- The middle half earn between $17.60 and $22.58 an hour.
- Illinois ranks 17th of the 50 states and DC for median pay in this trade.
- Illinois pays more than all 5 neighboring states.
- BLS counts about 34,780 landscapers on payrolls in Illinois.
- At the state median wage, a landscaping business needs to bill about $107.56 an hour on the labor rate calculator's starting numbers.
Landscaper pay in Illinois, bottom to top
BLS calls this group landscaping and groundskeeping workers. It covers lawn crews, planting and hardscape helpers and groundskeepers at schools, parks and offices.
| Pay level | Hourly | Yearly | National hourly |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10th percentile | $15.39 | $32,010 | $14.98 |
| 25th percentile | $17.60 | $36,610 | $17.40 |
| Median | $21.05 | $43,790 | $18.82 |
| 75th percentile | $22.58 | $46,960 | $22.52 |
| 90th percentile | $29.42 | $61,190 | $27.28 |
| Average (mean) | $21.54 | $44,800 | $20.33 |
From the bottom tenth ($15.39) to the top tenth ($29.42), the top of the scale pays about 1.9 times the bottom in Illinois, close to the 1.8 times spread for landscapers nationwide.
Both ends of the scale beat the national figures: $15.39 against $14.98 at the bottom tenth, and $29.42 against $27.28 at the top.
The average, $21.54, is close to the median, so pay sits fairly evenly around the middle.
How Illinois compares with other states
Over a full year, the Illinois median of $43,790 is $4,640 more than the national $39,150.
In the state ranking, Illinois sits 17th, between Rhode Island ($21.51) and Idaho ($20.00). The range runs from $15.21 in Mississippi to $23.46 in the District of Columbia.
Illinois pays landscapers more than any of its neighboring states, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Missouri and Wisconsin. Someone working near the border can earn more by taking work on this side of it.
These are wages as paid, not adjusted for what it costs to live in Illinois. Rent, home prices and taxes decide how far a higher wage goes.
How many landscapers work in Illinois
About 34,780 landscapers work on payrolls in Illinois, 3.7% of the 952,640 nationwide, the 6th largest count among the states.
That is 5.7 of every 1,000 jobs in Illinois, close to the trade's share of jobs nationally.
What a landscaping business in Illinois should charge
Higher wages in Illinois go straight into the price. Take a landscaping business in Illinois paying the state median of $21.05 and run it through the labor rate calculator with its starting numbers (40-hour weeks, 10 paid days off, 2 unbilled hours a day, 7.65% payroll taxes, $90,000 a year of overhead and 15% profit).
| Step | Math | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Paid hours | 40 × 52 | 2,080 |
| Hours at work | 2,080 − 10 days × 8 | 2,000 |
| Billable hours | 2,000 × 6 ÷ 8 | 1,500 |
| Labor cost | $21.05 × 2,080 × 1.0765 | $47,133 |
| Break-even rate | ($47,133 + $90,000) ÷ 1,500 | $91.42 |
| Rate with 15% profit | $91.42 ÷ 0.85 | $107.56 |
That is $107.56 per billable hour, 5.1 times the wage, and $3.92 more than the $103.64 the same math gives at the national median wage.
Paying the 75th percentile instead, $22.58 in Illinois, to hire and keep experienced people raises the rate to $110.24.
A cheaper crew saves less than it seems: at the 25th percentile wage of $17.60, the rate only drops to $101.50.
At this wage, overhead is most of the price: $60 of every billed hour goes to it before anyone is paid. Spreading the same overhead over more billable hours, with a second person or less drive time, brings the rate down fastest.
Run it with your own numbers in the labor rate calculator. It is free and shows every step.
Working as a landscaper in Illinois
- Licensing. What Illinois asks for before you can work on your own: Landscaping license in Illinois.
- Running the business. Quotes, invoices, booking and your website in one place: how landscaping companies run on Koira.
- Getting found. The free Koira report checks how your business shows up in search and on maps against shops near you.
Where these numbers come from
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025.
The figures are the BLS state estimates for SOC 37-3011, landscaping and groundskeeping workers, across all industries, read straight from the May 2025 state data file. They cover wage and salary workers, not the self-employed. Where BLS did not publish a figure, this page leaves it out.
All states in one table: landscaper salary by state.