# How Much Do Landscapers Make? BLS Wage Data, 2026

Canonical URL: https://www.simplywise.com/blog/how-much-do-landscapers-make/
Plain text: https://www.simplywise.com/blog/how-much-do-landscapers-make/llms.txt
Publisher: SimplyWise, Inc. (https://www.simplywise.com)
Published: October 15, 2026
Updated: October 15, 2026
Category: Project Cost Guides
Summary: How much do landscapers make: the BLS wage table's occupation, the full percentile spread, the crew-lead comparison, and top-paying states (OEWS 2025).

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## How Much Do Landscapers Make? The Federal Wage Number, Explained

How much do landscapers make? $18.82 an hour at the median, $39,150 a year, from the federal wage table. Here is the full spread, the crew-lead gap, and the states that pay the most.

How much do landscapers make, at a glance

1. Landscaping and Groundskeeping Workers earn an $18.82 median hourly wage, $39,150 a year (BLS OEWS, May 2025).
2. The mean sits higher, at $20.33 an hour and $42,290 a year, pulled up by a long tail of better-paid crews.
3. The spread is wide: $31,150 a year at the 10th percentile to $56,730 at the 90th.
4. Crew leads earn more: First-Line Supervisors of Landscaping median $58,430 a year, about $19,280 over a crew worker.
5. Owner draw and profit are not in this table. OEWS counts employee wages, never a self-employed landscaper’s business income.
6. Location moves it a lot: Washington, D.C., Massachusetts, and Washington state average over $23 an hour, the lowest-paying states sit near $16.

## How much do landscapers make, by the federal wage table

How much do landscapers make? The federal wage survey files the answer under one occupation code, 37-3011, Landscaping and Groundskeeping Workers. The May 2025 release counts 952,640 of them earning a $20.33 mean hourly wage, $42,290 a year.

The median, the better number to argue from, is $18.82 an hour and $39,150 a year. The mean sits above the median because a smaller group of higher-paid workers pulls the average up.

OEWS samples employers about payroll and skips the self employed, so a landscaper who owns the business and takes a draw is not in this table. This is what an employer pays a crew member, not what an owner-operator clears.

## Why the code covers the crew, not the business

BLS defines Landscaping and Groundskeeping Workers as those who landscape or maintain grounds of property: sod laying, mowing, trimming, planting, watering, fertilizing, digging, raking, and sprinkler installation. The survey sees the employee side only, whether for a landscaping company or a property management firm. Treat this row as the labor floor, not a ceiling on what the business earns.

## The spread is the story, not the average

A single mean hides a lot. Here is the full percentile table, national, May 2025.

| Percentile | Hourly wage | Annual wage |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 10th | $14.98 | $31,150 |
| 25th | $17.40 | $36,190 |
| Median | $18.82 | $39,150 |
| 75th | $22.52 | $46,830 |
| 90th | $27.28 | $56,730 |

A landscaping worker at the 90th percentile earns nearly twice one at the 10th. A single “average landscaper salary” headline flattens that into one misleading figure.

## Crew lead versus landscaper: the pay gap

The step from mowing the route to running the crew is worth checking against the same table. First-Line Supervisors of Landscaping, Lawn Service, and Groundskeeping Workers earned a $29.31 mean, $28.09 median hourly wage.

| Occupation | Employment | Hourly mean | Hourly median |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Landscaping and Groundskeeping Workers (37-3011) | 952,640 | $20.33 | $18.82 |
| First-Line Supervisors, Landscaping (37-1012) | 130,760 | $29.31 | $28.09 |

The gap runs about $9.27 an hour at the median, close to $19,280 a year: the premium for running the crew instead of working the route on it.

## Where landscapers earn the most

Geography moves a landscaping worker’s pay a lot. These are state hourly means, not the national figure scaled down.

| State | Hourly mean | Against national |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Washington, D.C. | $24.62 | plus $4.29 |
| Massachusetts | $24.30 | plus $3.97 |
| Washington | $23.62 | plus $3.29 |
| National | $20.33 | baseline |
| Mississippi | $16.12 | minus $4.21 |

Metro areas spread even wider: San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, California tops the list at $26.19 an hour.

