Washington·Building and Grounds Cleaning and Maintenance Occupations·SOC 37-3011

Best Landscaping programs in Washington, ranked by enrollment

Landscape or maintain grounds of property using hand or power tools or equipment.

7 schools in Washington run programs that feed this job, graduating 110 people a year. The job pays a median of $46,950 in Washington across about 22,550 jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025).

Also calledGroundskeeperGrounds WorkerGrounds Maintenance WorkerOutside Maintenance WorkerSextonSodderWeederYardman
Graduates / yr
110
in Washington
Median pay · Washington
$46,950
BLS OEWS May 2025
Jobs in state
22,550
people employed
Schools
7
with a feeder program
Avg graduation rate
37%
across those schools
Median net price
per year, IPEDS

Fields of study in Washington that lead to this job

Grouped at the 4-digit CIP level. Numbers are graduates per year in this state.

5 programs in Washington that lead to this job

Ranked by graduates per year in Washington (IPEDS completions). Graduate earnings and debt are national College Scorecard figures reported at the 4-digit CIP level, so specializations within one field share a figure. Each program also links to its own Washington page.

Degree programs that lead to this occupation, ranked by graduates per year
#ProgramGraduates / yrShare of pipelineSchoolsGrad earnings (1 yr)Median debt
136
32.7%
4$35,900$14,000
233
30.0%
1$35,900$14,000
320
18.2%
2$35,900$14,000
412
10.9%
2$35,900$14,000
59
8.2%
1$35,900$14,000

Top 7 schools in Washington

Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 0 of the 7 schools in this state.

Schools ranked by graduates per year into this occupation
#SchoolGraduates / yrTop feeder programGrad earnings (1 yr)Grad rateNet priceAcceptance
1Spokane Community College
Spokane, WA Public · 2 feeder programs
45Greenhouse Operations and Management33%
2Lake Washington Institute of Technology
Kirkland, WA Public · 1 feeder programs
18Applied Horticulture/Horticulture Operations, General37%
3Edmonds College
Lynnwood, WA Public · 3 feeder programs
17Landscaping and Groundskeeping29%
4Washington State University
Pullman, WA Public · 1 feeder programs
11Plant Nursery Operations and Management60%87%
5Walla Walla Community College
Walla Walla, WA Public · 1 feeder programs
8Turf and Turfgrass Management38%
6Tacoma Community College
Tacoma, WA Public · 1 feeder programs
6Applied Horticulture/Horticulture Operations, General32%
7South Seattle College
Seattle, WA Public · 1 feeder programs
5Applied Horticulture/Horticulture Operations, General31%

All 7 schools in Washington

Every school in Washington with a program that feeds this job, ordered by graduates per year. Earnings are shown for the ranked schools above; open a school profile for the rest.

All schools in Washington that feed this occupation
SchoolCityControlGraduates / yrFeeder programs
Spokane Community CollegeSpokanePublic452
Lake Washington Institute of TechnologyKirklandPublic181
Edmonds CollegeLynnwoodPublic173
Washington State UniversityPullmanPublic111
Walla Walla Community CollegeWalla WallaPublic81
Tacoma Community CollegeTacomaPublic61
South Seattle CollegeSeattlePublic51

What landscaping and groundskeeping workers earn in Washington

What people already working in this job earn (BLS OEWS May 2025). Not graduate earnings.

Median annual in Washington
$46,950
Mean annual
$49,130
Jobs in state
22,550
What the range looks like
10th pct$37,510Median$46,95090th pct$61,030
Versus the national median
+19.9%

U.S. median $39,150. Washington pays above the national figure.

Job concentration
1.04×

1.00× means the state has its expected share of these jobs.

Metro areas in Washington

Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA
$48,480median
11,780 jobs
Bremerton-Silverdale-Port Orchard, WA
$48,080median
730 jobs
Kennewick-Richland, WA
$45,190median
970 jobs
Longview-Kelso, WA
$44,150median
270 jobs
Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater, WA
$44,850median
760 jobs
Bellingham, WA
$44,520median
650 jobs
Mount Vernon-Anacortes, WA
$45,020median
500 jobs
Spokane-Spokane Valley, WA
$44,630median
2,070 jobs

Job outlook

Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, 2024 to 2034.

