The Short Version
Consumers are paying about 37% more for gardening and lawn-care services than they were three years ago, roughly four times the rate of overall inflation. And the industry doing that work is overwhelmingly small: about four in five landscaping businesses have no employees at all.
- Prices: the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Consumer Price Index for gardening and lawncare services rose 36.8% from September 2023 to September 2026, against 9.5% for all items. Over the past year it rose 8.8%, against 3.7% overall.
- Business size: the Census Bureau counts 537,970 landscaping businesses with no employees in 2024, up 4.1% on 2023, and 65.4% of them took in less than $25,000 that year.
- Wages: the national median wage for landscaping and groundskeeping workers, across all industries, was $18.82 an hour in May 2025, ranging among states from $15.21 in Mississippi to $23.40 in Massachusetts.
Every figure below comes from a federal release and links to it. Index values, counts and wages are as published; every percentage change and share is our own calculation from those published values.
Prices: Gardening and Lawncare Services vs. Inflation
The Bureau of Labor Statistics tracks what consumers pay for gardening and lawncare services as its own Consumer Price Index series (CUUR0000SEHP02, U.S. city average, not seasonally adjusted). The table compares its change over the three years and the one year to September 2026 with the index for all items and the index for all services.
| CPI series | 3 years | 1 year | Sep 2023 | Sep 2025 | Sep 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gardening and lawncare services | +36.8% | +8.8% | 255.092 | 320.557 | 348.899 |
| All items | +9.5% | +3.7% | 307.789 | 324.800 | 336.940 |
| Services | +11.9% | +3.2% | 388.274 | 421.102 | 434.668 |
The series use different base periods (gardening and lawncare services is indexed to December 1997 = 100; the other two to 1982–84 = 100), so compare the percentage changes, not the index levels across rows.
Caveats
- This series is built from a small sample and moves around more than the broad indexes.
- The BLS does not publish it every month. Winter months are missing, and so are some others; October 2025 is blank for every CPI series. We compare September with September only.
- The three-year figure does not depend on picking September: comparing April 2023 (247.558) with April 2026 (337.914) gives an increase of about 36.5%.
Wages: What Landscaping Workers Earn, Across All Industries
The BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics program publishes wages by occupation. These are figures for the job, not for the landscaping industry: they cover every employer of these workers, including employers outside the landscaping services industry. The latest estimates are for May 2025, released May 15, 2026.
- Landscaping and groundskeeping workers (37-3011): median $18.82 an hour and mean $20.33 an hour, across all industries, with 952,640 people employed. Across all industries, the lowest-paid 10% earned under $14.98 an hour and the highest-paid 10% over $27.28.
- First-line supervisors of landscaping, lawn service and groundskeeping workers (37-1012): median $28.09 an hour, across all industries, with 130,760 employed.
For context only: the national median for landscaping and groundskeeping workers, across all industries, was $18.31 an hour in May 2024, so it rose 2.8% in a year, and the median rose in 49 of 51 jurisdictions (the 50 states and the District of Columbia). The BLS cautions against treating these annual estimates as a time series, so read that as a rough indication rather than a measured trend.
Landscaping and groundskeeping workers by state, May 2025
Hourly wages across all industries, from the OEWS state estimates. Territories are not included.
| State | Median hourly | Mean hourly | Employed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | $17.13 | $17.36 | 12,020 |
| Alaska | $22.93 | $22.73 | 1,080 |
| Arizona | $18.71 | $19.98 | 22,450 |
| Arkansas | $17.20 | $17.34 | 6,610 |
| California | $21.90 | $22.80 | 106,180 |
| Colorado | $22.00 | $22.52 | 21,990 |
| Connecticut | $21.99 | $22.15 | 13,490 |
| Delaware | $17.96 | $19.08 | 4,130 |
| District of Columbia | $23.46 | $24.62 | 800 |
| Florida | $17.84 | $18.80 | 86,040 |
| Georgia | $18.25 | $18.51 | 25,510 |
| Hawaii | $22.08 | $21.60 | 7,040 |
| Idaho | $20.00 | $20.58 | 7,980 |
| Illinois | $21.05 | $21.54 | 34,780 |
| Indiana | $18.30 | $19.24 | 19,260 |
| Iowa | $18.71 | $19.84 | 8,800 |
| Kansas | $18.91 | $19.49 | 9,480 |
| Kentucky | $17.63 | $18.34 | 8,920 |
| Louisiana | $16.76 | $16.42 | 8,510 |
| Maine | $22.10 | $21.70 | 6,410 |
| Maryland | $18.93 | $20.86 | 17,440 |
| Massachusetts | $23.40 | $24.30 | 22,880 |
