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The differences between grounds keepers and yard 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 grounds keeper and a yard worker. Additionally, a yard worker has an average salary of $32,628, 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 yard worker are OSHA, basic math, and strong customer service.
| Grounds Keeper | Yard Worker | |
| Yearly salary | $30,535 | $32,628 |
| Hourly rate | $14.68 | $15.69 |
| Growth rate | 5% | 5% |
| Number of jobs | 11,534 | 63,408 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | High School Diploma, 48% | High School Diploma, 57% |
| 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 yard worker provides landscape maintenance services to homes and establishments. Their responsibilities typically include meeting with clients to identify their needs and landscape preferences, mowing lawns, growing plants and trees, applying pesticides and fertilizers, operating irrigation systems, and maintaining grounds clean and presentable. There are also instances when a yard worker may participate in installing fixtures such as ponds, topiaries, lighting, Christmas ornaments, and other decorations in adherence to the directives of clients or management.
Grounds keepers and yard workers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Grounds Keeper | Yard Worker | |
| Average salary | $30,535 | $32,628 |
| Salary range | Between $24,000 And $37,000 | Between $26,000 And $39,000 |
| Highest paying City | Seattle, WA | Boston, MA |
| Highest paying state | Washington | Massachusetts |
| Best paying company | Columbia University in the City of New York | Rasmussen Co Inc |
| Best paying industry | Health Care | Automotive |
There are a few differences between a grounds keeper and a yard worker in terms of educational background:
| Grounds Keeper | Yard Worker | |
| Most common degree | High School Diploma, 48% | High School Diploma, 57% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | - | - |
Here are the differences between grounds keepers' and yard workers' demographics:
| Grounds Keeper | Yard Worker | |
| Average age | 41 | 41 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 89.1% Female, 10.9% | Male, 91.7% Female, 8.3% |
| 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, 8.8% Unknown, 3.9% Hispanic or Latino, 22.4% Asian, 2.0% White, 61.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.4% |
| LGBT Percentage | 3% | 3% |