The “Economics” of Being a Dive Instructor: Job Remuneration
We conducted worldwide surveys on dive instructor remuneration in 2021 (reporting on years 2019 & 2020) and 2025 (reporting on year 2024). Since 2020 marked the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, we will compare 2024 to 2019 in this analysis of the financial lives of dive instructors.
Is it possible to make a living as a recreational scuba diving instructor? What to expect financially. Hourly rates. How much to invest in dive gear & scuba training. Differences in dive professionals’ incomes, based on the instructor’s gender, location, training agency affiliation, experience, age, and more.
This post is part of our Living The Scuba Dream series by the Business of Diving Institute and Darcy Kieran, author of:
Contents on This Page
These dive industry survey results will help us evaluate realistic salary expectations and how much an instructor needs to invest in scuba gear and dive course training. Is being a scuba diving instructor/instructor trainer a viable career decision, or is it best thought of as a part-time job — albeit a fun one? Is it a good investment of time and money? We will also examine dive instructors’ aspirations, the number of dive training agencies with which they are affiliated, and other related topics.
In this analysis, we define ‘recreational dive instructors’ as those who do not have credentials to teach cave, rebreather, or other forms of tech diving courses.
Unless otherwise specified, ‘instructors‘ include instructor trainers.
How Much Income Do Scuba Diving Instructors Generate From Teaching?
Here’s how much annual income instructors have earned, on average, from teaching, including tips and commissions:
. | wdt_ID | wdt_created_by | wdt_created_at | wdt_last_edited_by | wdt_last_edited_at | Recreational Dive Instructors | Tech Diving Instructors |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2019 | 1 | businessofdiving.com | 2025/06/28 13:09 | businessofdiving.com | 2025/06/28 14:46 | US$ 9,006.00 | US$ 29,913.38 |
2024 | 2 | businessofdiving.com | 2025/06/28 13:10 | businessofdiving.com | 2025/06/28 14:46 | US$ 8,304.78 | US$ 27,574.32 |
Increase (Decrease) | 3 | businessofdiving.com | 2025/06/28 14:35 | businessofdiving.com | 2025/06/28 17:53 | (US$ 701.22) | (US$ 2,339.06) |
% Change | 4 | businessofdiving.com | 2025/06/28 14:44 | businessofdiving.com | 2025/06/28 14:45 | (7.8%) | (7.8%) |
Dive instructors don’t earn much. Yet, it’s getting worse! Both tech diving instructors and recreational ones have experienced an average decrease of 7.8% in annual income over the five-year period from 2019 to 2024.
We will see later in this analysis that the decrease primarily comes from instructor trainers (-10.4%) and, to a lesser extent, from instructors (-1.2%).
Number of Dive Students Trained Annually
The changes in the average number of dive students trained annually are more complex.
. | wdt_ID | wdt_created_by | wdt_created_at | wdt_last_edited_by | wdt_last_edited_at | Recreational Dive Instructors | Tech Diving Instructors |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2019 | 1 | businessofdiving.com | 2025/06/28 13:09 | businessofdiving.com | 2025/06/28 16:22 | 39.9 | 82.5 |
2024 | 2 | businessofdiving.com | 2025/06/28 13:10 | businessofdiving.com | 2025/06/28 16:29 | 44.9 | 57.7 |
Increase (Decrease) | 3 | businessofdiving.com | 2025/06/28 14:35 | businessofdiving.com | 2025/06/28 16:34 | 5.0 | (24.8) |
% Change | 4 | businessofdiving.com | 2025/06/28 14:44 | businessofdiving.com | 2025/06/28 16:36 | 12.5% | (30.0%) |
- Recreational dive instructors have seen an increase in the number of scuba diving students trained annually (+12.5%), while annual revenues decreased (-7.8%). This translates into an 18% decline in the average income per recreational scuba diver trained, as shown below.
- Tech diving instructors have seen a much larger decline in the number of students trained annually (-30.0%) compared to the decline in annual revenues (-7.8%). This translates into a 32% increase in the average income per tech diver trained, as shown below.
