Landscape Architect vs. Landscape Designer

A landscape architect is someone who works on large landscaping projects, while a landscape designer is someone who tends to work on smaller landscaping projects. A landscape architect is knowledgeable on issues such as grading, construction of structures, and drainage. They work on many large scale landscaping projects in public and private spaces. These may include environments like a public park or a commercial building's garden or atrium. They plan, design, and execute a landscape plan for these large spaces and manage a team that helps with the labor.

How To Become A Landscape Designer: What It Is and Career Path

What is a landscape designer and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Quoted expert

Kreg Mebust

You know those dinosaur shapes that people trim their bushes to resemble? Yeah, they pay people to do that. And as a landscape designer, this is your job in a nutshell. But it's not just people's yards you'll get to design. You may even get to design the landscaping at parks and other outdoor spaces.

The general requirement for landscape designer is that they have to be licensed. While this can vary by state, most generally the license requires at least a bachelor's degree. Now that you're prepared, let's roll up those sleeves and start dreaming up designs.

What general advice would you give to a landscape designer?

Kreg Mebust

Professor of Architecture, Truckee Meadows Community College

Climate change is at the forefront of many discussions, locally and nationally. Landscape
Architects can and do play a vital role in this discourse and outcomes. For example, they are trained to
mitigate the global rise in temperatures by analyzing and mitigating urban heat islands, selecting
appropriate drought resistant plants and trees and planning open spaces and parks for respite from the
heat allowing users to reconnect with nature's restorative qualities. In my position, as a professor
teaching the subject of landscape architecture, I have found that our next generation is concerned about
our environment and want to be a part of the solution.

ScoreLandscape DesignerUS Average

Salary

4.3

Avg. Salary $55,516

Avg. Salary $59,228

Diversity

4.7

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.21%

Asian 5.21%

Black or African American 0.40%

Hispanic or Latino 5.81%

Unknown 3.41%

White 84.96%

Gender

female 36.43%

male 63.57%

Age - 42

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 42

Stress level

5.4

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.4

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

5.0

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a landscape designer

Explore landscape designer education requirements

Most common landscape designer degrees

Bachelor's

62.7 %

Associate

17.3 %

Master's

9.0 %

Start to develop specific landscape designer skills

Skills	Percentages
Sketch	11.60%
SketchUp	9.53%
Design Development	6.98%
Cost Estimates	5.58%
Auto CAD	5.57%

Complete relevant landscape designer training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-2 years on post-employment, on-the-job training. New landscape designers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a landscape designer based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real landscape designer resumes.

Obtain the necessary licensing

Becoming a licensed landscape designer usually doesn't require a college degree. However, you need to pass an exam to become a licensed landscape designer in most of states. 45 states require landscape designers to have license for their work. You can see the list of states below.

State	Education	Exam	License url
Alabama	Degree required	Both state and third-party exams required	Licensed Landscape Architect
Alaska	-	Third-party exam required	Architect
Arkansas	-	State exam required	Architect
California	-	Both state and third-party exams required	Landscape Architect, Licensed
Colorado	-	Third-party exam required	Landscape Architects

Research landscape designer duties and responsibilities

Develop marketing and brand awareness initiatives through social media outlets; create and manage company Facebook and Houzz profiles.
Design with ACAD, GIS application with ArcView and ArcPad
Develop sketch plans for parcels of land being consider for subdivisions.
Complete many, complex, SketchUp models for city planning commission meetings and presenting to clients.

Prepare your landscape designer resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your landscape designer resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a landscape designer resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable landscape designer resume templates

Build a professional landscape designer resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your landscape designer resume.