Cost Guides · Trade Wages
How Much Do Arborists Make? BLS Pay by the Numbers
How much do arborists make? Tree trimmers and pruners, the BLS group arborists are counted in, earn a mean $26.91 an hour, $55,970 a year. Oregon pays the most, Texas the least.
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How much do arborists make an hour?
First, an honest note: BLS does not publish a wage for “arborist” as its own job title. Tree pruning, trimming, and shaping work falls inside code 37-3013, Tree Trimmers and Pruners, the closest match. A credentialed arborist and an uncredentialed crew member doing the same pruning work both get counted inside this one classification.
Within it, the national mean wage is $26.91 an hour, $55,970 a year. The median is lower: $24.50 an hour, $50,960 a year. A smaller group of higher earners pulls the mean above the median. The classification counts an estimated 55,160 workers nationally (BLS OEWS, May 2025).
What is the full pay range for this classification?
A single average hides most of the story. BLS also publishes percentile wages, showing the spread from the lowest-paid tenth of workers to the highest-paid tenth.
| Percentile | Hourly wage | Annual wage |
|---|---|---|
| 10th percentile | $18.24 | $37,940 |
| 25th percentile | $21.56 | $44,840 |
| Median (50th) | $24.50 | $50,960 |
| Mean (average) | $26.91 | $55,970 |
| 75th percentile | $30.72 | $63,900 |
| 90th percentile | $38.61 | $80,310 |
The spread runs $37,940 to $80,310 a year, wide enough that climbing skill, equipment, and region move pay a lot inside this classification (BLS OEWS, May 2025).
Which states pay the most, and which pay the least?
State averages move even more. Here are the six highest-paying and six lowest-paying states in the classification, by mean annual wage.
| State | Mean hourly | Mean annual | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oregon | $35.40 | $73,630 | Highest |
| Minnesota | $35.03 | $72,860 | Highest |
| New Jersey | $33.54 | $69,760 | Highest |
| Washington | $32.20 | $66,980 | Highest |
| Illinois | $32.14 | $66,850 | Highest |
| Massachusetts | $31.78 | $66,100 | Highest |
| Iowa | $21.58 | $44,890 | Lowest |
| Mississippi | $21.42 | $44,550 | Lowest |
| Nebraska | $21.15 | $43,990 | Lowest |
| Alabama | $21.01 | $43,700 | Lowest |
| Kentucky | $21.01 | $43,690 | Lowest |
| Texas | $20.44 | $42,510 | Lowest |
Oregon’s mean pay runs $31,120 a year above Texas’s, about a 73 percent gap between the top and bottom state averages (BLS OEWS, May 2025). Our own contractor hourly labor rates by trade page tracks more trades from the same BLS release.
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Does an ISA Certified Arborist credential change the pay picture?
ISA, the International Society of Arboriculture, runs the best-known certification in the trade. Its own site frames the value this way: ISA credentials help consumers identify qualified, knowledgeable tree care professionals (isa-arbor.com, verified 2026-09-26).
That is a professional credential, not a government license or a separate BLS occupation. Every wage above, credentialed or not, sits inside the same 37-3013 classification. BLS does not break out pay by certification, so the credential is a hiring signal, not a different pay code.
How much do tree care business owners make?
Every figure above is an employee wage. An owner who bills by the crew hour keeps the gap between the price and costs, a number BLS does not report.
JL Tree Service’s non-emergency rates, captured September 26, 2026: foreman $90 to $125 an hour, climber $90 to $125 an hour, groundman $85 to $95 an hour, four-person crew total $355 to $460 an hour. An eight-hour job day at that rate is $2,840 to $3,680 gross, before fuel and overhead. That is revenue, not take-home pay.
How to turn wage data into your own bid
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Start from the BLS wage floor
Use $24.50 to $26.91 an hour, the median-to-mean range for code 37-3013, as a labor baseline.
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Set your own crew rate
Break out a rate per role, or set one flat per-tree price.
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Estimate job hours and crew size
Multiply your crew rate by the hours a job takes. A bigger tree or harder access adds hours.
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Turn the estimate into a bid
Snap a photo in SimplyWise Cost Estimator, edit the lines, then send a branded quote.
SimplyWise Cost Estimator for pricing tree care jobs
SimplyWise Cost Estimator turns a job-site photo into an itemized estimate in about 6 seconds. Material, labor, and fee lines are editable, so you can enter your own crew rate. Send a branded quote the client signs to approve. $29.99/mo or $239.99/yr, about $20/mo on annual, with a 7-day free trial.
Sources
BLS wage data
- BLS OEWS, May 2025 national estimates, code 37-3013, verified 2026-09-26.
- BLS OEWS, May 2025 state estimates, code 37-3013, verified 2026-09-26.
- SimplyWise, labor rates by trade, live 2026-09-26.
- SimplyWise, tree trimming cost, live 2026-09-26.
ISA certification
- ISA, Credentials overview, verified 2026-09-26.
- ISA, Types of Credentials, verified 2026-09-26.
Owner-operator pricing
- JL Tree Service, pricing, own posted rates, captured 2026-09-26.
SimplyWise
- SimplyWise Cost Estimator, App Store, 4.8 rating, verified 2026-09-26.
Frequently asked questions about arborist pay
The wage
How much do arborists make an hour?
Arborists fall under BLS code 37-3013, Tree Trimmers and Pruners. The mean is $26.91 an hour, the median $24.50 an hour (BLS OEWS, May 2025).
What is the median arborist salary a year?
Median annual wage: $50,960. Mean: $55,970 (BLS OEWS, May 2025). The 10th percentile earns $37,940 a year, the 90th earns $80,310.
The range
Which state pays arborists the most?
Oregon: $73,630 a year, $35.40 an hour, the highest mean pay among states. Minnesota, New Jersey, Washington, Illinois, and Massachusetts round out the top six (BLS OEWS, May 2025).
Is an ISA Certified Arborist credential a separate pay category?
No. ISA describes its program as helping consumers identify qualified, knowledgeable tree care professionals (isa-arbor.com, 2026), but it is a professional certification, not a BLS occupation. Certified and uncertified pruning work both count under the same 37-3013 classification.
Estimating the job
How much do tree care business owners make?
BLS wage data covers employees, not owner profit. JL Tree Service posts a four-person crew rate of $355 to $460 an hour, single-source and Fairfax, Virginia specific. An eight-hour job day at that rate is $2,840 to $3,680 gross, before costs.
Can I quote a tree job from a photo?
Yes. SimplyWise Cost Estimator turns a job-site photo into an itemized estimate in about 6 seconds. Enter your own crew rate on the labor line, and every line stays editable.
Turn your own crew rate into a bid that holds margin.
Snap a photo and get an itemized estimate with editable lines. Free to try, then $29.99/mo or $239.99/yr after a 7-day trial.