Parked and Paid

Camp hosting

Private campgrounds and RV resorts

KOA franchisees, Thousand Trails and Equity Lifestyle properties, Sun Outdoors, Jellystone parks and thousands of independents hire directly. This is where most listings actually are, and the least standardized of the four routes.

Who hires
Mostly independent owners. KOA is a franchise system, so terms are set campground by campground rather than nationally.
Shape
Three arrangements are common: hours-for-site with no cash, a site plus an hourly wage for all hours, and a wage with rent deducted from pay. The third is the one to watch.
Reported pay
Workamper News reports combined packages of roughly $7 to $27 an hour when wages and benefits are counted together, with most paid roles landing around $12 to $18 all in

There is a published fairness benchmark, and almost no public program meets it. Workamper News states that for a for-profit employer, the site's monthly value divided by hours worked should at least equal the applicable minimum wage, and recommends a maximum of about 15 hours a week in exchange for a full-hookup site. Texas asks 24 to 32. Michigan asks 30. Illinois expects 35. Government volunteer programs sit on different legal footing than a for-profit business, so this isn't an accusation of illegality — but the private sector has a stated standard and the public sector routinely asks double it.

Three things to watch

The site deduction changes everything. KOA's own material notes that some packages route part of your wages toward a discounted or free site. That is not a free site. It is a wage with rent taken out, and it is taxed differently. Get the deduction amount in writing.

Worker classification is a live problem. One worker publicly reported being promised W-2 status, then placed on a 1099, with wages below the quoted rate. Whether you are an employee or a contractor decides your tax liability, your entitlement to minimum wage and overtime, and whether you are covered if you are hurt. Ask before you arrive, and treat a change after arrival as a warning sign. We are not lawyers or tax advisors — this is a question to ask, not advice.

Some boards charge you to look. Job seekers pay for access to certain listing services. That's a legitimate business, but it's a cost before any earnings, and federal, state and concessionaire positions are all advertised free through volunteer.gov, USAJOBS and the concessionaires' own sites.

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Who's hiring

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