What a Landscaper Earns in Your State: BLS 2025 Wages for Landscaping and Groundskeeping Workers, State by State and City by City

Infographic: the median annual wage for landscaping and groundskeeping workers was 48,670 dollars in Massachusetts, 39,150 dollars nationally, and 31,630 dollars in Mississippi, according to 2025 Bureau of Labor Statistics wage data.

Boston: $49,030 a year. Houston: $36,280.

That is the median pay for landscaping and groundskeeping workers in each metro area, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' 2025 wage data. Same job title, same mowers, a gap of almost $13,000 a year per person.

Equip Expo is over, the season is winding down, and this is when most owners start thinking about next year: who comes back, what to pay new hires, and what to charge. All three start with the same number, what the job pays where you are. Here it is for every state.

The National Number

Across the U.S., the median annual wage for landscaping and groundskeeping workers was $39,150, about $18.82 an hour on a full-time year. One in four earned $36,190 or less, and one in four earned $46,830 or more. The bottom 10 percent earned $31,150 or less, and the top 10 percent earned $56,730 or more (BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, 2025 wage data).

Those are wages for the occupation, the people doing the mowing, planting, trimming, and cleanup. They do not include benefits, payroll taxes, or overtime premiums.

Every State, Highest to Lowest

Median annual wage for landscaping and groundskeeping workers, by state (BLS OEWS, 2025 wage data):

1. District of Columbia: $48,790
2. Massachusetts: $48,670
3. Alaska: $47,690
4. Washington: $46,950
5. Minnesota: $46,610
6. Vermont: $46,230
7. Maine: $45,970
8. Hawaii: $45,920
9. Colorado: $45,760
10. Connecticut: $45,740
11. California: $45,560
12. Montana: $45,350
13. Oregon: $45,040
14. New Hampshire: $44,890
15. New York: $44,840
16. Rhode Island: $44,730
17. Illinois: $43,790
18. Idaho: $41,600
19. New Jersey: $41,360
20. Wisconsin: $41,230
21. North Dakota: $40,790
22. Utah: $40,740
23. Pennsylvania: $39,500
24. Maryland: $39,380
25. Kansas: $39,330
26. Nebraska: $39,140
27. Iowa: $38,920
28. Arizona: $38,910
29. Nevada: $38,820
30. Missouri: $38,520
31. Virginia: $38,410
32. Wyoming: $38,310
33. Ohio: $38,220
34. Michigan: $38,120
35. Indiana: $38,070
36. Georgia: $37,970
37. North Carolina: $37,910
38. New Mexico: $37,560
39. Delaware: $37,350
40. Florida: $37,100
41. Tennessee: $37,020
42. Texas: $36,740
43. South Carolina: $36,710
44. Kentucky: $36,670
45. Arkansas: $35,770
46. Oklahoma: $35,770
47. Alabama: $35,630
48. South Dakota: $35,370
49. Louisiana: $34,870
50. West Virginia: $32,240
51. Mississippi: $31,630

The spread is $17,040 a year between Massachusetts, the highest-paying state, and Mississippi, the lowest. Washington, D.C., which is not a state, is slightly higher than Massachusetts.

Twelve Big Metros

Metro areas can differ from their state averages, especially around big cities. Median annual wage for landscaping and groundskeeping workers (BLS OEWS, 2025 wage data):

Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH: $49,030
Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA: $48,480
Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI: $47,160
Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO: $46,270
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN: $45,280
Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ: $39,140
Columbus, OH: $39,100
Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC: $38,630
Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA: $38,500
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX: $37,680
Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL: $37,430
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX: $36,280

Why This Is Lower Than $27.71

If you have read our recent posts, you have seen a different number: $27.71 an hour, the August 2026 average for production and nonsupervisory employees in landscaping services (BLS Current Employment Statistics, preliminary). Both come from BLS. They measure different things.

The $27.71 figure is an average across everyone in the landscaping services industry in production and nonsupervisory jobs, from crew members to equipment operators and irrigation techs, and it includes overtime premium pay. The numbers on this page are medians for one occupation, landscaping and groundskeeping workers, across every industry that employs them, such as golf courses and property management, not just landscaping companies.

Use this page to set pay for a crew member. Use the industry average to think about your total labor cost per hour, along with benefits and payroll taxes.

What to Do With Your Number

1. Find where your crew pay sits. Compare what you pay with your state's median and with the national quartiles. If your experienced people are below your state's median, expect to lose some of them to the company down the road this winter.

2. Set new-hire pay before spring. The best people get hired in February and March. Decide your starting rate now, not when the first applicant asks.

3. Know your H-2B wage floor. If you use H-2B workers, the required wage is generally based on the BLS mean wage for the occupation in your area, which is a different number from the medians here. See H-2B for the 2027 Season: The Clock Starts Now.

4. Price from your real labor cost. Wages are only part of what an hour costs you. Run your numbers in the Labor Burden Calculator.

5. Make every paid hour count. The higher your local wage, the more each hour of drive time, yard time, and waiting costs. See You're Paying for 41 Hours a Week. How Many Are You Billing?

Where Alertrax Fits

You cannot change what the job pays in your state. You can change how many of the hours you pay for end up on an invoice. Alertrax shows you where every crew hour goes, automatically.

Automatic Time-on-Site Logging: Every arrival and departure at every property is timestamped, so you can compare time on site with time billed.
Trip Reports You Can Export: Start time, stop time, addresses visited, duration, and distance for every truck, in a table you can put beside the timesheet.
AddressFence: Set the yard as an address and see exactly when each crew rolled out and came back.
Live Fleet Map: Every tracked truck and trailer on one map in the Alertrax Fleet Portal, with location updates as often as every 2 minutes while moving.
No Wiring Required: Two AA batteries, mounts in minutes on trucks, trailers, and mowers.
iOS and Android App: Check the map and the day's history from your phone.

Pricing

You can equip your fleet with Alertrax for a low monthly rate, no long-term contracts, no hidden fees.

(Want to own it outright? We offer a $599 Lifetime option for permanent, subscription-free tracking.)

Sources

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), 2025 wage data, Landscaping and Groundskeeping Workers (SOC 37-3011), annual wages at the 10th, 25th, 50th (median), 75th, and 90th percentiles for the United States, each state, the District of Columbia, and selected metropolitan areas, retrieved October 2026 through O*NET OnLine, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration. Hourly figures are annual wages divided by 2,080 hours
BLS, Current Employment Statistics, Landscaping Services (NAICS 56173), not seasonally adjusted, series CEU6056173008, retrieved October 2026: average hourly earnings of production and nonsupervisory employees of $27.71 in August 2026 (preliminary)

This article is provided for general informational purposes and is not legal, payroll, or financial advice. BLS wage figures are statewide or metro area medians and may not reflect wages in your local market, for your specific positions, or for experienced crew members. Minimum wage and prevailing wage laws vary by state and program. Talk to your payroll provider or an employment attorney before setting pay policies.

Know the Number Before Spring

Next year's hiring, raises, and prices all start with what the job pays where you are. Now you have it.

Visit www.buyalertrax.com today and make every paid crew hour count.