Average Income per Dive Student Trained
. | wdt_ID | wdt_created_by | wdt_created_at | wdt_last_edited_by | wdt_last_edited_at | Recreational Dive Instructors | Tech Diving Instructors |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2019 | 1 | businessofdiving.com | 2025/06/28 13:09 | businessofdiving.com | 2025/06/28 17:01 | US$ 225.71 | US$ 362.59 |
2024 | 2 | businessofdiving.com | 2025/06/28 13:10 | businessofdiving.com | 2025/06/28 17:03 | US$ 184.96 | US$ 477.89 |
Increase (Decrease) | 3 | businessofdiving.com | 2025/06/28 14:35 | businessofdiving.com | 2025/06/28 17:05 | (US$ 40.75) | US$ 115.30 |
% Change | 4 | businessofdiving.com | 2025/06/28 14:44 | businessofdiving.com | 2025/06/28 17:06 | (18.1%) | 31.8% |
Tech diving instructors earn significantly more than recreational dive instructors, both in annual earnings and per diver trained.
What Is the Level of Teaching Income for Diving Instructors Who Are Teaching Full-Time?
. | wdt_ID | wdt_created_by | wdt_created_at | wdt_last_edited_by | wdt_last_edited_at | Recreational Dive Instructors | Tech Diving Instructors |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2019 | 1 | businessofdiving.com | 2025/06/28 13:09 | businessofdiving.com | 2025/06/28 17:52 | US$ 24,909.43 | US$ 53,703.19 |
2024 | 2 | businessofdiving.com | 2025/06/28 13:10 | businessofdiving.com | 2025/06/28 17:51 | US$ 22,904.25 | US$ 45,361.67 |
Increase (Decrease) | 3 | businessofdiving.com | 2025/06/28 14:35 | businessofdiving.com | 2025/06/28 17:52 | (US$ 2,005.18) | (US$ 8,341.52) |
% Change | 4 | businessofdiving.com | 2025/06/28 14:44 | businessofdiving.com | 2025/06/28 17:53 | (8.0%) | (15.5%) |
The decline in income for full-time recreational dive instructors is similar (-8%) to the average of all recreational dive instructors (-7.8%).
It’s different for full-time tech diving instructors who experienced a decline of 15.5% in their annual income compared to the average for all tech diving instructors (-7.8%).
How Much Have Scuba Diving Instructors Invested in Their Dive Careers?
Tech diving instructors earn more, but they have to spend significantly more to get there.
. | wdt_ID | wdt_created_by | wdt_created_at | wdt_last_edited_by | wdt_last_edited_at | Recreational Dive Instructors | Tech Diving Instructors |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Training | 1 | businessofdiving.com | 2025/06/28 13:09 | businessofdiving.com | 2025/06/28 18:31 | US$ 14,430.02 | US$ 45,058.81 |
Gear | 2 | businessofdiving.com | 2025/06/28 13:10 | businessofdiving.com | 2025/06/28 18:31 | US$ 18,059.88 | US$ 67,520.30 |
Sum | 3 | businessofdiving.com | 2025/06/28 14:35 | businessofdiving.com | 2025/06/28 18:33 | US$ 32,489.90 | US$ 112,579.11 |
These results are from our 2025 worldwide survey of scuba diving instructors.
Comparing Dive INSTRUCTORS vs. INSTRUCTOR TRAINERS
Annual Income of Dive Instructors vs. Instructor Trainers
. | wdt_ID | wdt_created_by | wdt_created_at | wdt_last_edited_by | wdt_last_edited_at | Instructors | Instructor Trainers |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2019 | 1 | businessofdiving.com | 2025/06/28 13:09 | businessofdiving.com | 2025/06/28 18:46 | US$ 11,291.00 | US$ 38,963.00 |
2024 | 2 | businessofdiving.com | 2025/06/28 13:10 | businessofdiving.com | 2025/06/28 18:46 | US$ 11,153.57 | US$ 34,908.29 |
Increase (Decrease) | 3 | businessofdiving.com | 2025/06/28 14:35 | businessofdiving.com | 2025/06/28 18:47 | (US$ 137.43) | (US$ 4,054.71) |
% Change | 4 | businessofdiving.com | 2025/06/28 18:48 | businessofdiving.com | 2025/06/28 18:48 | (1.2%) | (10.4%) |
As mentioned above, instructor trainers have experienced a bigger drop in earnings (-10.4%) than instructors (-1.2%).
