How to become a landscaper

How to become a landscaper, step by step

1. Get hired on a lawn or landscape crew. Most entry jobs have no education requirement, though some employers prefer a high school diploma.
2. Learn planting, upkeep and the equipment on the job: mowers, trimmers, leaf blowers and small tractors.
3. If you will spray, get your state's pesticide applicator license. Applicator training can take up to a year.
4. Study landscape design, horticulture or arboriculture if you want to design jobs, not just maintain them.
5. Move up to crew leader, or check your state's contractor rules and start your own landscaping company.

Apprenticeship and on-the-job training

Grounds maintenance work is learned on the job, usually in 1 month or less. Pesticide sprayers, handlers and applicators may need more training, up to 1 year.

Large employers such as golf courses, universities and cities may add classes in horticulture, arboriculture, tree climbing or small engine repair.

Find registered openings near you in the Apprenticeship Job Finder. In each state page below, we note whether the state runs its own apprenticeship agency or works through the U.S. Department of Labor.

Trade school and other ways in

On the job. Most landscapers learn from the crew. The basics of planting, mowing and equipment come first.

Horticulture and design courses. Courses in landscape design, horticulture or arboriculture help if you want to design and sell bigger jobs.

Licenses and exams

Most states require a license to apply pesticides, usually after an exam on the proper use and disposal of insecticides, herbicides and fungicides. Rules for handling fertilizer vary by state.

A few states license landscape or irrigation contractors, others fold it into a contractor law. The state rows below show the ones we have checked.

Of the 31 states we have checked against the official boards, 10 require a state landscaping license, 18 license only part of the work, and 3 leave it to cities and counties. Every state, with fees and forms: landscaping and irrigation licenses by state.

Certifications

Pesticide applicator license. Required in most states for workers who apply pesticides, and federal law requires certification for restricted use pesticides in every state where you apply them.

Professional certifications. Not required, but they show clients and employers you know the work.

What landscapers earn

Landscapers earned a median $18.82 an hour in May 2025. The lowest-paid tenth earned under $14.98 and the top tenth over $27.28.

Among the states with a page below, the highest medians are in Alaska ($22.93), Hawaii ($22.08) and California ($21.90).

BLS counts 1,299,200 jobs for grounds maintenance workers and projects 5 percent growth from 2025 to 2035, with about 162,500 openings a year.

Pay in every state: landscaper salary by state.

From the truck to your own shop

Workers with formal education or several years of experience can become crew leaders or supervisors.

Some use that experience to start their own business, such as a landscaping company.

Before you go out on your own, price your hours. At the national median of $18.82, the labor rate calculator gives $103.64 per billable hour on its starting numbers.

The full checklist: how to start a landscaping business. The free Koira Office plan gives you a website on a Koira address, estimates customers sign with a deposit, invoices with card payments and your day's jobs in one place, with no per-person fee. See the plans.