Recreation Aid and Assistant
Everything OPM FedScope (June 2026) reports about the Recreation Aid and Assistant occupation series (code 0189): headcount, average salary, length of service, and pay comparison.
The verdict
Recreation Aid and Assistant is a smaller, specialized federal occupation: 491 employees (0.0% of the federal civilian workforce) in the Social Science, Psychology, and Welfare Group family. At an average salary of $49,999 it pays below the federal average, and headcount grew from the prior period.
- Headcount change
- +21.8%
- Pay change
- -3.8%
- Avg tenure
- 9.7 yrs
- Rank in family
- #16 of 29
What the Numbers Say About Recreation Aid and Assistant
Headcount moved up versus the prior period, though at this small a headcount, year-to-year swings can reflect a handful of hires or departures rather than a broad hiring trend. Pay moved down between the two reporting periods, a broad shift as locality pay tables and grade-level adjustments moved through the workforce. On length of service, this series shows a mid-length average tenure, reflecting a mix of career employees and those who transfer or exit mid-career.
The Social Science, Psychology, and Welfare Group family (code 01) groups Recreation Aid and Assistant together with 28 other related occupations across the federal government. Candidates browsing USAJOBS for Recreation Aid and Assistant postings should also review these sibling occupations in the Social Science, Psychology, and Welfare Group family. The Social Science, Psychology, and Welfare Group family totals 101,196 employees, and Recreation Aid and Assistant accounts for 0.5% of them.
Salary context · lean-pay series
How Recreation Aid and Assistant pay compares to the federal average
Occupation Average
$49,999
Federal Average
$117,339
vs. Federal Avg
-57.4%
Where Recreation Aid and Assistant ranks on lean federal pay
Recreation Aid and Assistant earns more on average than 6% of federal occupation series (31 of 541). The highlighted bar marks where Recreation Aid and Assistant sits in the federal pay distribution.
Average-salary distribution across all 541 federal occupation series; the highlighted bar marks Recreation Aid and Assistant.
Related Occupations in Social Science, Psychology, and Welfare Group
10 other occupations in the same family
| Occupation | Employees | Avg Salary | Avg LOS |
|---|---|---|---|
| Social Insurance Administration | 24,044 | $105,855 | 17.7 yrs |
| Social Work | 22,339 | $112,147 | 10 yrs |
| Social Science | 13,513 | $109,039 | 11.8 yrs |
| Intelligence | 12,860 | n/a | 15 yrs |
| Psychology | 10,259 | $144,240 | 10.7 yrs |
| Economist | 3,774 | $158,425 | 14.1 yrs |
| Foreign Affairs | 2,748 | $155,920 | 14.4 yrs |
| Health Insurance Administration | 2,443 | $149,476 | 15.3 yrs |
| Social Science Aid and Technician | 1,534 | $67,632 | 12.4 yrs |
| Archeology | 1,448 | $91,675 | 12 yrs |
Nationwide occupation series with similar scale or pay
Two peer sets for Recreation Aid and Assistant outside the Social Science, Psychology, and Welfare Group family, on headcount and average salary axes that vary across all OPM occupation series.
Similar headcount
Nearest employee counts in other occupation families (491 here).
Similar lean average salary
Nearest average salaries in other occupation families ($49,999 here).
Key takeaways
- Place Recreation Aid and Assistant pay in context with the pay-rank chart above, then compare it with another occupation.
- Turn an average salary into a grade: the GS pay grade tables show how grades and steps map to pay.
- Browse the Social Science, Psychology, and Welfare Group family occupations in the table above, or search current Recreation Aid and Assistant postings on USAJOBS.
OPM FedScope and Federal Workforce Data figures are federal civilian headcounts, average salaries, and length-of-service statistics - not job-quality scores, hiring advice, or a live vacancy listing. A larger or higher-paid agency is not a better employer.