Career Investments in Dive Gear & Training for Instructors vs. Instructor Trainers
Instructor trainers earn more, but they have to spend significantly more to get there.
. | wdt_ID | wdt_created_by | wdt_created_at | wdt_last_edited_by | wdt_last_edited_at | Instructors | Instructor Trainers |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Training | 1 | businessofdiving.com | 2025/06/28 13:09 | businessofdiving.com | 2025/06/28 19:06 | US$ 16,755.16 | US$ 56,833.32 |
Gear | 2 | businessofdiving.com | 2025/06/28 13:10 | businessofdiving.com | 2025/06/28 19:07 | US$ 23,405.19 | US$ 82,926.73 |
Sum | 3 | businessofdiving.com | 2025/06/28 14:35 | businessofdiving.com | 2025/06/28 19:55 | US$ 40,160.35 | US$ 139,760.05 |
These results are from our 2025 worldwide survey of scuba diving instructors.
Income of Dive Instructors by GENDER
. | wdt_ID | wdt_created_by | wdt_created_at | wdt_last_edited_by | wdt_last_edited_at | Female | Male |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2019 | 1 | businessofdiving.com | 2025/06/28 13:09 | businessofdiving.com | 2025/06/28 22:33 | US$ 15,344.00 | US$ 22,729.00 |
2024 | 2 | businessofdiving.com | 2025/06/28 13:10 | businessofdiving.com | 2025/06/28 20:13 | US$ 14,977.37 | US$ 20,629.03 |
Increase (Decrease) | 3 | businessofdiving.com | 2025/06/28 14:35 | businessofdiving.com | 2025/06/28 20:14 | (US$ 256.63) | (US$ 2,099.97) |
% Change | 4 | businessofdiving.com | 2025/06/28 14:44 | businessofdiving.com | 2025/06/28 20:14 | (2.3%) | (9.2%) |
Female dive instructors continue to earn significantly less (27.4%) than their male counterparts, even though the difference has shrunk. It was 32.5% in 2019.
Income of Scuba Diving Instructors by DIVE TRAINING AGENCY AFFILIATION
We are only reporting on the three dive training agencies with the largest number of respondents, as the sample sizes for other training agencies were too small to be considered reliable.
. | wdt_ID | wdt_created_by | wdt_created_at | wdt_last_edited_by | PADI | wdt_last_edited_at | SSI | TDI/SDI |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2019 | 1 | businessofdiving.com | 2025/06/28 13:09 | businessofdiving.com | US$ 22,881.00 | 2025/06/28 20:35 | US$ 24,601.00 | US$ 27,752.00 |
2024 | 2 | businessofdiving.com | 2025/06/28 13:10 | businessofdiving.com | US$ 19,799.13 | 2025/06/28 20:43 | US$ 22,682.12 | US$ 26,225.64 |
Increase (Decrease) | 3 | businessofdiving.com | 2025/06/28 14:35 | businessofdiving.com | (US$ 1,899.12) | 2025/06/28 20:36 | (US$ 1,918.88) | (US$ 1,526.36) |
% Change | 4 | businessofdiving.com | 2025/06/28 14:44 | businessofdiving.com | (13.5%) | 2025/06/28 20:44 | (7.8%) | (5.5%) |
On average, SSI dive instructors earn 14.6% more annually than PADI instructors, while TDI/SDI instructors report 32.5% more than PADI instructors.
Income of Dive Instructors by GEOGRAPHIC LOCATION
We are only reporting on the four regions with the highest numbers of respondents, as the sample sizes in other locations were too small to be reliable.
