A stunning study by the fiscal watchdog group Open the Books reports that more than 130 Los Angeles lifeguards made more than $200,000 last year – with one guard hauling in more than half a million dollars in 2024.
Some 34 lifeguards brought $300,000 or more last year, the report stated, with the highest earner getting $523,351 in base pay, “other pay,” and benefits.
Open the Books CEO John Hart told Fox News Digital:
Lifeguards who risk their lives protecting the public deserve to be well compensated, but paying them more than $500,000 may be unsettling to taxpayers who are drowning in debt. Once again, Los Angeles — a city that is struggling to extinguish fires and looting — is leading the way in lavish pay that needs to be addressed.
The dollar amount also encompasses “other” pay, leave time payouts, health insurance payments, pension contributions, deferred contributions, long-term disability and life insurance payouts.
Also, in the past 5 years, the watchdog group reported on Substack, “a single lifeguard was able to pull down $702,000 – in overtime alone!”
According to the published report:
Top lifeguard officials and ocean lifeguards are employed by the fire department and make up about half of all [Los Angeles] lifeguards. After 30 years of service, these lifeguards can retire on between 70% and 81% of their pay, depending on which tier of the pension plan they belong to. Lake and pool lifeguards make up the other half, and are employed by the Parks and Recreation Department, whose pension benefits vary.
“Pay for beach lifeguards dwarfs that of their colleagues at the pools and lakes,” the report continued. “The highest paid pool lifeguard was given $65,000 compensation — $53,000 in total pay, and $13,000 in benefits, which is about 12% that of the highest paid ocean lifeguard.”
The report also acknowledged ocean lifeguarding is “dangerous work,” citing several rescues that resulted in bravery citations, though those “don’t always translate into higher pay.”
It remains to be seen if there will be as much overtime pay in 2025, as some of the city’s most popular beaches have been impacted by the Pacific Palisades wildfire recovery and the restricted lanes of the Pacific Coast Highway that provide access to locations like the popular Will Rogers Beach.
Contributor Lowell Cauffiel is the best-selling author of the Los Angeles-based crime novel Below the Line and nine other crime novels and nonfiction titles. See lowellcauffiel.com for more.
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