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Major · Parks, Recreation & Kinesiology

A bachelor’s grounded in recreation and outdoor work

Parks, Recreation, and Leisure Studies (CIP 31.0101) is a bachelor’s-leaning umbrella major covering recreation programming, parks management, and leisure-services delivery. About 1,816 students complete it across 144 institutions, with bachelor’s grads earning $50,389 — modest entry pay, with no bachelor’s-accessible BLS career named in the data.

Schools offering
144
Annual completions
1,816
Typical degree level
Associate's + Bachelor's
Median earnings (5yr)
$50k

About this major

Parks, Recreation, and Leisure Studies (CIP 31.0101) is a bachelor’s-leaning umbrella major preparing students to plan, deliver, and manage recreational and leisure services for the public. The CIP definition emphasizes both indoor and outdoor recreational facilities and the principles underlying recreational and leisure activities. Coursework covers leisure-services theory, recreation programming for diverse populations, outdoor and adventure recreation, parks and facility management, event planning and tourism foundations, therapeutic recreation, and applied research. Most accredited programs require a senior internship at a municipal parks-and-recreation department, nonprofit youth organization, camp, outdoor-education provider, or commercial leisure operation.

The major fits students drawn to community-facing recreation work, outdoor or experiential education, or the public-service side of parks and leisure delivery. It rewards comfort with diverse stakeholder engagement (children, families, seniors, special-needs populations), strong programming and event-design skills, and the operational thinking that facility management and community programming demand. Day-to-day, graduates work as municipal parks-and-recreation programmers, camp directors, recreation coordinators at YMCA/YWCA or nonprofit youth organizations, outdoor educators, therapeutic recreation specialists in healthcare settings (with CTRS certification), and event-and-tourism coordinators.

One grounded observation about scale and earnings: 1,816 students complete this CIP across 144 institutions, with bachelor’s grads earning $50,389 and associate’s grads earning $33,834 — a $16,500 gap. The packet names just one BLS occupation — Recreation and fitness studies postsecondary teachers at $75,890 (doctoral required) — meaning there’s no bachelor’s-entry tracked SOC code. The bachelor’s-accessible labor market is real (municipal parks staff, recreation programmers, camp directors, therapeutic recreation specialists) but the BLS classifies most of these roles under broader general-management or community-service-manager categories that don’t map cleanly to this CIP. Top producers — BYU (125), Cal Poly SLO (93), Indiana U-Bloomington (86), UIUC (83), U Arkansas (78) — anchor strong municipal-parks and recreation-management placement pipelines. Look for NRPA-COAPRT-accredited programs.

Section 3 · Careers

Where this major leads

Occupations most often associated with this major, from the federal BLS+O*NET crosswalk. Job-growth projections and median wages are national.

Occupation Median wage Job growth Typical education
Recreation and fitness studies teachers, postsecondary $76k +2.4% Doctoral or professional degree
Section 4 · Earnings

Earnings at a glance

Median graduate earnings from the federal College Scorecard, 5 and 10 years out.

Median 5-year earnings

$50k

Associate's vs Bachelor's — early-career earnings

Associate's

$34k

Bachelor's

$50k

Who this major is for

Good signs this major fits: you’re drawn to community-facing recreation work, outdoor or experiential education, or the public-service side of parks and leisure delivery, you’re comfortable engaging diverse stakeholder groups (children, families, seniors, special-needs populations), and you’re willing to stack relevant certifications (CPRP for municipal work, CTRS for therapeutic recreation in healthcare, CPSI for playground inspection, Wilderness First Responder for outdoor). The bachelor’s pays $50,389 in the data, with strong programs at BYU, Cal Poly SLO, and large public research universities producing graduates into municipal parks-and-recreation departments and nonprofit youth organizations.

Reasons to pause: there is no bachelor’s-entry tracked BLS occupation for this CIP, which means the labor-market signal in the data is weak. Most graduates work in roles classified under broader management SOC codes that don’t cleanly attribute to this major. Pay grows slowly — municipal parks-and-recreation salaries follow public-sector step scales, and the $50,389 bachelor’s median is the realistic ceiling for many graduates without specialty certification (CTRS) or graduate study. If you want sports-business work specifically, the larger CIP 31.0504 (Sport and Fitness Administration/Management) is more direct. If your interest is outdoor education or wilderness leadership specifically, look for programs with strong outdoor-leadership emphasis and NOLS or AMGA-aligned curriculum.