. | wdt_ID | wdt_created_by | wdt_created_at | wdt_last_edited_by | United States (including AK & HI) | wdt_last_edited_at | Western Europe | Mexico, Central America, Caribbean, Tropical Atlantic | South Pacific, Indo-Pacific, Other Tropical Asia-Pacific Region (incl. Maldives) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2019 | 1 | businessofdiving.com | 2025/06/28 13:09 | businessofdiving.com | US$ 26,306.00 | 2025/06/28 21:07 | US$ 16,425.00 | US$ 34,375.00 | US$ 17,957.00 |
2024 | 2 | businessofdiving.com | 2025/06/28 13:10 | businessofdiving.com | US$ 18,988.74 | 2025/06/28 21:08 | US$ 19,762.35 | US$ 36,726.07 | US$ 15,764.15 |
Increase (Decrease) | 3 | businessofdiving.com | 2025/06/28 14:35 | businessofdiving.com | (US$ 7,317.26) | 2025/06/28 21:10 | US$ 3,337.35 | US$ 2,351.07 | (US$ 2,192.85) |
% Change | 4 | businessofdiving.com | 2025/06/28 14:44 | businessofdiving.com | (27.8%) | 2025/06/28 21:10 | 20.3% | 6.8% | (12.2%) |
Scuba diving instructors in Western Europe (+20.3%) and those in Mexico, Central America, Caribbean & Tropical Atlantic (+6.8%) have experienced growth in income, while the dive instructors in the USA (-27.8%) and those in South Pacific, Indo-Pacific, Maldives & Other Tropical Asia-Pacific Region (-12.2%) have suffered a significant decrease.
Income of Scuba Diving Instructors by YEARS OF EXPERIENCE
. | wdt_ID | wdt_created_by | wdt_created_at | wdt_last_edited_by | Less than 5 years | wdt_last_edited_at | 5 to 9 years | 10 years & more |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2019 | 1 | businessofdiving.com | 2025/06/28 13:09 | businessofdiving.com | US$ 6,868.00 | 2025/06/28 21:34 | US$ 22,573.00 | US$ 29,076.00 |
2024 | 2 | businessofdiving.com | 2025/06/28 13:10 | businessofdiving.com | US$ 7,733.12 | 2025/06/28 21:34 | US$ 18,499.10 | US$ 27,158.19 |
Increase (Decrease) | 3 | businessofdiving.com | 2025/06/28 14:35 | businessofdiving.com | US$ 865.12 | 2025/06/28 21:35 | (US$ 4,073.90) | (US$ 1,917.81) |
% Change | 4 | businessofdiving.com | 2025/06/28 14:44 | businessofdiving.com | 12.6% | 2025/06/28 21:36 | (18.0%) | (6.6%) |
These results raise a question. On top of the significant investments required to become a dive professional, how can you consider a career where you will have to work for five years before earning even minimum wages?
Income of Dive Instructors by AGE (Year of Birth/Generation)
After 2021, we’ve changed the way we report on age. We now use generations since there are regular discussions about the perceived predominance of baby boomers in the scuba diving industry. Therefore, we were unable to compare the 2019 data with the 2024 data.
. | wdt_ID | wdt_created_by | wdt_created_at | wdt_last_edited_by | 1946-1954 (Boomers I) | wdt_last_edited_at | 1955-1964 (Boomers II/Generation Jones) | 1965-1980 (Generation X) | 1981-1996 (Millennials) | 1997-2012 (Generation Z) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2024 | 2 | businessofdiving.com | 2025/06/28 13:10 | businessofdiving.com | US$ 15,990.00 | 2025/06/28 21:58 | US$ 27,618.64 | US$ 20,874.85 | US$ 16,892.86 | US$ 15,099.03 |
Comparing Income Between INDEPENDENT Dive Instructors and Instructors Working for a DIVE CENTER
. | wdt_ID | wdt_created_by | wdt_created_at | wdt_last_edited_by | wdt_last_edited_at | Independent | In a Dive Center |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2019 | 1 | businessofdiving.com | 2025/06/28 13:09 | businessofdiving.com | 2025/06/28 22:15 | US$ 25,510.00 | US$ 17,794.00 |
2024 | 2 | businessofdiving.com | 2025/06/28 13:10 | businessofdiving.com | 2025/06/28 22:15 | US$ 22,496.23 | US$ 16,705.00 |
Increase (Decrease) | 3 | businessofdiving.com | 2025/06/28 14:35 | businessofdiving.com | 2025/06/28 22:15 | (US$ 3,013.77) | (US$ 1,089.00) |
% Change | 4 | businessofdiving.com | 2025/06/28 14:44 | businessofdiving.com | 2025/06/28 22:16 | (11.8%) | (6.1%) |
It is somewhat surprising to see that independent instructors are faring better, considering the fact that most dive certification agencies are making independent instructors invisible by only promoting dive centers on their websites.
