18 | 2024 National Recreation and Park Association STAFFING Supporting programming, facilities and other offerings of park and recreation agencies requires adequate staffing. Park and recreation staff are essential to ensuring the success of each agency and creating safe, inclusive spaces for all community members. Full-time employees are vital to the operations, management and overall success of a park and recreation agency. Understaffed agencies may result in fewer program and activity offerings, poor facility maintenance and decreased community involvement overall. The typical agency employs 57.6 full-time equivalent (FTE) employees. It is important to note that because the size of park and recreation agency jurisdictions varies, so too will the number of staff members. The larger the population served by an agency, the larger number of FTE staff required. Agencies that serve fewer than 20,000 people typically have 14 FTE employees, agencies in jurisdictions of 50,000 to 99,999 people have 70.3 FTE staff and larger agencies serving more than 250,000 people have a staff of 263 FTEs. Two swimmers float in a pool. FIGURE 11: PARK AND RECREATION AGENCY STAFFING: FULL-TIME EQUIVALENTS (FTEs) (BY JURISDICTION POPULATION) All Agencies Less Than 20,000 20,000 to 49,999 50,000 to 99,999 100,000 to 250,000 More Than 250,000 300 250 200 150 100 50 0 NUMBER OF FTE STAFF All Agencies Less Than 20,000 20,000 to 49,999 50,000 to 99,999 100,000 to 250,000 More Than 250,000 Median 57.6 14.0 34.2 70.3 120.0 263.0 Lower Quartile 20.4 6.1 19.9 46.5 61.3 123.0 Upper Quartile 143.7 30.0 66.9 121.0 181.2 471.5 PHOTO COURTESY OF ADOBE STOCK
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