Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media · Holland code ECR

Umpires, Referees, and Other Sports Officials

Officiate at competitive athletic or sporting events. Detect infractions of rules and decide penalties according to established regulations. Includes all sporting officials, referees, and competition judges.

Also called: Horse Show Judge, Major League Baseball Umpire (MLB Umpire), Referee, Sports Official, Basketball Referee, Diving Judge, Dressage Judge, Football Referee.

O*NET 27-2023.00

At a glance

US median annual pay: $40,710; Middle half earn $32,260 to $57,160. BLS OEWS, May 2025.
Most common education: High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED); 43% of workers surveyed by O*NET report this level.
Preparation needed: Job Zone 2 of 5; Some preparation. Zone 1 is little or none; zone 5 is graduate-level.
US employment outlook, 2024 to 2034: +6% · Faster than average; 19,300 jobs in 2024, projected 20,400. BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, which groups this with similar roles as "Umpires, referees, and other sports officials".

What the work involves

The tasks workers in this occupation rate as most important, from the O*NET survey.

Officiate at sporting events, games, or competitions, to maintain standards of play and to ensure that game rules are observed.
Judge performances in sporting competitions to award points, impose scoring penalties, and determine results.
Inspect game sites for compliance with regulations or safety requirements.
Resolve claims of rule infractions or complaints by participants and assess any necessary penalties, according to regulations.
Verify scoring calculations before competition winners are announced.
Signal participants or other officials to make them aware of infractions or to otherwise regulate play or competition.
Teach and explain the rules and regulations governing a specific sport.
Start races and competitions.

Skills and knowledge it leans on

Skills

Speaking3.6 / 5
Critical Thinking3.4 / 5
Active Listening3.3 / 5
Monitoring3.1 / 5
Reading Comprehension3.0 / 5
Active Learning3.0 / 5

Knowledge areas

English Language3.4 / 5
Education and Training2.9 / 5
Administration and Management2.9 / 5
Customer and Personal Service2.7 / 5
Psychology2.5 / 5
Communications and Media2.4 / 5

Importance ratings on O*NET’s 1 to 5 scale. Higher means the occupation depends on it more.

Who tends to enjoy it

How strongly this occupation draws on each of the six Holland interest types, which is the same profile the career interests test compares you against.

Realistic55
Investigative10
Artistic2
Social41
Enterprising80
Conventional59

The same work abroad

Other countries classify jobs differently, so these are the closest matches through the international ISCO-08 standard, not exact equivalents.

Closest UK occupation groups (SOC 2020)

Sports coaches, instructors and officials (3432)124,900 employed

Employment is the UK Annual Population Survey for April 2025 to March 2026, all workers in the group, which can be broader than this one occupation.

Pay across Europe, for the whole group

Median annual earnings of all employees in “Technicians and associate professionals”. This is the broad ISCO group this occupation falls in, not the occupation itself, so treat it as context for the wage level, not as a salary for this job.

Median annual earnings, Technicians and associate professionals, by country
Country	Median pay
Belgium	€50,992
Austria	€46,986
Germany	€44,473
Netherlands	€42,448
Ireland	€41,613
Sweden	€41,155
Italy	€34,882
France	€34,816
Spain	€29,757
Portugal	€18,080
Poland	€12,108

Eurostat Structure of Earnings Survey, businesses with ten or more employees outside public administration, in euro and not adjusted for the cost of living. Reference years differ between sources: the US, Japan and Europe figures on this page come from different survey years, so compare them as rough levels, not to the euro or yen.

Exposure to AI

This occupation sits in the middle third of the 774 occupations scored, with an exposure score of -0.03. The scores are standardized across those occupations, so 0 is the average and a score of 1 is about one standard deviation above it.

Our note on reading it: the dataset links AI applications to the abilities that occupations require, so the score reflects overlap between the two. It is a comparison between occupations, not a forecast about jobs. It does not say whether exposure means tasks are replaced or workers get more done with the tools, and it says little about one employer or one role.

Source: Felten, E., Raj, M., & Seamans, R. (2021). Occupational, industry, and geographic exposure to artificial intelligence: A novel dataset and its potential uses. Strategic Management Journal, 42(12), 2195-2217. Matched to this page by 6-digit SOC code (27-2023).

Is it a fit for you?

Interest is one input, alongside ability, pay and what is hiring near you. The career interests test takes about thirteen minutes and ranks occupations by how closely their profile matches yours.

Take the career interests test