Can We Make a Living as Recreational Scuba Diving Instructors?
If you compare the income of a full-time recreational diving instructor ($22,904) to the poverty line ($14,981 for an individual in the USA), it appears the answer could be yes. Still, you are dangerously close to the poverty line!
So, what do current dive instructors say about that? We ask them, ‘Do you believe teaching scuba diving to be a career path for people to earn a living?’
Only 38.3% of the 2025 respondents answered yes, compared to 53.2% in 2021.
It’s no surprise, considering the drop in income evident in the results of this worldwide survey on dive instructor revenues.
But… WHO Can Make a Living as a Scuba Diving Instructor?
There are numerous variables at play underneath the results of this survey.
However, at first glance, it appears that the ideal position, financially, for a career in diving is as a full-time, independent TDI/SDI instructor trainer teaching technical diving in Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean, and the Tropical Atlantic region.
Yet, the numbers also indicate that you won’t make much of a living until you have at least 5 years of experience, and preferably more than 10.
Otherwise, currently, males born between 1955 and 1964 (Boomers II/Generation Jones) earn more than their peers.
Before we get to the answers from two open-ended questions, here is some housekeeping.
More survey results about tech diving instructors are available on InDEPTH Magazine.
These surveys on scuba diving instructors’ income were conducted by the Business of Diving Institute and InDEPTH Magazine with direct support from DAN Europe, Shearwater, and GUE.
Please participate in our other dive industry surveys and market studies.
This post is part of our Living The Scuba Dream series by the Business of Diving Institute and Darcy Kieran, author of:
What are your main challenges as a dive instructor?
These are challenges shared by the 2025 survey respondents who were recreational scuba diving instructors. You may find answers from tech diving instructors on the InDEPTH Magazine website.
- PADI courses are too compressed time-wise as compared to an earlier period when an Open Water course was 5 to 6 weeks.
- Making enough money to cover expenses.
- Staying healthy and keeping my skills and teaching techniques current and on point.
- Water levels at local lakes.
- Finding a pool and a dive store close to me that will pay enough to cover my teaching costs.
- Pool access and open water training locations.
- Too many instructors at our shop. It dilutes the number of available students to teach. Everyone has a day job except the retirees. The former owner has to keep teaching because he never saved for retirement.
- Online training has reduced instructor time.
- Wages.
- New acquisitions.
- Dealing with low wages.
- Attracting enough students in our area (Midwest in the US). Dues and insurance costs make instructing challenging to break even, not counting paying for gear and personal con ed.
- Pay.
- Pool availability, open water conditions.
- PADI
- Keeping up to date
- Centre manager
- To make money
- Work/personal diving balance
- Competition based on price from other instructors or schools.
- Doing it because I like it, not because it is worth it money-wise
- Elderly students
- Compensation
- If you work as an instructor in Germany, you have to pay for it. The income does not cover expenses.
- Finding time to teach
- On the PADI side, students expect that training in North America should cost the same as training in the tropics, and that every PADI instructor is the same. Add to that an expectation that diving should be cheap or discounted.
- Despite providing exceptionally high standards of training, it does not pay well.
- Overall, living somewhere where the lakes are frozen for 6 months of the year.
