A ranch hand works on a farm or ranch, tending to animals and doing menial tasks around the ranch. They either live on the ranch or near it, and work long tedious hours. They attend to live farm or ranch animals that may include cattle, sheep, swine, goats, horses, bees, or poultry that produce animal products such as milk, fur, skins, meat, feathers, eggs, and honey. They are responsible for feeding, watering, herding, grazing, castrating, branding, weighing, catching, and loading animals into transport vehicles.
The ranch hand cleans and maintains animal housing areas, shears wool from sheep, collects eggs from hatcheries, and do routine menial tasks such as repairing fences, operating heavy machinery like tractors, and so on. They require physical stamina to do tasks around the ranch. They have to be up very early in the mornings and retire late at night.
Only a high school diploma or GED is necessary. A ranch hand earns an average of $25,368 per year, which translates to $12.20 per hour. Career growth is described as having little or no change at 1% and will produce 10,900 new jobs across the US by 2028.
Ranch Hand Overview
Ranch Hand Careers
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a ranch hand. For example, did you know that they make an average of $12.54 an hour? That's $26,087 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 1% and produce 10,900 job opportunities across the U.S.
What Does a Ranch Hand Do
There are certain skills that many ranch hands have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed dexterity, listening skills and physical strength.
When it comes to the most important skills required to be a ranch hand, we found that a lot of resumes listed 14.6% of ranch hands included farm equipment, while 11.5% of resumes included physical characteristics, and 8.9% of resumes included beef cattle. Hard skills like these are helpful to have when it comes to performing essential job responsibilities.
When it comes to searching for a job, many search for a key term or phrase. Instead, it might be more helpful to search by industry, as you might be missing jobs that you never thought about in industries that you didn't even think offered positions related to the ranch hand job title. But what industry to start with? Most ranch hands actually find jobs in the hospitality and manufacturing industries.
How To Become a Ranch Hand
If you're interested in becoming a ranch hand, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 31.1% of ranch hands have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 1.6% of ranch hands have master's degrees. Even though some ranch hands have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become a ranch hand. When we researched the most common majors for a ranch hand, we found that they most commonly earn high school diploma degrees or bachelor's degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on ranch hand resumes include associate degree degrees or diploma degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a ranch hand. In fact, many ranch hand jobs require experience in a role such as cashier. Meanwhile, many ranch hands also have previous career experience in roles such as sales associate or internship.
What is the right job for my career path?
Tell us your goals and we'll match you with the right jobs to get there.
Average Salary for a Ranch Hand
Best Paying Cities
Recently Added Salaries
Job TitleCompany  | Company | Start Date | Salary |
|---|---|---|---|
Kenneth H Yerger Jr Ranch Hand Ranch Hand | Kenneth H Yerger Jr Kenneth H Yerger Jr | 01/09/2021 01/09/2021 | $30,00001/09/2021 $30,000 |
Sul Ross State University Anrs Ranch Hand Worker Anrs Ranch Hand Worker | Sul Ross State University Sul Ross State University | 10/03/2020 10/03/2020 | $15,13110/03/2020 $15,131 |
BB.and.H Ranch Co Jim/Debbie Beardsley Experienced Ranch Hand Experienced Ranch Hand | BB.and.H Ranch Co Jim/Debbie Beardsley BB.and.H Ranch Co Jim/Debbie Beardsley | 09/14/2020 09/14/2020 | $31,30509/14/2020 $31,305 |
Frank Kasten Farm/Ranch Hand Farm/Ranch Hand | Frank Kasten Frank Kasten | 07/28/2020 07/28/2020 | $54,26207/28/2020 $54,262 |
Kenneth H Yerger Jr Ranch Hand Ranch Hand | Kenneth H Yerger Jr Kenneth H Yerger Jr | 06/11/2020 06/11/2020 | $30,00006/11/2020 $30,000 |
Calculate your salary
Use Zippia's Salary Calculator to see how your pay matches up.
Ranch Hand Resumes
Designing and figuring out what to include on your resume can be tough, not to mention time-consuming. That's why we put together a guide that is designed to help you craft the perfect resume for becoming a Ranch Hand. If you're needing extra inspiration, take a look through our selection of templates that are specific to your job.
Learn How To Write a Ranch Hand Resume
At Zippia, we went through countless Ranch Hand resumes and compiled some information about how best to optimize them. Here are some suggestions based on what we found, divided by the individual sections of the resume itself.
View Detailed InformationTop Skills For a Ranch Hand
The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 14.6% of ranch hands listed farm equipment on their resume, but soft skills such as dexterity and listening skills are important as well.
- Farm Equipment, 14.6%
- Physical Characteristics, 11.5%
- Beef Cattle, 8.9%
- Farm Animals, 6.6%
- Heavy Machinery, 5.0%
- Other Skills, 53.4% See All Ranch Hand Skills
Best States For a Ranch Hand
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a ranch hand. The best states for people in this position are Nebraska, Virginia, Washington, and South Dakota. Ranch hands make the most in Nebraska with an average salary of $33,857. Whereas in Virginia and Washington, they would average $33,436 and $33,223, respectively. While ranch hands would only make an average of $31,950 in South Dakota, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.
1. Nebraska
$33,857
Avg. Salary
2. Washington
$33,223
Avg. Salary
3. Kentucky
$28,937
Avg. Salary
How Do Ranch Hand Rate Their Jobs?
Top Ranch Hand Employers
Ranch Hand Videos
