Park Ranger job description

The National Park System covers more than 85 million acres across 433 areas, staffed by roughly 20,000 permanent, temporary, and seasonal employees plus more than 131,000 volunteers in 2025, and federal ranger positions are advertised through USAJOBS. O*NET files the reported title park ranger under park naturalists, inside the conservation scientist occupation BLS counted at 27,700 for 2025, median pay $73,010 in May of that year. The work divides into interpretation and visitor services, resource and field programs, and law enforcement patrol, and one ranger often carries pieces of all three. Federal government employs 27 percent of conservation scientists, local government 21 percent, and state government 19 percent.