- Hours and pay
- Finances
- Earning enough to pay rent, food, INSURANCE, and save some money
- Terrible pay
- Time commitment
- Dive centers are pressing for faster certifications, which results in decreased education for the student.
- The eternal, annoying, time-consuming struggle with bad diving organizations and the lack of quality of these, such as PADI.
- Payments, people who want to learn diving in cold water, and the bad attitude of customers.
- You don’t earn any money. Can only do it as a hobby. Earn so much more in IT.
- Making it viable as a source of income
- I don’t have much time for my private life, wouldn’t be a problem with a higher income
- Time
- Time dedicated to teaching against my main job
- I dislike very cold water. I have many other activities.
- Free time to teach and support the crew to help out.
- Finding a shop you want to work with to make teaching an economically viable option.
- Availability
- Landlocked, cold-water diving in lakes is challenging, and it’s hard to motivate people when flying to Egypt is so cheap.
- Finding time, as I’m a volunteer in a dive club
- Working on a LoB: we do 3-4 dives a day, a lot of strong current, 10 months without a break. My challenge: not losing my passion.
- Finding a secure job with a work permit and good pay.
- Normal workhours
- Pay
- I don’t have challenges, I have opportunities.
- Getting a decent and appropriate pay for the work and responsibilities I have as a Dive instructor
- Competing with full-time instructors; low pay.
- Earning a living
- Weather impacting dive conditions
- To be able to dive without paying but to be paid.
- Access to boats for teaching & driving 50+ to springs to teach
- I am kind of retired and I don’t need to make a living from diving, but I feel for those trying to make a career out of it, which is very difficult.
- Get more students
- The money
- Long hours, hard work, customer service, bad management/owners
- Low income, just enough to pay insurance and bare minimum living costs, and few days off (usually 1 day per week, but sometimes when it’s busy, you have to work 3 weeks without a day off, which lowers your concentration and risks are higher).
- Long hours daily, plus hard physical work
- Making enough money to survive. I work in the Caribbean, where we are paid $6 per diver per dive. I typically make $36 a day, maybe 4 days a week.
- Living on the small income we earn as dive instructors
- Weather and getting students to commit to more classes
- Low payment and high responsibility, not many days off
- Train only the best and be the best I can be
- Losing money
- Stay up to date
- Student numbers
- After last year’s move abroad and the related diving challenges, I aimed to get active again in diving and teaching.
- Finding new ways as an independent/retail owner and instructor to entice new customers and have returning customers.
- I’m not being valued as a professional, and I can’t make a living from this.
- It’s a low-income profession. I enjoy teaching & will continue part-time. But it’s not a good use of time to be solely reliant on dive instructing as a main income.
- Not having access to all of the tools needed to be successful in the business without paying. extra to be considered a dive center.
- My location is not a diving hotbed, so clients are limited, and competition is high.
- TIME! Working a full-time job while doing scuba classes.
- Low pay.
- Promote quality of teaching compared to the common minimum price and standard.
- Finding students who want skills, not certifications
- Poor quality of standards of local shops and their short cutting, making for challenging discussions on maintaining Training Agency standards (I quit a store for this in 2024). Scheduling consistency.
- Colleagues who dump the price
- Salary
- Pool access, it’s winter here.
- Time aside from my primary career.
- Balancing my real income source with dive instruction, which doesn’t pay nearly as well.
- Earning a viable living in a high-cost-of-living city.
- Getting funding to open a shop
- Location (Maine)
- It is not possible to earn money with diving courses.
- Living far away from diveable waters. Long way for courses.
- An industry opposed to quality education and deep diving.
Please Share Any Additional Thoughts You Have On the “Economics” of Being a Dive Instructor
These observations are from the 2025 survey respondents who are recreational scuba diving instructors. You may find answers from tech diving instructors on the InDEPTH Magazine website.
- Lots of very good divers out there, but only a few of them are good business people.
- I realized in 2024 that the dive industry is an MLM scam. You pay a ridiculous amount of money to get into the business where they promise you great pay and a life of travel and adventure, you have to continue to pay a fee every year regardless of how much business you do, and the person above you (the training agency) is the only one that actually makes decent money. If you sell enough of the low level goods you earn the right to purchase a higher level course so you can then sell higher priced goods and maybe even convince some poor schmuck to work for you so they can make pennies while you make nickels and the training agency makes dollars.