Projected growth 2024–34
+3.6%
About as fast as average
Openings per year
158,200
new jobs plus replacements
Employment change
42,400
1,192,500 → 1,235,000
Typical entry education
No formal educational credential
Plus short-term on-the-job training

Growth and openings are national. The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not publish employment projections at state level, so these figures describe the occupation across the whole U.S., not this state alone.

How to get in

The full skills, tools, and day-to-day breakdown lives on the national Landscaping and Groundskeeping Workers page.

How to become a Landscaping

Job zone 2 of 5 · SVP Below 6.0
Typical entry education
No formal educational credential
On-the-job training
Short-term on-the-job training

Usually requires a high school diploma or GED, though some occupations may not.

Some occupations may need little or no previous experience; others require several months to a year of experience. For example, landscaping and groundskeeping workers might require very little training or previous experience, while agricultural equipment operators can benefit from on-the job training.

Ranges from a few days to one year of on-the-job training.

Top skills

Critical ThinkingSpeakingActive ListeningMonitoringActive LearningReading Comprehension

The same job in other states

Where else this occupation employs the most people, and what it pays there.

Related careers in Washington

Every major mapped to this job

The official federal mapping behind the rankings above.

All 7 majors mapped to Landscaping and Groundskeeping Workers7 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
  • 01.0601Applied Horticulture/Horticulture Operations, General
  • 01.0603Ornamental Horticulture
  • 01.0604Greenhouse Operations and Management
  • 01.0605Landscaping and Groundskeeping
  • 01.0606Plant Nursery Operations and Management
  • 01.0607Turf and Turfgrass Management
  • 31.0302Golf Course Operation and Grounds Management

Common questions

Answers for people weighing landscaping and groundskeeping workers programs in Washington.

What degree do you need to become a Landscaping?+

No formal educational credential is the typical entry-level education BLS reports for this occupation. The most common program people actually graduate from is Applied Horticulture/Horticulture Operations, General, which awarded 36 degrees in Washington in 2024-25, 32.7% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.

Which college majors lead to becoming a Landscaping?+

The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 5 programs to this occupation. The largest are Applied Horticulture and Horticultural Business Services. Together they graduate about 110 people a year in Washington.

How much do landscaping and groundskeeping workers earn in Washington?+

The median is $46,950 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 19.9% above the U.S. median of $39,150. This is pay for people already working in the occupation, not the same thing as graduate earnings one year after finishing a degree.

Is demand for landscaping and groundskeeping workers growing?+

BLS projects a +3.6% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, about as fast as average, with roughly 158,200 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.

How many schools offer programs for this career in Washington?+

7 institutions in Washington reported graduates from at least one of the 5 programs that feed this occupation in IPEDS 2024-25. Rankings on this page use graduates per year, because the federal data publishes no enrollment count by program.

What other job titles do landscaping and groundskeeping workers work under?+

Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Groundskeeper, Grounds Worker, Grounds Maintenance Worker, Outside Maintenance Worker among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 37-3011.

Landscaping and Groundskeeping Workers in other statesIllinoisCaliforniaNorth CarolinaTexasFloridaGeorgiaOhioPennsylvania

About the data on this page

Rankings use IPEDS completions 2024–25, degrees awarded per year. That is the closest federal measure of how many people a program puts into a career, because no federal dataset publishes enrollment by program. Wages and employment come from BLS OEWS May 2025, growth and openings from BLS Employment Projections 2024-34, and which majors lead to which jobs from the NCES CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk. Occupation descriptions, tasks, skills and tools are O*NET 30.3 (CC BY 4.0, U.S. Department of Labor/ETA).

  • BLS Occupational Employment & Wage Statistics

    May 2025

    Wages, employment counts, location quotients and metro breakdowns.

  • BLS Employment Projections

    2024–34

    Projected growth, annual openings and typical entry-level education.

  • IPEDS Completions

    2024-25 (provisional)

    Graduates per year by program and institution — the ranking metric.

  • College Scorecard, Field of Study

    2020-21 cohorts

    Median graduate earnings one year after completion, and median debt.

  • Census Post-Secondary Employment Outcomes

    latest available

    Graduate earnings 1/5/10 years out, where the state participates.

  • NCES CIP 2020 and the CIP-to-SOC 2018 crosswalk

    CIP 2020 / SOC 2018

    Which college programs officially lead to this occupation.

  • O*NET Database 30.3

    30.3

    Tasks, skills, knowledge, tools, job zone and alternate job titles.

    Official source →CC BY 4.0, U.S. Department of Labor / ETA

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