Jobs & Career as a Scuba Diving Instructor
Dive Instructor Salary: How much money does a scuba diving instructor make?
Exclusive survey results on annual and hourly income for scuba diving instructors by training agency, and geographical region.
Darcy Kieran is the author of the handbook “Your Career and/or Life as a Scuba Diving Instructor: How to Make a Good Living Out of Your Passion for Scuba Diving” and a unique advanced logbook & checklists for scuba divers, divemasters & instructors.
A recreational scuba diving instructor (without tech diving credentials) with a full-time job in the dive industry earns, on average, $24,909 per year. But this worldwide average doesn’t necessarily apply to you. And you will find all the information you want on dive instructors' salaries in this article.
The following data on dive instructors' income per hour and per year comes from an extensive worldwide survey by the Business of Diving Institute. The survey was conducted in 2021 and included data for 2019 and 2020. In this article, we will refer to scuba diving instructors’ income during 2019 because it is a better representation of the usual life of a dive instructor. Dive instructors' jobs and salaries were significantly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
Darcy Kieran is the author of Your Career and/or Life as a Scuba Diving Instructor: How to make a good living out of your passion for scuba diving.
Recreational Scuba Diving Instructor Salary vs. Tech Diving Instructor
Tech diving (also known as tec diving and technical diving) is an advanced form of recreational diving because it is not done for commercial or military purposes. However, to simplify the text in this article, we will refer to recreational diving as excluding tech diving.
Technical diving includes activities like diving with rebreathers, using helium in breathing gases, diving inside caves, and diving for extended periods of time, which require decompression stops.
On average, recreational scuba diving instructors earn $9,006 annually, while tech diving instructors earn $29,914. However, this average number results from a mix of dive instructors working part-time and full-time. So let’s look at dive instructors' salaries for full-time dive professionals.
On average, full-time recreational scuba diving instructors earn a salary of $24,909.43 while tech diving instructors reach an annual income of $53,703.19.
Tech diving instructors earn more than double what the recreational (non-tech) dive instructors take home. It may sound interesting, but if you are contemplating a career as a scuba diving instructor, do not bank on being a successful tech diving instructor just yet.
Doing tech diving is much more demanding than standard recreational scuba diving. Furthermore, it requires a much bigger investment of time and money to get there. Typically, technical diving instructors are younger, in better shape, and much more meticulous.
For your convenience, we’ve converted this annual salary to a per hour rate, assuming 40 hours of work per week. However, as a dive instructor, you will find that work weeks are often longer than that!
You do not become a dive instructor to become rich! That being said, there are ways to earn a living as a scuba diving instructor with a salary above $11.98 per hour and we discussed how to be successful in our guide to a career as a scuba diving instructor.
In the rest of this article, we will answer the following questions using data combining recreational and tech diving instructors:
- Where do scuba diving instructors earn the best salaries?
- Which dive training agency’s affiliation leads to a better dive instructor income?
- How much money are independent instructors making compared to scuba diving instructors employed by a dive center?
Where do scuba diving instructors earn the best salaries?
On average, scuba diving instructors in the Caribbean, Mexico, Central America, and tropical Atlantic make the most money (with an annual salary of $34,375) while European dive instructors get the lowest salaries ($16,425).
Meanwhile, dive instructors in the USA earn, on average, $26,306 per year, and those in the South Pacific, Indo-Pacific, and other tropical Asian region earn $17,957 annually.
Consistent with the results presented above, scuba diving instructors working in dive centers in a tourist destination (e.g. the Caribbean) earn an annual salary above those working in non-tourist locations (e.g. urban cities in continental USA).
Based of this survey data, the best place to earn the most money as a scuba diving instructor is in a tourist destination in the Caribbean.
Which dive training agency’s affiliation leads to a better dive instructor income?
Although PADI and SSI and two of the most known dive training agencies in the world, it appears that being a TDI/SDI scuba diving instructor is more profitable.
On average, SSI scuba diving instructors earn 7.5% more annually than PADI dive instructors, while TDI/SDI instructors report 21.3% more annual income than PADI instructors.
Complete guide to success: Your Career and/or Life as a Scuba Diving Instructor: How to make a good living out of your passion for scuba diving.How much money are independent instructors making compared to scuba diving instructors employed by a dive center?
Traditionally, being employed by a dive center was the most reliable way for scuba diving instructors to get a constant inflow of dive students. With the internet and a changing dive industry business model, it may no longer be the case.
With an average annual income of $25,510, independent scuba diving instructors earn 43% more than dive instructors employed by a dive center.
For a more in-depth look, check the full results from this survey:
Also from Darcy Kieran:
- Handbook: Your Career and/or Life as a Scuba Diving Instructor: How to Make a Good Living Out of Your Passion for Scuba Diving.
- Logbook: Advanced Scuba Diving Logbook with Checklists for certified scuba divers, divemasters & dive instructors.
- Handbook: Advanced Guide to SPF Scuba Diving for Scuba Divers, Divemasters & Dive Instructors: Develop Better Scuba Diving Skills, Dive Safer, Save Money & Have More Fun!
- Handbook: The Ultimate Beginner’s Guide To Scuba Diving: How to Increase Safety, Save Money & Have More Fun!
- Logbook: STARTER Scuba Diving Logbook with Checklists while getting your open water diver certification!
- Reference book: Scuba Diving Industry Market Reports, Data & Statistics.
Side note: During your surface intervals, have a look at my novels with a scuba diving twist, starting with “Mystery of The Blue Dragon” and “Shadows on Ocean Drive.”
You could help the dive industry by taking part in ongoing dive industry surveys. You will also find results from our past scuba diving market studies here.
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What now? Have a look at the complete Scubanomics Table of Contents.
