Salary
Average Salary: $33,890
Expected Lifetime Earnings: $1,415,000
Since park rangers are government employees, they're lumped into "pay grades" based on experience and level of education. If you go in with a degree and stick it out for a while, you can definitely hike your way up Salary Mountain. Just don't hold your breath for an avalanche of cash.
Many entry-level rangers, who are just getting their boots muddy, kick off their careers in seasonal positions. This means that they work when the park is busy—summertime, usually—but when the workload drops, they have to go back to waiting tables (which is probably more lucrative anyway). With a college degree, the starting pay of a seasonal park ranger comes out to around $18,500 per year. Without a degree, it dives down to around $15,000 (source). Neither is great.
Almost all full-time jobs with the park service require you to get some kind of four-year degree. These jobs usually start off somewhere around $25,000, and each year it rises a little more as you inch up the pay grades. The average income for park rangers is somewhere around $35,000-$40,000 (source).
You're lucky if you crack $45,000, but some on the high end definitely pull it off. Of course, if you're a real climber, you can be one of the chosen few who work their way up the totem pole to become a park superintendent. These kingpins of the ranger world rake in anywhere from $80,000 to $150,000 (source).
Even though most park rangers don't make enough cash to burn it for fun on the weekends, they do get some pretty solid benefits. Government jobs are cool like that. There's sick leave, overtime, paid vacation, and...the holy grail of benefits...health insurance. (Insert angels singing.) Even though you might make more money as a waiter, you've got to take these benefits into account. They really make a big difference when it comes to quality of life.