- The middle half earn between $15.47 and $22.23 an hour.
- Iowa ranks 27th of the 50 states and DC for median pay in this trade.
- Iowa pays more than 2 of its 6 neighboring states.
- BLS counts about 8,800 landscapers on payrolls in Iowa.
- At the state median wage, a landscaping business needs to bill about $103.45 an hour on the labor rate calculator's starting numbers.
Landscaper pay in Iowa, 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 | $13.69 | $28,480 | $14.98 |
| 25th percentile | $15.47 | $32,170 | $17.40 |
| Median | $18.71 | $38,920 | $18.82 |
| 75th percentile | $22.23 | $46,240 | $22.52 |
| 90th percentile | $28.09 | $58,420 | $27.28 |
| Average (mean) | $19.84 | $41,260 | $20.33 |
Pay spreads out a lot in Iowa. The bottom tenth earn $13.69 an hour or less while the top tenth earn $28.09 or more, a gap of 2.1 times against 1.8 nationally. Where a landscaper sits on that range matters as much as the state.
The bottom of the scale is lower than nationally ($13.69 against $14.98) while the top is higher ($28.09 against $27.28), so the climb from new hire to top earner is longer here.
The average, $19.84, is close to the median, so pay sits fairly evenly around the middle.
How Iowa compares with other states
Over a full year the gap to the national median is small: $38,920 in Iowa against $39,150 nationally, $230 less.
In the state ranking, Iowa sits 27th, between Nebraska ($18.82) and Nevada ($18.66). Arizona has exactly the same median, $18.71, so the two share that place. The range runs from $15.21 in Mississippi to $23.46 in the District of Columbia.
Against its neighboring states, Iowa is in the middle: Illinois, Minnesota, Nebraska and Wisconsin pay more, and Missouri and South Dakota pay less.
How many landscapers work in Iowa
About 8,800 landscapers work on payrolls in Iowa, 0.9% of the 952,640 nationwide, the 32nd largest count among the states.
That is 5.6 of every 1,000 jobs in Iowa, close to the trade's share of jobs nationally.
What a landscaping business in Iowa should charge
Say you run a landscaping business in Iowa and pay the state median of $18.71 an hour. Here is the labor rate calculator's math on 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 | $18.71 × 2,080 × 1.0765 | $41,894 |
| Break-even rate | ($41,894 + $90,000) ÷ 1,500 | $87.93 |
| Rate with 15% profit | $87.93 ÷ 0.85 | $103.45 |
That is $103.45 per billable hour, 5.5 times the wage, and almost the same as the $103.64 the same math gives at the national median wage.
Paying the 75th percentile instead, $22.23 in Iowa, to hire and keep experienced people raises the rate to $109.63.
A cheaper crew saves less than it seems: at the 25th percentile wage of $15.47, the rate only drops to $97.76.
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 Iowa
- 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.