Climb, prune and take down trees for a living. You can start the week after high school and learn on a rope.
Click through it
Pay, the path, pros and cons and the facts on one printable page. Good for a wall or a guidance counsellor.
Or read the whole thing here
What you earn and what it costs to get there.
Climber
$50,960
Ground worker
$37,940
Crew lead or utility
$80,310
The national median is $50,960 a year, and the bottom tenth start near $37,940. The federal wage survey counts tree trimmers and pruners as one group, so it mixes new ground crew in with certified climbing arborists.
About $18 to $21 an hour
Dragging brush, feeding the chipper, learning the ropes
The bottom tenth of the trade earns about $37,940 a year, which is roughly $18 an hour full time. Pay climbs fast once you can climb and run a saw aloft.
$80,310 a year
Experienced climbers, crew leads and power line clearance
Clearing trees away from power lines pays the best in this trade because the work is technical and the utility is on a deadline. Storm season brings heavy overtime.
Tuition, fees, exams and kit. Not rent, food or travel
The low end is getting hired as a ground worker with a high school diploma and buying a little of your own gear, since many employers supply part of the climbing kit. The high end is a one year community college arboriculture certificate, your own saddle, ropes, helmet, chaps and boots, and the Certified Arborist exam through the International Society of Arboriculture. Almost nobody borrows money for this work, and most of what you spend goes on gear you keep. The certification is what lifts your pay, not the college course.
This is one of the cheapest skilled paths in the country. Almost nobody borrows money for it, and most of what you spend goes on gear you keep.
Gear and truck provided
Saws, chippers and the bucket truck belong to the company.
Storm overtime
After a hurricane or ice storm crews work long paid days for weeks.
Paid training
Good employers pay for climbing school, exams and safety courses.
Health insurance at bigger firms
Small two-person outfits often have none, so ask early.
Union work on some power line crews
Line clearance crews for utilities are sometimes organized by the electrical workers' union.
The exact path from high school to qualified.
Nobody starts in a tree. You start on the ground and earn your way up the rope.
Finish high school
Grade 12
A diploma is all most tree companies ask for. Get a driver's license while you are at it.
Get hired as a ground worker
Start right away
Dragging brush, feeding the chipper, rigging knots, learning how a tree comes apart safely.
Learn to climb
6 months to 2 years
Rope and saddle work under a senior climber, then chainsaw work off the ground. Some companies send you to a climbing school.
Earn the Certified Arborist credential
About year 3
The International Society of Arboriculture asks for about three years of full-time tree care experience, less if you hold a degree in arboriculture or forestry, then a written exam.
Specialize or lead
Year 4 and up
Take a crew, move into power line clearance, add tree risk assessment work, or start your own company.
Biology
You are treating a living thing. Tree health questions are a big part of the certification exam.
Geometry
Rigging is angles and loads. Getting it wrong drops a limb on a roof.
Shop or small engines
Chainsaws need constant sharpening and tuning.
Physical education
Climbing is pull-ups all day. Grip and core strength decide how long you last.
There is no national arborist license in the United States. In most states anyone can start a tree company, which is exactly why the certification matters to customers. A few states do license the work: Connecticut licenses arborists and Maryland licenses tree experts, both by exam. Two rules apply everywhere. If you spray pesticides you need a state pesticide applicator license from your state department of agriculture. If you drive a bigger chip truck you need a CDL (commercial driver's license). Federal safety rules from OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) cover climbing, chippers and work near power lines.
On the job
Still the most common route by a wide margin.
Community college certificates in arboriculture or urban forestry
One year or less, offered by technical colleges in most states.
State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry
Forestry degrees plus The Ranger School, a field campus in northern New York.
Registered apprenticeships
Tree care apprenticeships are listed on apprenticeship.gov, the United States Department of Labor site. You are paid the whole time and finish with a national credential.
Things you don't need, but that help.
Certified Arborist
The base credential from the ISA (International Society of Arboriculture) and the one customers look for.
Certified Tree Climber
Proves you can work aloft safely. Judged in a real tree, not on paper.
Certified Arborist Utility Specialist
For crews clearing trees away from power lines, where the money is.
Board Certified Master Arborist
The top credential in the trade. Years of experience plus a long exam.
Tree Risk Assessment Qualification
Lets you write the reports cities and insurers pay well for.
CDL (commercial driver's license)
Opens up chip trucks and bucket trucks, and usually a raise.
CPR and first aid
Aerial rescue training too. A hurt climber has to come down fast.
Crane and aerial lift training
Big removals are crane jobs now, and few climbers are trained for them.
Pesticide applicator license
Lets you do plant health care work, which is steady and less brutal on the body.
A truck, a chipper and a saw set is a real business, and plenty of arborists go out on their own by their late twenties. The catch is insurance. General liability for tree work is expensive because the claims are expensive, and a dropped limb on a house can end an uninsured company in one afternoon. Get certified, get insured, and keep photos of everything you do.
Day to day, pros and cons, where you'd work.
Meet at the yard around 7am, load gear, drive to the job. Walk the site and pick the drop zones. One person climbs, two work the ground running ropes and the chipper. Big limbs come down on rigging so they do not hit the fence. Lunch in the truck. Rake and blow the yard clean before you leave, because the cleanup is what the customer remembers. Two or three jobs a day in season, more emergency calls after a storm.
The good
The hard parts
Things people don't tell you.
Falls, chainsaw cuts and contact with power lines make tree care one of the highest injury and death rates of any job in the United States. The Tree Care Industry Association runs an entire safety institute just for this trade, which tells you how seriously the industry takes it.
A coast redwood nicknamed Hyperion, in Redwood National Park, stands about 380 feet tall. Climbers with rope and tape measured it. The park keeps its exact location quiet to protect it.
Large American cities keep an inventory of every street tree and hire a city forester to look after them, because street trees cool pavement, soak up storm water and lift property values. That is a steady government job with a pension at the end of it.
People expect the Certified Arborist test to be about cutting. Most of it is tree biology, soil, pruning science, diagnosis and safety standards. Climbers who never opened the study manual tend to fail it.
Last checked September 2026. Pay figures are typical full-time annual amounts in United States dollars, based on Bureau of Labor Statistics wage data and published pay scales. They vary by state, employer and experience. Tuition is for in-state students at public schools unless the card says otherwise.