Our 14th annual salary survey provided some insights to what captains and crew earned. (Although our survey has been around since Dockwalk began, it’s been 14 years since we launched our first poll to get the numbers directly from crew.)
In addition to the monthly salary ranges provided by eight crew agencies, captains and crew responded to the online poll at Dockwalk.com. (For more on the numbers and the industry’s employment trends direct from the agents, read Louisa Beckett’s "Back to Work" in the September issue.)
The yachting industry is slowly returning to normal in the wake of the pandemic. Yachts are back to work around the world and many new ones are in the pipeline thanks to the surge in popularity the "social distant" yachting lifestyle has enjoyed. But, while this return to normalcy has opened up new crew jobs this year, crew themselves have been returning to the workplace in large numbers and competition has been fierce.
Many of the crew agents reported that crew wages largely are flat this year compared to last. Salaries went up in 2021 and 2022 when crew were in short supply, but now more crew are available than previously. While crew are demanding higher pay this year, they’re not necessarily receiving it, but some agents have seen salaries continue to rise since Covid. There are many factors that can affect the salary crew can expect, including where a yacht is based and the season.
The tables below show the “agency range,” which gives the average lows and highs of all ranges provided by the agencies, the “poll range,” where results from individual working captains and crew are tallied to show the lowest and highest of all the responses, and the “poll average” calculated from all the responses. Note that our figures do not account for longevity and experience, crew benefit packages, tips, or similar extra remuneration.
Not all positions with corresponding boat sizes had enough poll responses to be considered significant; those categories are marked with an asterisk to indicate if fewer than five crew responded in that size range for that position. Several categories had no or only one response, which is also noted.