Career Explorer Buildings and grounds
Human edge, growing
Landscaping and groundskeeping workers
Landscape or maintain grounds of property using hand or power tools or equipment. Workers typically perform a variety of tasks, which may include any combination of the following: sod laying, mowing, trimming, planting, watering, fertilizing, digging, raking, sprinkler installation, and installation of mortarless segmental concrete masonry wall units.
More resilient than most: more resilient than 79% of the 831 careers we score. AI exposure is very low (the Bureau of Labor Statistics rates it low), and US jobs are projected to change by +4.7% by 2035, faster than average.
AI struggles with much of this work, and US employers are expected to hire more people into it than average.
- Median pay (2025)
- $39,150
- Job growth to 2035
- +4.7%
- Openings a year
- 150,000
- People doing it (2025)
- 1.2 million
- Usual route in
- No formal credential, then short on-the-job training
Where people already use AI for this work
- Prepare mixtures or solutions
- Read documents or materials to inform work processes
- Explain technical details of products or services
From Microsoft Research, Working with AI (2025).
Work AI rarely helps with
- Operate agricultural or forestry equipment
- Perform agricultural activities
- Cut trees or other vegetation
What the work looks like
- Mow or edge lawns, using power mowers or edgers.
- Operate vehicles or powered equipment, such as mowers, tractors, twin-axle vehicles, snow blowers, chainsaws, electric clippers, sod cutters, or pruning saws.
- Use hand tools, such as shovels, rakes, pruning saws, saws, hedge or brush trimmers, or axes.
- Prune or trim trees, shrubs, or hedges, using shears, pruners, or chain saws.
- Gather and remove litter.
From O*NET 31.0, US Department of Labor.
What the Bureau of Labor Statistics expects
- Fewer of these jobs, as the demand for traditional burials (compared to cremations) declines, thereby resulting in less demand for landscaping and groundskeeping workers to prepare gravesites.
- More of these jobs, as local governments increase their focus to plant more green spaces in urban areas, resulting in an increased demand for landscaping and groundskeeping workers to plant and maintain these green spaces.
Careers using similar strengths, with a stronger outlook
- Laundry and dry-cleaning workersHuman edge, growing, Index 83, +4.3%
- Rock splitters, quarryHuman edge, growing, Index 92, +5.8%
- Automotive glass installers and repairersHuman edge, growing, Index 81, +5.7%
- Pesticide handlers, sprayers, and applicators, vegetationHuman edge, growing, Index 82, +3.9%
Also known as: Greenskeeper, Groundskeeper, Groundsman, Landscaper, Athletic Fieldskeeper, Grounds Maintenance Worker, Grounds Specialist, Landscape Specialist.
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Sources: US Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections 2025 to 2035; O*NET 31.0; Microsoft Research (2025); Anthropic Economic Index (2026); Eloundou and colleagues (Science, 2024); Felten, Raj and Seamans (2023). How we score. Updated 12 October 2026.