## How to use these numbers to price your own rate

1. Anchor on the median, not the mean The median, $18.82 an hour, sits closer to a typical crew member’s pay. The mean gets pulled up by higher-paid workers.
2. Add back what OEWS leaves out This table prices the labor of working the route, not the business of owning the company. Layer in equipment, fuel, insurance, and margin.
3. Check it against your crew leads Compare your billed rate to the $28.09 supervisor median. If you sit close to it, you are pricing yourself like a crew worker, not an owner.
4. Bake the real rate into every estimate Labor time is a line item, not a rounding error folded into materials. Price it so it survives a client’s redline.

## SimplyWise Cost Estimator for pricing landscaping 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 crew time gets its own line instead of disappearing into the total. Send a branded quote the client signs to approve. $29.99/mo or $239.99/yr, about $20/mo annual, with a 7-day free trial.

## Keep reading

- How Much Do Roofers Make (https://www.simplywise.com/blog/how-much-do-roofers-make/): the same BLS approach, one trade over.
- Landscaping Cost (https://www.simplywise.com/blog/landscaping-cost/): what homeowners pay, not what crews earn.
- How to Start a Landscaping Business (https://www.simplywise.com/blog/how-to-start-a-landscaping-business/): the cost of the company behind the wage.
- Contractor Hourly Labor Rates by Trade (https://www.simplywise.com/blog/contractor-hourly-labor-rates-by-trade/): the same wage table, every crew role.

## Sources

### Federal wage data

- BLS OEWS, May 2025 national estimates, occupation 37-3011 “Landscaping and Groundskeeping Workers”: employment, mean, median, and percentile wages. Retrieved from the BLS special-request national workbook, bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm25nat.zip (https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm25nat.zip) (saved as national_M2025_dl.xlsx), verified 2026-09-25.
- BLS OEWS, May 2025, occupation 37-1012 “First-Line Supervisors of Landscaping, Lawn Service, and Groundskeeping Workers”: employment, mean, median. Same workbook, verified 2026-09-25.
- BLS OEWS, May 2025 state estimates, occupation 37-3011, hourly mean by state, from bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm25st.zip (https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm25st.zip), verified 2026-09-25.
- BLS OEWS, May 2025 metropolitan area estimates, occupation 37-3011, hourly mean by metro, from bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm25ma.zip (https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm25ma.zip), verified 2026-09-25.

### SimplyWise product facts

- SimplyWise Cost Estimator on the App Store (https://apps.apple.com/us/app/simplywise-cost-estimator/id6670619664), 4.8 rating, verified 2026-09-25.

## How much do landscapers make: common questions

### The wage number

**How much do landscapers make an hour?**

Landscaping and Groundskeeping Workers earned an $18.82 median and $20.33 mean hourly wage in May 2025 (BLS OEWS). The middle half of the occupation runs from $17.40 to $22.52 an hour.

**How much do landscapers make a year?**

Landscaping and Groundskeeping Workers earned a $39,150 median and $42,290 mean annual wage in the same release. The range runs from $31,150 at the 10th percentile to $56,730 at the 90th.

### What the number leaves out

**Does this wage include what a landscaper takes home as the business owner?**

No. OEWS excludes the self employed entirely. A landscaper who owns the company and draws profit, not a wage, does not appear in this table. Treat the figure as the labor floor for crew work, not the business ceiling.

**Which states pay landscapers the most?**

Washington, D.C. leads at a $24.62 hourly mean, with Massachusetts at $24.30. San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, California is the highest-paying metro at $26.19 an hour (BLS OEWS, May 2025).

### Pricing your own rate

**Can I measure a yard with my phone camera instead of a tape?**

Walk or wheel the yard and enter the dimensions. SimplyWise Cost Estimator then turns a job-site photo into an itemized estimate in about 6 seconds. On a Pro iPhone, the room scan captures measurements with LiDAR for enclosed spaces. Every line stays editable.

**Does SimplyWise Cost Estimator help me price crew labor into a bid?**

Yes. Draft estimates carry material, labor, and fee line items, each with a unit and price, so crew time gets its own visible line. Pricing is $29.99/mo or $239.99/yr, with a 7-day free trial.

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