Build and keep the planted world: lawns, gardens, ball fields and street trees. You can start the week after high school.
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Pay, the path, pros and cons and the facts on one printable page. Good for a wall or a guidance counsellor.
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What you earn and what it costs to get there.
Typical
$39,150
New crew member
$31,150
Crew leader or head groundskeeper
$56,730
The federal wage survey counts this as Landscaping and Groundskeeping Workers, which lumps the skilled horticulturist in with the person pushing a mower. The median is $39,150 a year, about $18.82 an hour, and the bottom tenth are near $31,150. Owners and certified specialists earn above the published top.
$15 to $18 an hour
First season on a crew, no experience needed
You can be earning this within a week of finishing high school. In much of the country the work is seasonal, so a full year of hours is not guaranteed unless the company also does snow clearing or indoor work.
$50,000 to $70,000
Golf course superintendents, head groundskeepers and crew supervisors
The jump comes from three things: a pesticide applicator license, a horticulture degree, or owning the truck. Sports turf and golf are where the qualified money is.
Tuition, fees, exams and kit. Not rent, food or travel
This is one of the very few jobs here with no tuition attached: the low end is starting on a crew straight out of high school and learning the work in weeks. The high end is a two year community college horticulture or turf program plus a state pesticide applicator licence, which many employers want for spraying work. A truck, trailer and mowers cost far more than either figure, but that is the price of starting your own company, not the price of entering the trade.
This is one of the very few careers on this site with no required tuition. If you do take a horticulture degree, file the Free Application for Federal Student Aid first, because Pell Grants often cover community college tuition outright.
Hourly, seasonal
The default. Long hours and overtime in spring and summer, short or no hours in deep winter.
Year-round grounds staff
Schools, universities, hospitals and cities keep crews all year with benefits and often a pension.
Golf and sports turf
Early starts, high standards, better pay, and a clear ladder up to superintendent.
Owning the company
A two-truck maintenance business is a realistic goal by your late twenties, and it is where the real money in this field is.
The exact path from high school to qualified.
There is no school you have to attend. What separates a career from a summer job is what you add after the first season.
High school
Grade 12
Biology and any agriculture or shop class. A driver's license matters more than your transcript here.
First season on a crew
1 season
Mowing, edging, planting, mulching, irrigation repair. You will learn the equipment, the plants and how fast is fast enough.
Add a license or a credential
A few months, part time
A state pesticide applicator license is the single most valuable one. The Landscape Industry Certified Technician credential from the National Association of Landscape Professionals tests installation, maintenance and irrigation skills and is offered in English and Spanish.
Horticulture or turf degree, if you want the supervisor jobs
2 years
A two-year community college program in horticulture, turfgrass or landscape management. Golf superintendents and campus grounds managers usually have one.
Lead, specialize or own
3 to 8 years in
Crew leader, irrigation specialist, arborist, designer or business owner. Every one of these pays more than the crew.
Biology
Plants, soil and pests are the science of the job.
Agriculture or greenhouse class
If your school has one, take it. Some run a school greenhouse you can work in.
Shop and small engines
Mowers, trimmers and blowers break constantly. Fixing them yourself is valuable.
Business math
If you ever want to quote a job, this is the class that pays for itself.
Anyone can start a landscaping company in most of the United States. The exceptions matter, though. Applying pesticides commercially requires a license from your state department of agriculture in every state, and using them without one carries real fines. Some states and many cities also require a contractor registration, a business license or an irrigation contractor license before you can install systems that connect to the water supply. Check your state department of agriculture and your city before you take money for either.
On a crew
Still the main route. Federal data says training runs from a few days to about a year on the job.
Community college horticulture programs
Two years, cheap, and the usual qualification for golf and campus grounds supervisors.
Registered apprenticeships
Some large landscape and grounds employers run registered programs where you earn a wage the whole time. Search the federal apprenticeship job finder for openings near you.
Things you don't need, but that help.
State pesticide applicator license
The clearest single pay bump in this field, and it makes you harder to replace.
Landscape Industry Certified Technician
A hands-on national credential in softscape, hardscape and irrigation.
Irrigation certification
Backflow prevention and system design work is licensed in many places and paid accordingly.
Arborist certification
Tree work is the best paid corner of this world, and also the most dangerous.
Equipment tickets
Skid steer, compact excavator and chainsaw training turn a laborer into a machine operator.
A clean driver's license
Nearly every crew job requires one. A commercial driver's license for towing helps more.
Spanish or English as a second language
Much of this industry works in both, and bilingual crew leaders get promoted.
Plant identification
Knowing 100 plants by sight moves you off the mower and onto the planting crew.
Tolerance for weather
Federal data says 65 percent of people in this job work outdoors in all conditions every single day.
This is a field where starting your own business is normal rather than exceptional. Maintenance contracts give you predictable monthly money, and the equipment to begin costs less than a year of college. The hard parts are the ones nobody sees: quoting jobs so you actually make a profit, getting paid on time, insurance, and finding people who show up. Work for a good owner for three or four years first and watch how they handle all four.
Day to day, pros and cons, where you'd work.
You start early, often before 7am in summer to beat the heat. Load the trailer, check fuel and blades, and drive to the first property. Then a route: mow, edge, blow, trim, check the irrigation, pull what does not belong. Lunch in the truck. Afternoons might be a planting job, a mulch delivery or a repair to a broken sprinkler zone. In the fall it is leaves and cleanups, in winter it is snow or pruning or nothing at all, depending on where you live.
The good
The hard parts
Things people don't tell you.
About 1,192,500 people work in landscaping and groundskeeping in the United States, with roughly 158,200 openings a year. Very few careers have that much churn, which is why getting hired is easy and standing out is the hard part.
A golf course superintendent manages soil chemistry, irrigation, disease and mowing heights measured in fractions of an inch. It is a horticulture and management job with a degree behind it, and it pays far above the crew rate.
You can mow a lawn for money in most of the country with no paperwork at all. The moment you spray a commercial pesticide you need a license from your state department of agriculture, and inspectors do check.
Asked how often they work outside in all weather, 65 percent of people in this job said every day. There is no version of this career where you sit at a desk in January.
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.