- The instructor development market has not recovered after COVID. Prices for flights, accommodations, etc., are high. PADI prices for materials and examinations are extremely high. The prospects for earnings are low. People simply can not afford to become an instructor. PADI’s strategy is to ‘divide and rule’ by creating more and more course directors and IDC centers. Competition keeps the margins for dive centers at a minimum, whilst they’re still getting their fees. I wish other training organisations would ‘up their game’ to increase competition between training agencies. 2024 was a very difficult year for me. Not sure if I can keep this up much longer.
- As long as the diving associations alone move beyond any labor law line of the various countries, nothing will change in the industry. The diving associations alone promote working conditions that would send employers packing in other industries.
- I love to teach and share all things diving, and my main struggle is that you can’t teach what needs to be taught, given current industry standards. I would like to make all courses longer with more detail. You can’t teach everything, and experience is the best teacher, but I feel we don’t provide enough initial learning and teaching time, as everyone believes time is money. I feel we are cheating our new divers of valuable experience while with an instructor. On the retail side of things, we are way too isolated, closed off, secluded, and not accessible to all forms of sales and marketing to a potential new and fresh customer base. Most people don’t understand or even know that diving is a great sport and how easy it is to get into. It is my belief that given today’s online buying that a physical shop/brick and Morter is not necessary to become a dealer and should be open and free to those who qualify with or without a location. This would help our industry grow in a more organic way and provide better opportunities.
- The dive shops rely on the dive instructors’ “love for diving” to determine the low hourly rate they pay. I have worked full and part-time in the industry and never felt I could support myself on the one job.
- It would be lovely if the industry pushed the value of training, instead of just training at a value price.
- It’s a great hobby and a very enjoyable way to share a passion, but I wouldn’t want to be a full-time instructor.
- Dive stores do not charge enough for classes, and PADI training tools are too expensive. SDI is not as easy to work with as NAUI for independent instructors. From my experience, NAUI is the easiest to deal with via the internet for purchasing training and merchandise for teaching. PADI and SDI are Dive Shop/Resort oriented. Equipment manufacturers do not want independent instructors certified in repairing their equipment.
- An instructor will never be a millionaire
- It is nearly impossible to be worthwhile in the SF Bay Area or any other metropolitan area with a higher cost of living, because your pricing cannot remotely compete with that of low-cost tropical locations.
- Dive instructors affiliated with a store should be remunerated not just for theoretical classes, confined and open-water classes, but also for student enrollment and gear sales. It should not be a charitable service to the store owners.
- It is tough to earn a viable living just as a dive instructor – you need to have other skills to be able to have sustainable employment.
- Uneconomical
- Dive shop pays in credit in store (equipment)
- In a non-resort location with diving only part of the year, being a scuba instructor is not a viable career path.
- Do not think you will make money in the dive industry full-time in non-resort areas. Worked full time in the dive industry for 4 years, went back to another industry to afford to live.
- The diving industry in Europe is sponsored by and burdens social security systems. Diving instructors work for six months and then claim unemployment benefits.
- Having worked in Germany; diving as a full-time job is not feasible to make a living.
- 90% of instructors are cheap slaves. Most money goes to the agencies that do shit. It’s ridiculous how they still work… If you don’t own a base in a tourist site or a liveaboard, it’s not worth considering it a job and that saying “working” for a paid 5-star dive center. So f* the industry!
- It’s either non-profitable at all, or the dive prices on the planet have to go up to pay better salaries. We haven’t even talked about 3rd world countries that only clean or carry tanks, and the joke of salaries they get.
- You need to be very dedicated and passionate to being a dive instructor
- As a part-time instructor, it’s more about the tax shelter and the enjoyment of teaching. It’s hard to explain the tax shelter if you’re not making enough to create space to use it, though. It’s harder if you work for a shop, then it’s about the perks of the job vice actual income, and that’s not enough for a lot of folks these days.
