Grow Your Business
Two mowing crews doing identical work can sit more than $8 an hour apart on payroll, depending only on the state they work in. Landscaping and groundskeeping workers earned a national median of $18.82 an hour in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey published in 2026. State medians ran from $15.21 in Mississippi to $23.40 in Massachusetts. This landscaper salary by state reference puts the BLS figures for all 50 states and DC in one table, adds crew leader pay, and turns wages into the loaded labor cost an owner actually carries. Whether you run your routes on lawn care software or a whiteboard, these numbers are the floor under every hiring offer and every per-visit price.
Landscaper salary by state: the full 2026 table
The landscaper salary by state table below lists May 2025 BLS estimates for Landscaping and Groundskeeping Workers, occupation code 37-3011, which covers mowing crews, bed maintenance workers and install laborers. Each row shows how many people hold that job in the state, the median hourly wage, the mean hourly wage and the mean annual wage. For a starting offer, use the median: half of workers earn more and half earn less. The mean runs higher because long-tenured crew members and year-round commercial grounds jobs pull it up. Nationally the median is $18.82 and the mean is $20.33, a gap of $1.51 an hour. The annual column assumes 2,080 paid hours, and few seasonal lawn employees get anywhere near that. Plan with the hourly columns, and treat the annual figure as a ceiling for the few staff you keep on all year.
| State | Employment | Median hourly | Mean hourly | Mean annual |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | 12,020 | $17.13 | $17.36 | $36,100 |
| Alaska | 1,080 | $22.93 | $22.73 | $47,280 |
| Arizona | 22,450 | $18.71 | $19.98 | $41,560 |
| Arkansas | 6,610 | $17.20 | $17.34 | $36,070 |
| California | 106,180 | $21.90 | $22.80 | $47,420 |
| Colorado | 21,990 | $22.00 | $22.52 | $46,840 |
| Connecticut | 13,490 | $21.99 | $22.15 | $46,060 |
| Delaware | 4,130 | $17.96 | $19.08 | $39,680 |
| District of Columbia | 800 | $23.46 | $24.62 | $51,200 |
| Florida | 86,040 | $17.84 | $18.80 | $39,110 |
| Georgia | 25,510 | $18.25 | $18.51 | $38,500 |
| Hawaii | 7,040 | $22.08 | $21.60 | $44,940 |
| Idaho | 7,980 | $20.00 | $20.58 | $42,810 |
| Illinois | 34,780 | $21.05 | $21.54 | $44,800 |
| Indiana | 19,260 | $18.30 | $19.24 | $40,020 |
| Iowa | 8,800 | $18.71 | $19.84 | $41,260 |
| Kansas | 9,480 | $18.91 | $19.49 | $40,530 |
| Kentucky | 8,920 | $17.63 | $18.34 | $38,140 |
| Louisiana | 8,510 | $16.76 | $16.42 | $34,150 |
| Maine | 6,410 | $22.10 | $21.70 | $45,140 |
| Maryland | 17,440 | $18.93 | $20.86 | $43,400 |
| Massachusetts | 22,880 | $23.40 | $24.30 | $50,540 |
| Michigan | 32,330 | $18.33 | $19.49 | $40,550 |
| Minnesota | 17,610 | $22.41 | $22.21 | $46,200 |
| Mississippi | 4,940 | $15.21 | $16.12 | $33,520 |
| Missouri | 18,310 | $18.52 | $19.56 | $40,690 |
| Montana | 4,270 | $21.80 | $21.90 | $45,550 |
| Nebraska | 7,280 | $18.82 | $20.36 | $42,340 |
| Nevada | 9,980 | $18.66 | $20.92 | $43,520 |
| New Hampshire | 6,050 | $21.58 | $21.98 | $45,710 |
| New Jersey | 30,470 | $19.88 | $20.82 | $43,310 |
| New Mexico | 5,030 | $18.06 | $19.07 | $39,660 |
| New York | 47,600 | $21.56 | $21.93 | $45,620 |
| North Carolina | 32,730 | $18.22 | $19.04 | $39,600 |
| North Dakota | 2,100 | $19.61 | $21.04 | $43,750 |
| Ohio | 34,420 | $18.38 | $19.18 | $39,890 |
| Oklahoma | 9,280 | $17.20 | $17.43 | $36,250 |
| Oregon | 11,870 | $21.65 | $22.04 | $45,840 |
| Pennsylvania | 34,850 | $18.99 | $19.95 | $41,490 |
| Rhode Island | 4,040 | $21.51 | $21.82 | $45,390 |
| South Carolina | 15,600 | $17.65 | $18.04 | $37,520 |
| South Dakota | 2,980 | $17.01 | $17.60 | $36,600 |
| Tennessee | 18,250 | $17.80 | $18.56 | $38,600 |
| Texas | 63,430 | $17.66 | $18.27 | $37,990 |
| Utah | 12,850 | $19.59 | $20.58 | $42,800 |
| Vermont | 2,700 | $22.23 | $22.76 | $47,340 |
| Virginia | 25,180 | $18.46 | $19.60 | $40,770 |
| Washington | 22,550 | $22.57 | $23.62 | $49,130 |
| West Virginia | 3,340 | $15.50 | $16.29 | $33,870 |
| Wisconsin | 18,970 | $19.82 | $20.55 | $42,740 |
| Wyoming | 1,790 | $18.42 | $18.82 | $39,140 |
| United States | 952,640 | $18.82 | $20.33 | $42,290 |
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025 estimates published in 2026, occupation code 37-3011 Landscaping and Groundskeeping Workers. Mean annual assumes 2,080 paid hours.
