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The differences between grounds keepers and grounds people can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 1-2 years to become both a grounds keeper and a grounds person. Additionally, a grounds person has an average salary of $33,955, which is higher than the $30,535 average annual salary of a grounds keeper.
The top three skills for a grounds keeper include GRASS, PET and lawn care. The most important skills for a grounds person are ladders, PPE, and CDL.
| Grounds Keeper | Grounds Person | |
| Yearly salary | $30,535 | $33,955 |
| Hourly rate | $14.68 | $16.32 |
| Growth rate | 5% | 5% |
| Number of jobs | 11,534 | 37,122 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | High School Diploma, 48% | High School Diploma, 55% |
| Average age | 41 | 41 |
| Years of experience | 2 | 2 |
A groundskeeper's job responsibility is to maintain and modify outdoor areas such as college campuses, parks, gardens, etc. Your major duty is to carry out routine maintenance, planting, and gardening of a business or park's landscape. You may have to perform duties like mowing and maintaining lawns, planting new greenery, and trimming shrubs. Other duties you may likely carry out are watering, fertilizing, mulching, and applying pesticides. In all, the goal is to maintain the grounds of the place where you work.
A grounds person is responsible for the overall upkeep of an institution's grounds, public parks, and other similar areas. They are usually employed in schools, especially in schools with provisions for outdoor sports or lawn sports such as soccer, golf, tennis, and football, among others. A grounds person is in charge of the maintenance of the grass on the lawn, of the repairs and maintenance of fixtures such as lights, benches, and fountains, and even of the cleanliness of the area. As such, it is expected that a grounds person is familiar with taking care of plants, conducting routine maintenance work, and repairing fixtures.
Grounds keepers and grounds people have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Grounds Keeper | Grounds Person | |
| Average salary | $30,535 | $33,955 |
| Salary range | Between $24,000 And $37,000 | Between $26,000 And $42,000 |
| Highest paying City | Seattle, WA | Waltham, MA |
| Highest paying state | Washington | Massachusetts |
| Best paying company | Columbia University in the City of New York | Schnitzer Steel |
| Best paying industry | Health Care | Manufacturing |
There are a few differences between a grounds keeper and a grounds person in terms of educational background:
| Grounds Keeper | Grounds Person | |
| Most common degree | High School Diploma, 48% | High School Diploma, 55% |
| Most common major | Business | General Studies |
| Most common college | - | - |
Here are the differences between grounds keepers' and grounds people' demographics:
| Grounds Keeper | Grounds Person | |
| Average age | 41 | 41 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 89.1% Female, 10.9% | Male, 93.9% Female, 6.1% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 10.3% Unknown, 3.9% Hispanic or Latino, 21.6% Asian, 2.2% White, 60.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.4% | Black or African American, 11.3% Unknown, 3.7% Hispanic or Latino, 22.7% Asian, 2.2% White, 58.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.3% |
| LGBT Percentage | 3% | 3% |