| Michigan | $18.33 | $19.49 | 32,330 |
| Minnesota | $22.41 | $22.21 | 17,610 |
| Mississippi | $15.21 | $16.12 | 4,940 |
| Missouri | $18.52 | $19.56 | 18,310 |
| Montana | $21.80 | $21.90 | 4,270 |
| Nebraska | $18.82 | $20.36 | 7,280 |
| Nevada | $18.66 | $20.92 | 9,980 |
| New Hampshire | $21.58 | $21.98 | 6,050 |
| New Jersey | $19.88 | $20.82 | 30,470 |
| New Mexico | $18.06 | $19.07 | 5,030 |
| New York | $21.56 | $21.93 | 47,600 |
| North Carolina | $18.22 | $19.04 | 32,730 |
| North Dakota | $19.61 | $21.04 | 2,100 |
| Ohio | $18.38 | $19.18 | 34,420 |
| Oklahoma | $17.20 | $17.43 | 9,280 |
| Oregon | $21.65 | $22.04 | 11,870 |
| Pennsylvania | $18.99 | $19.95 | 34,850 |
| Rhode Island | $21.51 | $21.82 | 4,040 |
| South Carolina | $17.65 | $18.04 | 15,600 |
| South Dakota | $17.01 | $17.60 | 2,980 |
| Tennessee | $17.80 | $18.56 | 18,250 |
| Texas | $17.66 | $18.27 | 63,430 |
| Utah | $19.59 | $20.58 | 12,850 |
| Vermont | $22.23 | $22.76 | 2,700 |
| Virginia | $18.46 | $19.60 | 25,180 |
| Washington | $22.57 | $23.62 | 22,550 |
| West Virginia | $15.50 | $16.29 | 3,340 |
| Wisconsin | $19.82 | $20.55 | 18,970 |
| Wyoming | $18.42 | $18.82 | 1,790 |
Business Size: Most Landscaping Businesses Have No Employees
The Census Bureau counts businesses with no employees and businesses with employees in two separate programs. Both cover landscaping services (NAICS 56173, or 561730 at the six-digit level).
Businesses with no employees
Nonemployer Statistics for 2024, released September 29, 2026, count 537,970 landscaping businesses with no paid employees, up 4.1% from 516,572 in 2023. Of those, 95.5% are sole proprietorships. Most are small by revenue as well:
| Annual receipts (2024) | Businesses | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Under $25,000 | 352,084 | 65.4% |
| $25,000 to $49,999 | 82,531 | 15.3% |
| $50,000 to $99,999 | 55,299 | 10.3% |
| $100,000 or more | 48,056 | 8.9% |
Businesses with employees
County Business Patterns for 2023, released June 26, 2025, count 117,969 landscaping establishments with paid employees. Most are small:
| Employees (2023) | Establishments | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer than 5 | 83,241 | 70.6% |
| 5 to 9 | 17,046 | 14.4% |
| 10 to 19 | 9,491 | 8.0% |
| 20 to 49 | 5,814 | 4.9% |
| 50 or more | 2,377 | 2.0% |
Putting the two together
For the same year, 2023, the Census Bureau counts 516,572 landscaping businesses with no employees and 117,969 employer establishments. That means about four in five landscaping businesses have no employees. The two programs count slightly different units (businesses without employees are counted as firms, businesses with employees as establishments, meaning locations), so treat this as an approximate share rather than an exact one.
What This Data Shows, and What It Doesn't
The price index measures what consumers pay for gardening and lawncare services across the country. It says nothing about what any individual business charges, or whether a particular business has raised its prices over the same three years. If your own rates haven't moved since 2023, the index is a reasonable prompt to check them against your costs, but it is not evidence about your market.
The wage figures describe the occupation across all industries, so they are a benchmark for the job rather than a measure of what landscaping companies specifically pay. And the business counts come from two Census programs with different units and different years, which is why we describe the share without employees as "about four in five" rather than as an exact figure.
None of these figures come from FieldSpoke's own customers or usage.
Sources and Method
- Consumer prices: BLS Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers, U.S. city average, not seasonally adjusted: gardening and lawncare services (CUUR0000SEHP02), all items (CUUR0000SA0) and services (CUUR0000SAS). September readings, through September 2026.
- Wages: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 national and state estimates, released May 15, 2026 (news release USDL-26-0725). The May 2024 national median is from the previous year's release.
- Businesses without employees: Census Bureau Nonemployer Statistics, 2024 and 2023, NAICS 56173.
- Businesses with employees: Census Bureau County Business Patterns, 2023, NAICS 561730.
Percentage changes and shares are our calculations from the published values, rounded to one decimal place. The CPI series updates monthly and the next OEWS estimates are due around May 2027; we will update this page when they are released.
You are welcome to use these figures. Please credit FieldSpoke and link to this page. Press questions: support@fieldspoke.com.
FieldSpoke makes scheduling and invoicing software for small landscaping and route-based service businesses.