A wage table tells you what an hour of labor costs. How many of those hours land on a customer's lawn comes out of your service scheduling software, not a government survey.
Compare your state's median to what you pay today. If you are well under it, expect to lose people in midsummer.
Which states pay landscapers the most and least?
Massachusetts pays landscapers the most of any state, with a May 2025 median of $23.40 an hour, followed by Alaska at $22.93, Washington at $22.57, Minnesota at $22.41 and Vermont at $22.23, according to BLS OEWS data. The District of Columbia is higher still at $23.46, though it employs only 800 landscaping workers. At the bottom are Mississippi at $15.21, West Virginia at $15.50, Louisiana at $16.76, South Dakota at $17.01 and Alabama at $17.13. The gap between the top and bottom state is $8.19 an hour. Put another way, a Massachusetts crew member costs about 54% more per hour than one in Mississippi, before any payroll taxes or benefits. A per-visit rate built on Mississippi wages will lose money in Massachusetts. State medians also hide metro differences, so treat them as a floor for city markets.
Where the top wages cluster
Eight of the ten highest state medians sit in New England, Washington, Minnesota, Alaska and Hawaii. Those are mostly places with short mowing seasons or high living costs, and often both. The other two are Colorado at $22.00 and California at $21.90. California is also the largest landscaping labor market, with 106,180 workers.
Sun Belt markets pay less per hour but employ far more people: Florida has 86,040 landscaping workers at a $17.84 median, and Texas has 63,430 at $17.66. A longer season can still mean a bigger annual payroll per worker.
Where landscapers are most concentrated
BLS also reports how many landscaping jobs exist per 1,000 jobs of all kinds. Hawaii leads at 11.2, followed by Maine at 10.0, Idaho at 9.3, Vermont at 8.9, New Hampshire at 8.8 and Florida at 8.7.
High concentration means more people to hire and more competitors bidding for them and your clients. Owners there do well to keep gate codes and renewal dates in a field service crm for small business, not a crew leader's head, so a resignation does not take the account with it.
Benchmark against your state's median, not the national one.
Ready to level up your business?
Try Bella FSM free and transform the way you work.
How much more do lawn care crew leaders make?
Lawn care crew leaders earn about $9.27 an hour more than the workers they supervise. The BLS OEWS May 2025 national median for First-Line Supervisors of Landscaping, Lawn Service, and Groundskeeping Workers (code 37-1012) was $28.09, compared with $18.82 for landscaping workers, a premium of roughly 49%. That supervisor code covers the working foreman on a mowing route as well as the account-level manager at a large commercial grounds firm, so a small residential company may reasonably pay its leaders somewhere between the two medians. The premium varies a lot by state. Among the ten largest landscaping labor markets it runs from $4.60 in Illinois to $13.09 in New Jersey. Where the premium is thin, good workers have little reason to take on a truck, a crew and a client list. Where it is wide, promoting from within is worth a hard look, because an outside hire comes with no track record on your routes.
| State | Worker median | Crew leader median | Premium per hour |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | $21.90 | $30.42 | $8.52 |
| Florida | $17.84 | $24.66 | $6.82 |
| Texas | $17.66 | $22.90 | $5.24 |
| New York | $21.56 | $34.02 | $12.46 |
| Pennsylvania | $18.99 | $26.66 | $7.67 |
| Illinois | $21.05 | $25.65 | $4.60 |
| Ohio | $18.38 | $26.77 | $8.39 |
| North Carolina | $18.22 | $27.37 | $9.15 |
| Michigan | $18.33 | $28.29 | $9.96 |
| New Jersey | $19.88 | $32.97 | $13.09 |
| United States | $18.82 | $28.09 | $9.27 |
Source: BLS OEWS May 2025, codes 37-3011 (workers) and 37-1012 (First-Line Supervisors of Landscaping, Lawn Service, and Groundskeeping Workers). The ten states shown employ the most landscaping workers.
A crew leader earns the premium by taking work off the owner's desk. Most lawn care business software puts property notes and the day's checklist on the leader's phone, so the extra $9 buys quality control instead of phone calls.
Leaders also close out the day. When each visit is marked complete in the field and your field service invoicing software turns it into an invoice that evening, you get paid in days rather than weeks, which matters in spring when payroll climbs fastest.
Set leader pay from your state's premium, and write down what the role owns.
Chart: Median hourly landscaper wage, five highest and five lowest states versus the U.S. median. Source: BLS OEWS, May 2025. Chart may be embedded with attribution to Bella FSM and a link to this page.
What does a landscaping employee really cost per hour?