- Hard to make savings for the future.
- Others benefits than just income should be considered, paid annual leave, coverage when being dick, health insirance, etc.
- Tips make the difference between me just covering my rent and having some money left over or to save up. Divers seem to assume that, because diving is an expensive hobby that the staff are well-paid. Many also admit they’ve never even considered tipping their dive staff. Better education on this topic is definitely necessary. It’s a service industry: tips are essential. Primarily because the pay is so poor (and has only increased by $1 since I first came out here to work back in 2012).
- It’s impossible to live off teaching this great sport. I have to supplement my income with a 9-5 job on top of my teaching.
- It’s a lot of work; it costs far too much to be an instructor for not even close to enough money.
- Not paid enough for the risks, too many instructors on the market not good divers enough drowning the market, thx particualrly to PADI… a dive instructor should first be a very good and skilled diver.
- The cost to become a pro is high, and not enough is done to nurture new instructors with business planning, tax, etc. As an industry, it needs way more mentoring in this space
- Lots of very good divers out there, but only a few of them are good business people.
- I only do private classes where I can take my time teaching a course. When I got certified more than 20 years ago, the confined water sessions were spread across either seven weeknights or 4 weekends, with the sessions split between pool and classroom. With e-learning, I think a lot is lost. I usually do more than the required certification dives with students and make sure they are comfortable. I like to train divers as if they were to eventually become my dive buddy.
- It’s fun, but mostly done for me for tax write-offs and to fund my fun diving.
- Manufacturers need to lower prices or increase the minimum advertised price. The margins get lower and lower each year, and the whole industry suffers for it.
- You need enough other income to afford being an instructor.
- I’ll pay for a quality instructor anytime.
You may also be interested in the following podcast episode about the “economics” of being a scuba diving instructor:
Who answered the survey?
In 2021, 741 dive instructors responded to the survey, of whom 628 were in active teaching status, while the other 113 were no longer teaching. Among those in teaching status, 62% were instructors, while 38% were instructor trainers.
In 2025, we surveyed only scuba diving instructors in teaching status. A total of 817 dive instructors responded to the survey, of which 67% were instructors and 33% were instructor trainers.
Years of experience as a dive instructor for the 2025 survey respondents:
- Less than 5 years: 28.9%
- From 5 years to less than 10 years: 20.9%
- 10 years or more: 50.2%
Dive training “employer” of 2025 survey respondents:
- Independent / Self-employed: 45.8%
- Liveaboard: 1.4%
- Resort / Dive Center in a Tourist Destination: 16.8%
- Dive Center in a Non-tourist Location: 29.4%
- Dive Club / College & University Program: 6.5%
Geographic region of the 2025 survey respondents:
- USA incl. AK & HI: 34.0%
- Western Europe: 30.2%
- Canada: 7.4%
- Mexico, Central America, Caribbean & Tropical Atlantic: 7.0%
- South Pacific, Indo-Pacific, Other Tropical Asia-Pacific Region, incl. Maldives: 6.0%
- Australia & New Zealand: 3.7%
- Egypt: 3.3%
- Other regions had less than 3%
Year of birth of 2025 survey respondents:
- 1946-1954 (Boomers I): 4.6%
- 1955-1964 (Boomers II/Generation Jones): 12.9%
- 1965-1980 (Generation X): 47.8%
- 1981-1996 (Millennials): 30.6%
- 1997-2012 (Generation Z): 4.1%
Gender of 2025 survey respondents:
- Female: 19.2%
- Male: 80.8%
This post is part of our Living The Scuba Dream series by the Business of Diving Institute and Darcy Kieran, author of:
Your Dive Industry Compass
Scuba Diving Market Research, Surveys, Reports & Statistics
Shifting Tides
Strategies for Today’s Scuba Divers
Living The Scuba Dream
Plan Your Scuba Instructor Career & Deep Dive the Plan
You may also be interested in The Immersion Zone (our podcast), Scubanomics (our newsletter for dive professionals), and our published books & reference guides.