A community association manager (CAM) is a professional hired to handle the day-to-day business operations of a homeowners association, condominium association, or housing cooperative. Rather than managing rental properties for a landlord, a CAM works on behalf of the association’s board of directors and, by extension, the homeowners themselves. The role covers everything from collecting dues and enforcing community rules to overseeing landscaping contracts and preparing annual budgets.
What a CAM Actually Does
A community association manager runs the business side of a residential community so that volunteer board members don’t have to do it all themselves. The board sets policy and makes major decisions, while the CAM executes those decisions and keeps operations moving between board meetings. The scope is broad, touching finances, maintenance, administration, and compliance.
On the financial side, a CAM bills and collects homeowner assessments (the regular dues owners pay), pays the association’s bills, drafts financial reports, and prepares the annual budget for board approval. They also monitor the community’s reserve fund, which is money set aside for major future expenses like roof replacements or repaving. Keeping the board informed about the association’s fiscal health is a core part of the job.
For maintenance and grounds, a CAM coordinates landscaping, trash collection, snow removal, cleaning of common areas, plumbing repairs, and upkeep of pools, clubhouses, and other shared amenities. They conduct periodic site inspections, monitor the work of on-site employees and outside service providers, and ensure that individual homeowners are following the community’s architectural guidelines and design covenants. If someone paints their house a color that violates the rules, the CAM is typically the one who sends the notice.
Administratively, a CAM organizes and attends board meetings, annual membership meetings, and committee meetings. They maintain the community’s records, membership rosters, and official files. They also solicit insurance quotes, help the board evaluate coverage options, and sometimes supervise recreational programming for residents.
On-Site Managers vs. Portfolio Managers
CAMs generally work in one of two arrangements. An on-site manager is dedicated to a single community, usually a large one with hundreds or thousands of units and a multimillion-dollar budget. They have an office within the community and handle everything from resident requests to vendor supervision in person every day.
A portfolio manager, by contrast, oversees several smaller associations at once. They split their time among communities, visiting each one on a rotating schedule and handling much of the administrative and financial work from a management company’s central office. Most CAMs working for management companies start in portfolio roles before moving into larger on-site positions.
How a CAM Differs From a Property Manager
The terms get used interchangeably, but they describe different jobs. A property manager oversees individual rental units or apartment complexes on behalf of a landlord or investment owner. Their work centers on finding tenants, signing leases, collecting rent, handling tenant complaints, and arranging evictions when necessary. They manage physical buildings that are used by people who don’t own them.
A community association manager, on the other hand, represents the property owners themselves. A CAM is responsible for the common areas and shared operations of a community, not for individually owned homes or units. They authorize payments for association services, enforce restrictive covenants, present financial reports to the board, and direct the overall business operation. While both roles involve supervising maintenance tasks like pool upkeep or trash removal, the relationship is fundamentally different: a property manager works for a landlord, while a CAM works for a community of owners.
Types of Communities They Manage
CAMs work across several types of common-interest communities. The most familiar is the homeowners association (HOA), which governs single-family home developments and townhouse communities. Condominium associations operate similarly but manage shared building structures like hallways, elevators, roofs, and exterior walls in addition to grounds. Housing cooperatives, where residents own shares in a corporation rather than individual units, also use community association managers. Some CAMs specialize in large-scale or master-planned communities that span thousands of acres and include multiple sub-associations, commercial areas, and extensive amenity packages.
Licensing and Certification
Whether you need a license to work as a CAM depends on your state. Several states, including Florida, Illinois, and Nevada, require a state-issued community association manager license. Others, like Arizona and California, have their own credentialing programs. Many states have no licensing requirement at all, meaning anyone can technically take on the role.
Beyond state licensing, the most widely recognized industry credential is the Certified Manager of Community Associations (CMCA), administered by the Community Association Managers International Certification Board (CAMICB). It is the only international certification program designed exclusively for managers of homeowner associations, condominium associations, and cooperatives. Earning the CMCA typically requires completing a pre-certification education course and passing an exam. In states that already require a license, that state credential can serve as a prerequisite pathway to the CMCA.
Additional designations exist for managers who want to advance further. The Association Management Specialist (AMS) and Professional Community Association Manager (PCAM) credentials, offered through the Community Associations Institute, signal progressively higher levels of experience and expertise. Boards hiring a management company or individual manager often look for these credentials as a baseline indicator of competence.
Salary and Compensation
Pay varies significantly based on the size and type of community, geographic location, and years of experience. According to the Community Associations Institute’s 2023 compensation survey, managers of large-scale community associations (typically 1,000 or more units with budgets exceeding $2 million) reported the highest total compensation at around $155,000. High-rise condominium managers came in at approximately $120,000. Portfolio managers overseeing smaller communities generally earn less, though exact figures depend on how many associations they handle and the management company’s pay structure.
Benefits are common in the field. In that same survey, 83% of respondents had employer-sponsored healthcare, with 20% fully paid and 63% partially paid by the employer. Eighty-two percent had access to a retirement plan, and 67% received a company match on their contributions.
How Someone Becomes a CAM
There is no single educational path into community association management. Many CAMs come from backgrounds in business administration, real estate, hospitality, or facilities management. Some start as administrative assistants at management companies and work their way up. Others transition from property management or real estate careers.
If your state requires a license, you will need to meet that state’s specific education and exam requirements before practicing. Even where licensing is not mandatory, earning the CMCA credential makes you considerably more competitive. Most management companies prefer or require it, and many association boards specifically request certified managers when hiring.
Day-to-day success in the role depends heavily on communication skills and the ability to handle conflict. A CAM regularly navigates disagreements between neighbors, enforces rules that some homeowners resent, and manages board members who may have conflicting priorities. Strong organizational skills matter too, since a portfolio manager juggling multiple communities needs to track dozens of vendor contracts, budgets, and meeting schedules simultaneously.
Who Hires a CAM
Most CAMs are employed by professional management companies that contract with multiple associations. The association’s board of directors votes to hire the management company, and the company assigns a manager (or team) to that community. The manager’s salary is paid out of the association’s operating fund, which comes from the assessments homeowners pay each month or quarter.
Some larger communities hire a CAM directly as a full-time employee of the association itself, bypassing a management company entirely. This is more common in large-scale or high-rise communities where the budget supports a dedicated staff. On the other end of the spectrum, very small associations sometimes self-manage, with board members volunteering to handle duties that a CAM would otherwise perform. Self-management saves on management fees but demands significant time and expertise from unpaid volunteers.