The loaded labor cost formula
A landscaping employee costs about 30% more than their hourly wage once benefits and payroll taxes are counted. The BLS Employer Costs for Employee Compensation release for June 2026 shows private-industry service occupations, the group that includes grounds maintenance, cost employers $5.47 in benefits for every $18.26 in wages, which works out to 30 cents per wage dollar. Legally required benefits alone (Social Security, Medicare, unemployment insurance and workers' compensation) came to $2.08 of that, or about 11 cents per wage dollar. The working formula is simple: loaded hourly cost equals the hourly wage multiplied by 1.30. At the national median of $18.82, a landscaping worker costs $24.47 an hour. A small company that offers no health plan and little paid leave will land closer to 1.11 than 1.30. Workers' compensation for landscape crews is priced by class code and state, though, so check your own policy before you pick the lower number.
| State | Worker median wage | Worker loaded cost | Crew leader loaded cost | Two-person crew per hour |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| California | $21.90 | $28.47 | $39.55 | $68.02 |
| Florida | $17.84 | $23.19 | $32.06 | $55.25 |
| Texas | $17.66 | $22.96 | $29.77 | $52.73 |
| New York | $21.56 | $28.03 | $44.23 | $72.25 |
| Pennsylvania | $18.99 | $24.69 | $34.66 | $59.34 |
| Illinois | $21.05 | $27.37 | $33.34 | $60.71 |
| Ohio | $18.38 | $23.89 | $34.80 | $58.70 |
| North Carolina | $18.22 | $23.69 | $35.58 | $59.27 |
| Michigan | $18.33 | $23.83 | $36.78 | $60.61 |
| New Jersey | $19.88 | $25.84 | $42.86 | $68.70 |
| United States | $18.82 | $24.47 | $36.52 | $60.98 |
Source: Bella FSM calculation, 2026, using BLS OEWS May 2025 median wages (37-3011 and 37-1012) multiplied by 1.30, the benefit-to-wage ratio for private-industry service occupations in the BLS Employer Costs for Employee Compensation release for June 2026.
A two-person crew (leader plus worker) costs $60.98 per clock hour at national medians and $72.25 in New York.
From paid hours to billable hours
Customers only pay for time on their property. As an illustration (not a benchmark), if a crew spends 80% of its paid day on properties, that $60.98 crew hour becomes $76.23 per billable hour.
Drive time is the unbilled time you can most directly control, and our guide to lawn care route optimization covers stop order and neighborhood grouping. Every minute cut from windshield time goes back into billable time.
To replace the 80% assumption with a real figure, a mobile field service app with clock-in and job timers shows paid hours next to on-property hours for each crew. Review that split every week.
Then run your wage, burden and utilization through the labor rate calculator for the minimum rate a crew must earn. Price from that loaded, utilization-adjusted crew hour, never from the wage.
Ready to take your business further?
Start using Bella FSM free and work smarter.
Using wage benchmarks to staff the lawn care season
The BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook projects grounds maintenance employment to grow 5% from 2025 to 2035, with about 162,500 openings a year, most of them replacing workers who leave the field.
Seasonal guest workers help some owners, but Congress caps the H-2B program at 66,000 visas per fiscal year, according to USCIS, and landscaping shares that cap with hotels and seafood processors. Treat H-2B as a supplement to local hiring.
Before you commit to spring renewals, lay next season's route volume against the crews you can hire at your state's median. Field service scheduling software that shows weekly crew capacity makes it obvious when you have sold more mowing than your people can cover.
Keeping good people is the other half. A record of which crew serviced which property, and which clients complained, lets you match your best people to your best accounts, and a field service crm keeps that history where a May hire can find it.
When wages rise, prices have to follow. Check the per-visit rates in our lawn care pricing chart against the loaded crew hour above before you send renewal letters.
Plan crew count from the wages you can afford, then sell routes to fit.
Methodology and sources
Wage figures come from the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics program (May 2025 reference period, published 2026), retrieved from the BLS OEWS data tool in September 2026. Workers are code 37-3011; crew leaders are code 37-1012. Figures are cross-industry and exclude the self-employed, because OEWS surveys employers only.
The 1.30 multiplier is the benefit-to-wage ratio for private-industry service occupations in the BLS Employer Costs for Employee Compensation release for June 2026 (published September 9, 2026). Outlook figures come from the BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, whose broader grounds maintenance group explains its $19.27 median versus our $18.82. The H-2B cap comes from USCIS. The 80% on-property share is illustrative only.
This page will be reviewed in spring 2027, when BLS publishes the May 2026 estimates.
Media & citation: data on this page may be cited with attribution to Bella FSM and a link to this page.
Frequently Asked Questions
Putting landscaper salary by state data to work
Use the landscaper salary by state figures for three decisions: hiring offers from your state's median, promotions from its crew leader premium, and prices from a loaded crew hour of about 1.30 times wages. Then measure how much of each paid hour reaches a customer's lawn. When finished visits flow into field service billing software the same day, cash keeps pace with payroll. Bella FSM keeps crews, routes, time on site and invoices in one system, so you can check real labor cost against these benchmarks every week. Start a free trial and see what your crew hour really costs.
Ready to grow your business?
Try Bella FSM free and simplify your work.
