Design bouquets, weddings and funeral flowers. Quick to start, with a Job Bank median of about $17 an hour.
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Pay, the path, pros and cons and the facts on one printable page. Counsellors: send it to a student from your own email in one click.
The median pay is about $36,000 a year. Across everyone in the job it runs from about $31,000 at the lower end to about $60,000 at the upper end. The source is listed under Sources at the end of this page.
Up to 2 years after high school, on the usual route.
From nothing up to about $6,100, depending on the route, for tuition, fees, exams and kit. Living costs are not counted.
No. There is no licence to hold, though many employers still ask for training or a certificate.
Moderate demand nationally, from government outlook data. Demand varies by region, so check your area.
Or read the whole thing here
What you earn and what it costs to get there.
Median
$36,000
Lower end
$31,000
Upper end
$60,000
Job Bank's national median is $17.31 an hour, about $36,000 a year full time. Job Bank groups florists with retail sales staff. Alberta's 2023 Wage and Salary Survey, on alis, puts the average for artisans and craftspersons, the wider group that includes floral designers, at $24.07 an hour. alis says earnings for shop owners vary widely.
$18.00 an hour
The median starting wage in Alberta's 2023 survey, about $37,000 a year
That survey covers artisans and craftspersons, the group that includes floral designers. alis says trainees in private flower shops may start at or just above minimum wage, which in Ontario is $17.95 an hour from 1 October 2026. Supermarket and department store floral staff are paid union rates.
$20.17 an hour
The median in Nunavut, the highest in Canada
The Northwest Territories and Yukon follow at $20.00. Among the provinces, British Columbia is highest at $18.72, Ontario's median is $17.95 and Saskatchewan's is the lowest, at $16.00.
Roughly, all in
Nothing to $6,100
Tuition, fees, exams and kit. Not rent, food or travel
The low end is zero because most florists learned in a shop rather than a classroom, and the shop supplies the knife, shears and wire cutters you use on the job. The high end is a college certificate, for example about five thousand seven hundred dollars at the University of the Fraser Valley, plus a one hundred fifty five dollar tool kit and around two hundred eighty dollars in textbooks. A short private program such as the three week course at the Canadian Institute of Floral Design in Toronto sits in the middle at about four thousand five hundred dollars including flowers and materials. This is one of the cheapest careers on this site to enter, and the pay reflects that.
This is one of the cheapest careers on this site to enter. Most florists learned in a shop, not a classroom.
Small shops
Usually no pension or health plan. You are a retail employee.
Grocery chain floral departments
Union rates, benefits and a schedule, but less creative freedom.
Staff discount on flowers
Own business
You set the prices and the hours. No benefits unless you buy them.
The exact path from high school to qualified.
There is no licence and no required school. Skill and a portfolio get you hired.
High school
Grades 11 and 12
Art and business courses help. Get a part-time job at a flower shop or grocery floral counter now, even just processing stems.
Learn the basics
3 weeks to 10 months
Either on the job, or a short program: 3 weeks at the Canadian Institute of Floral Design in Toronto, 8 months at Seneca, or 10 months part time at the University of the Fraser Valley. Seneca includes about 200 hours of work placement.
Junior designer
1 to 2 years
Conditioning flowers, wrapping bouquets, taking orders, deliveries. You learn the seasonal rush: Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, Christmas, wedding season.
Designer, then senior designer or owner
3 years and up
Weddings, funerals and corporate work. Some open a studio, some go into wholesale or event design.
Visual arts
Colour, shape and composition are the whole job.
Business or marketing
Most florists end up quoting, pricing and selling.
Biology
Knowing why flowers wilt keeps your stock alive longer.
English
You will talk to nervous couples and grieving families.
No province licenses florists. Anyone can call themselves a floral designer and open a shop. Job Bank lists no regulator for the job, and Alberta's career site describes it as unregulated. That makes it easy to start and hard to stand out, which is why a photo portfolio of your own work matters more than any certificate.
In Quebec the main school route is an 11 month public vocational diploma in floristry, with work placements built in.
Secondary V, or Secondary III at 16
From age 16
You need a high school diploma, or be 16 with Secondary III language, second language and math. There are no extra course prerequisites.
DEP (Diploma of Vocational Studies) in Fleuristerie (5376)
About 11 months
Floristry. 1,035 hours of symmetrical and asymmetrical designs, plant arrangements, event flowers, sales and customer service.
Where it is offered
At school service centres in nine regions, including Montréal, Laval, Capitale-Nationale, Montérégie and Estrie.
First job
After graduating
Florist shops and garden centres. With a few years of experience, some florists open their own shop.
The DEP (Diploma of Vocational Studies) in floristry at Fierbourg, Quebec City.
Fees vary by centre. Florists work many evenings, weekends and holidays.
Things you don't need, but that help.
Wedding and event design
Big budgets, big installations, weekend work.
Sympathy and funeral work
Steady year-round demand from funeral homes.
Wholesale and buying
Working for a flower importer or auction, more regular hours.
Teaching workshops
Evening classes and corporate team events.
A photo portfolio
Instagram is the florist's resume. Photograph everything you make.
Driver's licence
Deliveries are part of nearly every shop job.
Retail or customer service experience
Shops hire people who can sell.
Design competitions
Provincial florist associations run them. A win gets you noticed.
Day to day, pros and cons, where you'd work.
Early morning: unpack the wholesale delivery, cut and condition every stem into water. Then the order list: daily bouquets, a funeral spray, wedding centrepieces for Saturday. Between designs you serve walk-in customers, take phone orders and sweep up. Holidays mean 12-hour days. Wedding florists spend Friday building and Saturday setting up at the venue at dawn.
The good
The hard parts
Things people don't tell you.
Canadian greenhouses grew about 418 million cut flower stems in 2024. Half were tulips. Roses were under 1%, about 3.6 million stems, so most roses in a Canadian shop are imported.
Canada imported $222 million worth of cut flowers in 2024, about $67 million more than it exported. Colombia is one of the biggest suppliers of flowers and plants to Canada.
214 Canadian farms grew cut flowers in fields in 2024, up from 185 in 2020. Ontario and British Columbia make almost all of their sales.
Every list is built from the same numbers shown above, so you can see where this career sits next to the others.
Personal, food and outdoor trades first, then the rest of the field. See every career in skilled trades.
Last checked October 2026. Pay figures are typical full-time annual amounts in Canadian dollars, based on Government of Canada Job Bank wage data and published salary grids. They vary by province, employer and experience. Tuition is for domestic students. How every figure on this site is sourced and checked.
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