The Annual Salary of a Gardener
To keep foliage and fields looking their best in homes, schools, businesses and government offices, employers hire gardeners. These workers mow and fertilize lawns, spray pesticides, prune and shape trees, plant flowers and maintain their beds and remove dead leaves and other debris. Other popular names for the position include groundskeeper, caretaker, groundskeeping worker or landscaper.
The job requires no formal education because employers and more experienced workers can impart many of the necessary skills. Employers may prefer some postsecondary education in horticulture or landscape design for those in charge of large plots of land. Most states do require licensing if gardeners apply pesticides or other chemicals, which may mandate passing a test on how to use and dispose of the chemicals. Professional certification may make it easier to find jobs and increase initial salaries. The Bureau of Labor Statistics put the average wages of gardeners at $12.33 per hour, or $25,650 per year as of May 2011.
After many years of experience, gardeners may become supervisors in charge of all groundskeeping activities and of other maintenance workers, especially if they show good organization and management skills. Some postsecondary training in business or management may be needed at this point. The work may require negotiating contracts with customers, hiring and training workers, preparing estimates and purchasing machinery and supplies. Supervisors earned $21.71 per hour, or $45,160, which was far more than the people they supervised. However, pay could descend to $12.86 per hour or $26,750 per year, or go up to $33.53 per hour or $69,740 per year.
More than half of the 821,000 gardeners worked in building services, which are organizations devoted to providing landscaping services to businesses and homes that do not have their own gardeners. Pay here ran $11.92 per hour, or $24,800 per year. The highest wages were in the federal government, at a mean $22.21 per hour, or $46,190 per year. More than half of the supervisors also worked in building services, though with higher mean wages of $20.77 per hour, or $43,210 per year. Their best earnings were also with the federal government, at a mean $30.75 per hour, or $63,960 per year.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics sees jobs for gardeners growing at 20 percent from 2010 to 2020, which is faster than the 14 percent predicted for all occupations in the country, and even greater than the 12 percent rate for all building and grounds maintenance personnel. More large institutions, such as corporate headquarters, are requiring these services. An aging and increasingly busy population also has less time for yard work. Job opportunities will be best in temperate climates, where gardeners can work year-round, instead of taking the winter off as in the Northeast or Midwest.
- Bureau of Labor Statistics: Groundskeepers and Gardeners Occupation Classification System Manual
- Bureau of Labor Statistics: How to Become a Grounds Maintenance Worker
- Bureau of Labor Statistics: Landscaping and Groundskeeping Workers Wages
- Bureau of Labor Statistics: Supervisors of Groundskeeping Workers Wages
- Bureau of Labor Statistics: Grounds Maintenance Workers Job Outlook
Aurelio Locsin has been writing professionally since 1982. He published his first book in 1996 and is a frequent contributor to many online publications, specializing in consumer, business and technical topics. Locsin holds a Bachelor of Arts in scientific and technical communications from the University of Washington.