Find a Job You Really Want In
Landscape Designers are one of the most common jobs in America. Additionally, a significant number of people work as landscape designers in every state in the union — it’s not like they are all just concentrated in California or the South.
Since landscape designers are such a prominent occupation, we at Zippia wanted to look at where landscape designers have it the best: where there are plenty of jobs to go around, and people get paid what they deserve during every phase of their career.
To that end, we dove into the numbers from the BLS to figure out which states have the best opportunities for landscape designers. After all the numbers had been crunched, we were left with this list of the best of best for America’s landscape designers:
- Oklahoma
- Massachusetts
- Washington
- Colorado
- California
- Georgia
- North Carolina
- Texas
- Alabama
- Tennessee
So there you have it — Oklahoma is the best of the best when it comes to being a landscape designers.
How did it end up here and does it really deserve this ranking? Read on to see how we completed our research on the best states for landscape designers and for more on the top ten states.
How we determined the best states to be a landscape designer
Here at Zippia, we talk to a lot of people of all different backgrounds looking for jobs. Our research has concluded that there are two common things people want in a job:
- Availability of jobs
- Pay
So in order to find out the best states for landscape designers in America we needed to figure out where the jobs are and how well landscape designers get paid. This led to the following criteria taken from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’s Occupational Employment Statistics for 2015:
- Location quotient. A measure of how common a job is a given state.
- Average annual salary.
- Average annual salary for entry level work.
- Average annual salary for experienced professionals.
To make all the salary numbers more apples to apples across states, we compared the salary data relative to the state’s cost of living.
Applying this standardization allows us to account for that fact that it costs more to live in certain in states. For example, the average salary for landscape designers in California is $77,540 and the average salary in Illinois is $58,780, but the Illinois salary actually goes further in paying for life’s essentials.
In order to develop and overall ranking, we ranked each state for each criteria from 1 to 50 where 1 was the best.
We then averaged all the rankings for a state into a Job Score with the state having the lowest overall Job Score earning the distinction of being the best state for landscape designers in America.
So without further ado, let’s get into just what made each state so great for landscape designers.
1. Oklahoma
Total Jobs: 290
Average Annual Salary: $67,220
Average Entry Level Salary: $46,340
Average Experienced Salary: $94,540
Location Quotient: 1.27
2. Massachusetts
Total Jobs: 640
Average Annual Salary: $86,670
Average Entry Level Salary: $52,530
Average Experienced Salary: $122,810
Location Quotient: 1.3
3. Washington
Total Jobs: 1,070
Average Annual Salary: $71,670
Average Entry Level Salary: $43,220
Average Experienced Salary: $106,210
Location Quotient: 2.48
4. Colorado
Total Jobs: 520
Average Annual Salary: $76,020
Average Entry Level Salary: $52,110
Average Experienced Salary: $101,580
Location Quotient: 1.49
5. California
Total Jobs: 3,340
Average Annual Salary: $77,540
Average Entry Level Salary: $50,540
Average Experienced Salary: $117,360
Location Quotient: 1.5
6. Georgia
Total Jobs: 1,100
Average Annual Salary: $68,590
Average Entry Level Salary: $39,900
Average Experienced Salary: $96,400
Location Quotient: 1.86
7. North Carolina
Total Jobs: 430
Average Annual Salary: $75,760
Average Entry Level Salary: $40,550
Average Experienced Salary: $121,220
Location Quotient: 0.72
8. Texas
Total Jobs: 1,390
Average Annual Salary: $65,460
Average Entry Level Salary: $40,360
Average Experienced Salary: $102,480
Location Quotient: 0.83
9. Alabama
Total Jobs: 50
Average Annual Salary: $67,810
Average Entry Level Salary: $46,420
Average Experienced Salary: $93,110
Location Quotient: 0.18
10. Tennessee
Total Jobs: 280
Average Annual Salary: $80,460
Average Entry Level Salary: $36,240
Average Experienced Salary: $121,410
Location Quotient: 0.69
There You Have It
If you’re looking to start out your career as a landscape designer these are the states that should be at the top of your list. You’ll find high pay, available jobs, and chances for career advancement.
If you’re curious, here are the worst states to be a landscape designer in America:
Detailed List Of The Best States For Landscape Designers
| Rank | State | Average Salary |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Oklahoma | $67,220 |
| 2 | Massachusetts | $86,670 |
| 3 | Washington | $71,670 |
| 4 | Colorado | $76,020 |
| 5 | California | $77,540 |
| 6 | Georgia | $68,590 |
| 7 | North Carolina | $75,760 |
| 8 | Texas | $65,460 |
| 9 | Alabama | $67,810 |
| 10 | Tennessee | $80,460 |
| 11 | Missouri | $63,920 |
| 12 | Connecticut | $80,550 |
| 13 | Virginia | $70,440 |
| 14 | Pennsylvania | $67,940 |
| 15 | West Virginia | $67,560 |
| 16 | Kentucky | $62,270 |
| 17 | Ohio | $62,080 |
| 18 | Utah | $57,410 |
| 19 | Florida | $70,230 |
| 20 | Montana | $64,440 |
| 21 | South Dakota | $57,910 |
| 22 | North Dakota | $55,680 |
| 23 | Idaho | $61,590 |
| 24 | Maryland | $64,250 |
| 25 | Michigan | $59,040 |
| 26 | Nebraska | $60,040 |
| 27 | New York | $71,490 |
| 28 | Delaware | $66,030 |
| 29 | Wyoming | $59,380 |
| 30 | South Carolina | $56,880 |
| 31 | Arizona | $58,550 |
| 32 | Minnesota | $58,200 |
| 33 | New Jersey | $57,710 |
| 34 | Kansas | $55,300 |
| 35 | Iowa | $50,700 |
| 36 | Hawaii | $0 |
| 37 | Illinois | $58,780 |
| 38 | Rhode Island | $0 |
| 39 | Wisconsin | $50,910 |
| 40 | Louisiana | $45,500 |
| 41 | Arkansas | $46,770 |
| 42 | Indiana | $0 |
Author
Chris Kolmar is a co-founder of Zippia and the editor-in-chief of the Zippia career advice blog. He has hired over 50 people in his career, been hired five times, and wants to help you land your next job. His research has been featured on the New York Times, Thrillist, VOX, The Atlantic, and a host of local news. More recently, he's been quoted on USA Today, BusinessInsider, and CNBC.
