Garden worker vs gardener

The differences between garden workers and gardeners can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 1-2 years to become both a garden worker and a gardener. Additionally, a gardener has an average salary of $32,912, which is higher than the $27,715 average annual salary of a garden worker.

The top three skills for a garden worker include mowing, water plants and customer service. The most important skills for a gardener are GRASS, mowing, and hand tools.

Garden worker vs gardener overview

	Garden Worker	Gardener
Yearly salary	$27,715	$32,912
Hourly rate	$13.32	$15.82
Growth rate	5%	5%
Number of jobs	20,918	5,411
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	High School Diploma, 34%	Bachelor's Degree, 44%
Average age	41	41
Years of experience	2	2

Garden worker vs gardener salary

Garden workers and gardeners have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Garden Worker	Gardener
Average salary	$27,715	$32,912
Salary range	Between $21,000 And $35,000	Between $22,000 And $47,000
Highest paying City	Richmond, CA	Union City, CA
Highest paying state	Massachusetts	Hawaii
Best paying company	New York Botanical Garden	UC Santa Barbara
Best paying industry	Professional	Media

Differences between garden worker and gardener education

There are a few differences between a garden worker and a gardener in terms of educational background:

	Garden Worker	Gardener
Most common degree	High School Diploma, 34%	Bachelor's Degree, 44%
Most common major	Business	Plant Sciences
Most common college	-	-

Garden worker vs gardener demographics

Here are the differences between garden workers' and gardeners' demographics:

	Garden Worker	Gardener
Average age	41	41
Gender ratio	Male, 56.6% Female, 43.4%	Male, 56.4% Female, 43.6%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 9.4% Unknown, 3.8% Hispanic or Latino, 23.4% Asian, 1.5% White, 60.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.3%	Black or African American, 7.8% Unknown, 4.2% Hispanic or Latino, 28.0% Asian, 1.8% White, 56.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.5%
LGBT Percentage	3%	3%

Differences between garden worker and gardener duties and responsibilities

Garden worker example responsibilities.

Participate in ordering of all nursery stock and managing inventory.
Utilize gardening tools and machinery such rototiller, hoes, rakes, shovels, chainsaw, and loppers
Help trim, prune, weed, edge, and add mulch to the garden.
Maintain cemetery's and have to dig graves.
Maintain lawn: mowing, trimming, and weeding.
Provide care and upkeep of the campus lawn such as planting flowers and mowing

Gardener example responsibilities.

Manage hardscape installation team and project
General grounds maintenance of exterior landscaping, including trimming, weed control, lawn mowing, and applying fertilizer.
Operate and maintain lawn mowers and tractors for seeding, aeration, snow removal and fertilizing of grounds.
Operate vehicles or power equipment, such as mowers, snow blowers, chain-saws, electric clippers and pruning saws.
Operate a variety of equipment including hand and power tools, blowers, mowers, and drive a vehicle around campus.
Clean grounds using rakes, brooms, trash can, and hand blower.

Garden worker vs gardener skills

Common garden worker skills

Mowing, 34%
Water Plants, 17%
Customer Service, 15%
Mowers, 8%
Nursery, 6%
Pruners, 5%

Common gardener skills

GRASS, 20%
Mowing, 10%
Hand Tools, 7%
Blowers, 7%
Rakes, 5%
Grounds Maintenance, 5%

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Garden Worker vs Gardener

Updated January 8, 2025

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