Section 6 · Where to study

Top colleges for Parks, Recreation, and Leisure Studies

Ranked by annual completions at the associate's or bachelor's level — a proxy for program scale.

College Location Assoc. Bach. Total
Brigham Young University Provo, UT 0 125 125
California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo San Luis Obispo, CA 0 93 93
Indiana University-Bloomington Bloomington, IN 0 86 86
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Champaign, IL 0 83 83
University of Arkansas Fayetteville, AR 0 78 78
University of Missouri-Columbia Columbia, MO 0 70 70
Kutztown University of Pennsylvania Kutztown, PA 0 60 60
California State University-Sacramento Sacramento, CA 0 57 57
California State University-Chico Chico, CA 0 48 48
University of Nebraska at Kearney Kearney, NE 0 47 47
Section 7 · Explore sideways

Related majors to explore

Exercise Science and Kinesiology

28,901 completions/yr

Sport and Fitness Administration/Management

12,019 completions/yr

Sports, Kinesiology, and Physical Education/Fitness, General

11,042 completions/yr

Parks, Recreation, and Leisure Facilities Management, General

1,676 completions/yr

Physical Fitness Technician

404 completions/yr

Parks, Recreation, Leisure, Fitness, and Kinesiology, Other

308 completions/yr

Golf Course Operation and Grounds Management

139 completions/yr

Parks, Recreation, and Leisure Facilities Management, Other

1 completions/yr
Section 9 · Frequently asked

Common questions

What does this major actually cover?
Coursework covers leisure-services theory and history, recreation programming for diverse populations (youth, seniors, special needs), outdoor and adventure recreation, parks and facility management, event planning and tourism, therapeutic recreation foundations, leisure marketing, and applied research methods. The CIP definition emphasizes both indoor and outdoor recreational facilities and services for the general public. Most accredited programs require a senior internship at a parks district, recreation department, nonprofit youth organization, or commercial leisure operation.
What jobs do graduates land — and at what pay?
The packet names just one BLS occupation: Recreation and fitness studies postsecondary teachers ($75,890, 2.4% growth, doctoral required) — meaning there’s no bachelor’s-entry tracked occupation in the data. Realistic destinations include municipal parks-and-recreation department staff, recreation program coordinator, camp director, outdoor education specialist, event coordinator, YMCA/YWCA program director, therapeutic recreation specialist (with CTRS certification), and tourism-and-hospitality recreation manager. Pay typically starts in the $35,000-$50,000 range — the packet’s $50,389 bachelor’s median tracks the upper end.
Why is the careers array so small for this major?
BLS doesn’t maintain a clean SOC code for recreation-program administrators or municipal parks coordinators — most graduates land in roles classified under broader "general and operations managers" or "social and community service managers" categories that don’t map cleanly to this CIP. The result is that the data understates the field’s actual labor-market signal. The municipal parks-and-recreation, nonprofit youth-services, and outdoor-education sectors all hire from this CIP without showing up cleanly in the named-career data.
What certifications add value?
Several. CPRP (Certified Park and Recreation Professional) from NRPA is the standard credential for municipal parks-and-recreation work — many job postings list it as preferred or required. CTRS (Certified Therapeutic Recreation Specialist) opens the therapeutic-recreation track in healthcare settings and is required for clinical roles. CPRE (Certified Park and Recreation Executive) is the senior version. CPSI (Certified Playground Safety Inspector) and Wilderness First Responder add specialty leverage.
How does this compare to Sport and Fitness Administration (CIP 31.0504)?
Sport and Fitness Administration/Management (31.0504, 12,019 completions) is the much larger sibling focused specifically on the sports-business side: athletics administration, sports marketing, league operations, team management. Parks, Recreation, and Leisure Studies (31.0101, 1,816 completions) covers the broader public-recreation, outdoor, and parks-management side. If you want to work in sports business specifically, 31.0504 is more direct. If you want public-recreation, parks, or outdoor work, 31.0101 is the right umbrella.
Where are the strongest programs concentrated?
BYU (125 completions), Cal Poly San Luis Obispo (93), Indiana University-Bloomington (86), University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (83), University of Arkansas (78), University of Missouri-Columbia (70), Kutztown University (60), Cal State Sacramento (57), and Cal State Chico (48) lead. The mix favors large public universities with established recreation-management departments, often with strong municipal-parks and outdoor-recreation placement pipelines. Look for programs with NRPA-COAPRT accreditation for the strongest CPRP-prep alignment.