Umpires, Referees, and Other Sports Officials salary

SOC 27-2023 · BLS OEWS May 2025

Median

$40,710

per year, nationally

Middle half

$32,260–$57,160

25th to 75th percentile

Employed

15,780

in the U.S.

Growth 2024–34

+5.7%

4,600 openings/yr

What the range looks like

A single median hides most of what a job pays. The bar below is the full national range: the wash spans the 10th to 90th percentile, the solid bar is the middle half, and the tick is the median.

$26,540$82,960

10th: $26,540
25th: $32,260
Median: $40,710
75th: $57,160
90th: $82,960

Getting in

Typical education to enter: High school diploma or equivalent
Related work experience: None
On-the-job training: Moderate-term on-the-job training

Entry requirements describe what is typical, not mandatory. Source: BLS Employment Projections, 2024–34.

Where umpires, referees, and other sports officials earn the most

Nominal pay and pay adjusted for local prices rank states differently — a high-wage state with high costs can be worse off in real terms than a middling one. Switch between the two below.

The median wage as published, before local prices are taken into account.

#	State	Median	Cost of living	Employed	Concentrationvs. national
1	New Jersey	$67,600	108.8	420	0.97×
2	North Dakota	$63,920	89.0	180	4.20×
3	South Carolina	$61,290	93.7	50	0.23×
4	Wisconsin	$57,000	94.1	300	1.00×
5	Ohio	$55,040	92.8	580	1.03×
6	Louisiana	$50,080	88.2	310	1.56×
7	Illinois	$49,070	100.0	690	1.11×
8	Massachusetts	$48,400	105.8	250	0.68×
9	West Virginia	$46,490	89.5	50	0.68×
10	Arizona	$46,440	100.7	210	0.62×
11	Indiana	$46,140	93.3	170	0.52×
12	Vermont	$46,080	98.0	80	2.44×
13	California	$44,530	110.7	1,950	1.06×
14	Colorado	$44,230	103.1	1,120	3.84×
15	Pennsylvania	$44,200	97.6	320	0.51×
16	Iowa	$43,040	87.8	190	1.23×
17	Texas	$42,920	97.1	650	0.45×
18	Washington	$41,350	107.0	400	1.12×
19	Virginia	$40,840	101.1	260	0.63×
20	Connecticut	$39,530	103.6	200	1.15×
21	Oregon	$38,730	103.4	170	0.84×
22	Florida	$37,070	103.4	280	0.28×
23	Montana	$36,370	94.6	60	1.18×
24	South Dakota	$35,260	88.6	80	1.80×
25	Michigan	$34,560	96.2	340	0.76×
26	Missouri	$33,140	90.8	1,240	4.16×
27	Idaho	$32,250	95.5	170	1.93×
28	Utah	$31,430	98.9	1,100	6.26×
29	Nebraska	$31,390	90.1	40	0.36×
30	Georgia	$28,360	96.3	280	0.57×
31	Mississippi	$27,060	87.0	60	0.55×
32	North Carolina	$26,540	94.3	400	0.80×
33	Kansas	$25,780	90.1	—	—
34	Oklahoma	$21,900	87.8	220	1.25×

Cost of living is the BEA regional price parity for all items, where 100 is the national average. Concentration is the BLS location quotient: how much more of the local workforce does this job than the national average, so 2.00× means twice the national share. It is often the reason wages differ — a place that concentrates an occupation has the employers and the competition for it. States where umpires, referees, and other sports officials wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Best paying metro areas for umpires, referees, and other sports officials

The 40 highest-paying metros with a published estimate. BLS suppresses roughly half of all occupation-by-metro cells, so a metro absent here has no local figure rather than a low one.

The median wage as published, before local prices are taken into account.

#	Metro area	Median	Cost of living	Employed	Concentrationvs. national
1	Green Bay, WI	$77,670	93.1	40	2.12×
2	Baton Rouge, LA	$65,230	90.8	120	3.00×
3	Bismarck, ND	$63,920	91.0	70	9.69×
4	Fargo, ND-MN	$63,190	90.9	40	2.53×
5	Milwaukee-Waukesha, WI	$62,400	96.9	80	0.96×
6	Columbus, OH	$58,240	95.5	100	0.88×
7	Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI	$57,190	104.8	230	1.15×
8	Cleveland, OH	$57,140	93.9	160	1.55×
9	San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA	$56,330	115.6	310	1.27×
10	Akron, OH	$56,200	93.4	40	1.16×
11	Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN	$51,600	103.6	540	1.17×
12	Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA	$51,230	113.6	550	0.86×
13	Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ	$50,250	103.3	160	0.68×
14	Boulder, CO	$49,460	105.2	80	4.09×
15	Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH	$49,410	108.3	140	0.51×
16	Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX	$47,540	98.1	90	0.71×
17	Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX	$46,850	103.1	310	0.76×
18	Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI	$46,500	100.3	50	0.28×
19	Burlington-South Burlington, VT	$46,080	100.9	50	4.31×
20	Pittsburgh, PA	$45,300	94.7	60	0.56×
21	Greeley, CO	$44,990	100.2	70	6.01×
22	Lawrence, KS	$44,930	90.2	40	7.58×
23	Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, CT	$44,890	102.7	70	1.18×
24	Rochester, MN	$44,230	90.8	30	2.58×
25	San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA	$44,200	110.4	110	0.96×
26	Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA	$43,570	111.1	260	1.21×
27	New Orleans-Metairie, LA	$43,040	92.6	50	1.11×
28	San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX	$42,640	94.7	40	0.35×
29	Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO	$42,350	105.8	490	3.00×
30	Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA	$41,600	106.7	110	0.99×
31	Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL	$41,020	114.2	50	0.19×
32	Fort Wayne, IN	$41,010	92.6	—	—
33	Spokane-Spokane Valley, WA	$40,890	100.3	40	1.41×
34	Salinas, CA	$40,880	109.0	50	2.64×
35	Grand Junction, CO	$40,870	95.5	40	5.44×
36	Louisville/Jefferson County, KY-IN	$40,840	93.1	140	2.07×
37	Richmond, VA	$40,510	97.9	—	—
38	Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV	$40,300	108.9	160	0.51×
39	Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA	$40,280	105.4	—	—
40	Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC	$39,900	97.3	70	0.53×

Cost of living is the BEA regional price parity for all items, where 100 is the national average. Concentration is the BLS location quotient: how much more of the local workforce does this job than the national average, so 2.00× means twice the national share. It is often the reason wages differ — a place that concentrates an occupation has the employers and the competition for it. Metro areas where umpires, referees, and other sports officials wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Similar occupations

Other jobs in the same field, with what each pays nationally.

Umpires, Referees, and Other Sports Officials salary

What the range looks like

Getting in

Where umpires, referees, and other sports officials earn the most

Best paying metro areas for umpires, referees, and other sports officials

Similar occupations

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