Also called: Outward Bound instructor, NOLS instructor
Leads multi-week backpacking, canoeing, or climbing expeditions that teach leadership and outdoor skills.
Wilderness instructors spend weeks in the backcountry with students, teaching navigation, cooking, and risk management, and facilitating group reflection. Contracts are seasonal.
Estimate; often paid per day with food and gear provided.
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
Certificate, about 2 years after high school. Wilderness First Responder certification, extensive outdoor experience, and instructor courses.
Ways in: Certification, On-the-job training. Training cost: Under $15k.
Majors to look at: Outdoor Education, Recreation Management.
Growing about average. BLS projects steady demand for self-enrichment teachers as people pay for lessons and activities.
Low risk for 10 years. GPS and AI weather tools help, but leading weeks-long expeditions and managing risk in the backcountry stay human.
Classes: Physical education, Earth science, Health.
Official data: O*NET occupation 25-3021.
Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.