How to become a landscaper in Oregon

The path in Oregon, step by step

Oregon licenses landscaping work at the state level through the Oregon Landscape Contractors Board. These are the steps it lays out, in order.

1. Apply to the Landscape Contractors Board for a business license and your landscape construction professional license.
2. Use written contracts that meet the board's standards.

The full license guide, with every fee and form: landscaping and irrigation license in Oregon.

Finding an apprenticeship in Oregon

Oregon runs Registered Apprenticeship through its own State Apprenticeship Agency, recognized by the U.S. Department of Labor to register and oversee programs there. Its staff are state employees, and it may use the federal paperwork or forms of its own. Apprenticeship.gov lists the Oregon State Apprenticeship Agency as the contact.

Either way, a registered program means paid work with a mentor, raises as you progress, classroom instruction and a credential recognized in every state. Search open spots in the Apprenticeship Job Finder.

Across the country. 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.

License levels and exams in Oregon

The license to aim for: Landscape contracting business license, with a Landscape Construction Professional.

What landscapers earn in Oregon

The median landscaper in Oregon earned $21.65 an hour in May 2025, 13th of 51 states, with 11,870 on payrolls. The national median was $18.82.

At the bottom of the range, a quarter of landscapers in Oregon earned under $18.76 an hour and a tenth under $17.25. At the top, a quarter earned over $23.26 and a tenth over $28.34.

Every state, the neighbors and what a business should charge: landscaper salary in Oregon.

Jobs ahead in Oregon

Oregon's labor market office projects jobs for landscapers growing from 15,030 in 2022 to 17,260 in 2032, a change of 14.8%. Counting people who retire or change careers, that is about 2,280 openings a year.

Jobs are projected to grow 14.8% from 2022 to 2032, faster than the 3.6% projected nationally, ranking 9th of the 50 states in the file.

These are the state's own long-term projections, published together on Projections Central for the occupation group landscaping and groundskeeping workers.

Starting your own landscaper business in Oregon

To contract on your own in Oregon, the license is the Landscape contracting business license, with a Landscape Construction Professional.

Pricing comes next. Paying yourself the Oregon median of $21.65 an hour, the labor rate calculator's starting numbers (one person, 2 unbilled hours a day, $90,000 of overhead, 15% profit) come to $108.61 per billable hour. Try your own in the labor rate calculator.

The full checklist is in 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.