at the higher-wage categories, almost 9% of leisure and hospitality jobs paid between $30 and $39.99 per hour while 14.5% of non-leisure and hospitality jobs paid in that range. For the highest wage range published, $60 or more per hour, 1.6% of jobs in leisure and hospitality industry were in that range compared with 14.5% of non-leisure and hospitality jobs. Focusing on the total share of jobs paying high wages of $30 or more per hour, 14.6% of leisure and hospitality jobs paid those wages whereas 43.3% of non-leisure and hospitality jobs had hourly wages of $30 or more in 2024.
One out of Five Summer Jobs Paid Above All-Industry Median Wages
Our wage file data shows a point-in-time snapshot of jobs that paid greater than the all-industry median hourly wage. In the third quarter of 2024, when leisure and hospitality jobs hit their annual summer peak, just over one out of five jobs in the leisure and hospitality industry, 20% or 51,327 jobs, paid that quarter’s all-industry median hourly wage of $28.48 or more. The share of high-wage jobs in the leisure and hospitalty sector was similar to retail trade (22.3%) and natural resource and mining (23%).
| Industry | Under Median Hourly Wage | Equal to or Over Overall Median Hourly Wage | Total | Percent High Wage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total - All Industries | 1,165,205 | 1,064,937 | 2,230,142 | 0.5% |
| Natural Resources and Mining | 79,904 | 23,844 | 103,748 | 0.2% |
| Construction | 44,680 | 90,985 | 135,665 | 0.7% |
| Manufacturing | 86,015 | 114,093 | 200,108 | 0.6% |
| Wholesale Trade | 34,743 | 50,949 | 85,692 | 0.6% |
| Retail Trade | 186,149 | 53,372 | 239,521 | 0.2% |
| Transportation, Warehousing, and Utilities | 39,691 | 38,411 | 78,102 | 0.5% |
| Information | 9,073 | 28,322 | 37,395 | 0.8% |
| Financial Activities | 32,885 | 53,889 | 86,774 | 0.6% |
| Professional and Business Services | 134,891 | 157,914 | 292,805 | 0.5% |
| Private Educational Services | 17,670 | 15,532 | 33,202 | 0.5% |
| Health Care and Social Assistance | 177,837 | 159,002 | 336,839 | 0.5% |
| Leisure and Hospitality | 204,125 | 51,327 | 255,452 | 0.2% |
| Other Services | 43,698 | 30,704 | 74,402 | 0.4% |
| State Government | 4,889 | 42,398 | 47,287 | 0.9% |
| Local Government | 67,893 | 152,671 | 220,564 | 0.7% |
| Non-classifiable | 1,062 | 1,524 | 2,586 | 0.6% |
Top High-Wage Occupations in Leisure and Hospitality
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Occupational Wage and Employment Statistics survey program publishes occupational employment and wage estimates for the components of the leisure and hospitality industry: arts, entertainment, and recreation; and accommodations and food services. This analysis included selected occupations that paid median wages above the median all-occupation hourly wage of $24.87 in May 2024.
An occupation may have had high-wage employment in the leisure and hospitality industry, but if the occupation overall didn’t pay more than the all-occupation median hourly wage, those jobs weren’t included in the total of high-wage leisure and hospitality jobs. Conversely, there are occupations that are considered high wage because the median hourly wage is greater than the all-occupation average, but some of the jobs in that occupation pay below the threshold for our definition of high wage.
The table shows the largest leisure and hospitality occupations with median hourly wages in either arts, entertainment, and recreation, or accommodations and food services (or both) that exceed the all-occupation median. Employment is only included in the table if the occupation’s median wage within the subsector is above the overall median of $24.87 per hour. In some cases, both subsectors met these criteria and in others, only one of the subsectors’ employment is included.
| Occupational Title | Total Employment¹ | Accommodations and Food Services Median Wage | Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation Median Wage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Food Service Managers | 3,830 | $29.85 | $34.62 |
| General and Operations Managers | 3,190 | $30.48 | $38.21 |
| Chefs and Head Cooks | 2,830 | $32.07 | $29.21 |
| Lodging Managers | 980 | $31.43 | - |
| Musicians and Singers | 410 | - | $56.61 |
| Meeting, Convention, and Event Planners | 390 | - | $30.04 |
| Accountants and Auditors | 340 | $36.38 | $31.31 |
| Producers and Directors | 320 | - | $36.74 |
| Human Resources Specialists | 220 | $34.78 | - |
| Facilities Managers | 220 | $42.05 | $38.90 |
| Market Research Analysts and Marketing Specialists | 190 | $30.53 | - |
| Sales Representatives of Services, Except Advertising, Insurance, Financial Services, and Travel | 190 | $26.96 | - |
| Managers, All Other | 170 | $39.81 | - |
| Fundraisers | 170 | $27.90 | - |
| First-Line Supervisors of Mechanics, Installers, and Repairers | 170 | $36.05 | $30.57 |
Many of the high-paying jobs in leisure and hospitality are related to management and supervisory roles. There are also many high-paying chef and head cook positions as well as jobs for musicians, singers, actors, producers, and directors where the median hourly wage is considered high wage. There are a diverse range of occupations where the median wage would be considered high wage in the leisure and hospitality sector in Oregon. These more detailed estimates by state, industry and occupation can be found at: https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_research_estimates.htm
With increasing experience, training, qualifications, responsibilities, and seniority, many high-wage and even very high-wage jobs can be found within Oregon’s leisure and hospitality industry.