Garden worker vs ground worker

The differences between garden workers and ground workers 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 ground worker. Additionally, a ground worker has an average salary of $29,875, 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 ground worker are mowing, GRASS, and hand tools.

Garden worker vs ground worker overview

	Garden Worker	Ground Worker
Yearly salary	$27,715	$29,875
Hourly rate	$13.32	$14.36
Growth rate	5%	5%
Number of jobs	20,918	33,720
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	High School Diploma, 34%	High School Diploma, 38%
Average age	41	41
Years of experience	2	2

Garden worker vs ground worker salary

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

	Garden Worker	Ground Worker
Average salary	$27,715	$29,875
Salary range	Between $21,000 And $35,000	Between $24,000 And $37,000
Highest paying City	Richmond, CA	Seattle, WA
Highest paying state	Massachusetts	Alaska
Best paying company	New York Botanical Garden	Mount St. Mary's University
Best paying industry	Professional	Government

Differences between garden worker and ground worker education

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

	Garden Worker	Ground Worker
Most common degree	High School Diploma, 34%	High School Diploma, 38%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	-	-

Garden worker vs ground worker demographics

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

	Garden Worker	Ground Worker
Average age	41	41
Gender ratio	Male, 56.6% Female, 43.4%	Male, 85.7% Female, 14.3%
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, 9.5% Unknown, 4.1% Hispanic or Latino, 21.8% Asian, 2.1% White, 61.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.5%
LGBT Percentage	3%	3%

Differences between garden worker and ground worker 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

Ground worker example responsibilities.

Manage hardscape installation team and project
Operate vehicles and power equipment such as mowers, snow blowers, electric clippers, sod cutters, or pruning saws.
Aid in the maintenance of equipment as needed (lawn mowers, tractors, weed-eaters, leaf blowers, etc . )
Mow rough, greens, fairways, hand water greens, spread seed on greens and fairways, rake sand traps.
Used both hand shovels and plow trucks to remove snow.
Operate backhoe and bobcat to assist plumbing and irrigation dept.

Garden worker vs ground worker skills

Common garden worker skills

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

Common ground worker skills

Mowing, 12%
GRASS, 10%
Hand Tools, 9%
Grounds Maintenance, 8%
Blowers, 4%
Routine Maintenance, 4%

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Garden Worker vs Ground Worker

Updated January 8, 2025

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