Farmworkers and Laborers, Crop, Nursery, and Greenhouse vs Farmworkers, Farm, Ranch, and Aquacultural Animals: Similar Median Pay, Different Work

Farmworkers and Laborers, Crop, Nursery, and Greenhouse vs Farmworkers, Farm, Ranch, and Aquacultural Animals: what changes?

Consider Farmworkers and Laborers, Crop, Nursery, and Greenhouse if you want to manually plant, cultivate, and harvest vegetables, fruits, nuts, horticultural specialties, and field crops. Consider Farmworkers, Farm, Ranch, and Aquacultural Animals if you would rather attend to live farm, ranch, open range or aquacultural animals that may include cattle, sheep, swine, goats, horses and other equines, poultry, rabbits, finfish, shellfish, and bees. Both list no formal educational credential; compare training and prior experience separately.

Try this next: Compare three local entry-level postings for Farmworkers and Laborers, Crop, Nursery, and Greenhouse and Farmworkers, Farm, Ranch, and Aquacultural Animals. List the duties, credentials, prior experience, and paid training each employer actually asks for. Try a supervised class or sample project from each field before choosing a program.

BLS 2025 wages and 2025–2035 projections. National medians are not starting offers. Occupation size is not a count of vacancies. View the BLS data.

Compare the practical differences

Farmworkers and Laborers, Crop, Nursery, and Greenhouse

National median pay (2025): $35,660
Route into the job: No formal educational credential; One month or less of on-the-job training, in addition to any qualifying education or licensing
Prior related experience: No prior related occupation is typically required; employer requirements vary.
Training and licensing: One month or less of on-the-job training, in addition to any qualifying education or licensing.
Work to investigate: Record information about crops, such as pesticide use, yields, or costs.
Annual openings (2025–2035): 72,500

Know before you choose

BLS projects employment to shrink 2.4% from 2025 to 2035. Openings can still occur when existing workers leave.

See the full Farmworkers and Laborers, Crop, Nursery, and Greenhouse brief

Farmworkers, Farm, Ranch, and Aquacultural Animals

National median pay (2025): $36,670
Route into the job: No formal educational credential; One month or less of on-the-job training, in addition to any qualifying education or licensing
Prior related experience: No prior related occupation is typically required; employer requirements vary.
Training and licensing: One month or less of on-the-job training, in addition to any qualifying education or licensing.
Work to investigate: Feed and water livestock and monitor food and water supplies.
Annual openings (2025–2035): 26,600

Know before you choose

BLS projects employment to shrink 3.2% from 2025 to 2035. Openings can still occur when existing workers leave.

See the full Farmworkers, Farm, Ranch, and Aquacultural Animals brief

How the national numbers differ

Farmworkers and Laborers, Crop, Nursery, and Greenhouse has the edge on annual openings

Farmworkers and Laborers, Crop, Nursery, and Greenhouse is at 72,500 annual openings, compared with 26,600 annual openings for Farmworkers, Farm, Ranch, and Aquacultural Animals.

Farmworkers, Farm, Ranch, and Aquacultural Animals has the edge on median pay

Farmworkers, Farm, Ranch, and Aquacultural Animals is at $36,670, compared with $35,660 for Farmworkers and Laborers, Crop, Nursery, and Greenhouse.

Farmworkers and Laborers, Crop, Nursery, and Greenhouse has the edge on projected growth

Farmworkers and Laborers, Crop, Nursery, and Greenhouse is at -2.4% projected growth, compared with -3.2% projected growth for Farmworkers, Farm, Ranch, and Aquacultural Animals.

45.8/ 100

Farmworkers and Laborers, Crop, Nursery, and Greenhouse

42.7/ 100

Farmworkers, Farm, Ranch, and Aquacultural Animals

Each available metric is ranked from 0 to 100 against the careers on ChooseField. The weighted average uses this profile: pay 30%, growth 25%, openings 30%, preparation level 15%. Missing values are not scored as zero; their weights are redistributed across available metrics. Occupation size has zero weight: employment is not accessible vacancies. Preparation categories do not measure admission difficulty or years without earnings. The score summarizes national measures; local opportunities and personal fit still need separate consideration.

Detailed evidence

Farmworkers and Laborers, Crop, Nursery, and Greenhouse vs Farmworkers, Farm, Ranch, and Aquacultural Animals

Dimension	Farmworkers and Laborers, Crop, Nursery, and Greenhouse	Farmworkers, Farm, Ranch, and Aquacultural Animals
Median pay (2025)	$35,660	$36,670
Pay percentile	3.7 percentile	6.1 percentile
Projected growth (2025–2035)	-2.4%	-3.2%
Annual openings (2025–2035)	72,500	26,600
2025 employment	546,800	202,100
How you qualify	No formal educational credential; One month or less of on-the-job training, in addition to any qualifying education or licensing	No formal educational credential; One month or less of on-the-job training, in addition to any qualifying education or licensing
O*NET preparation group	Job Zone 2	Job Zone 2
Related work experience	No prior related occupation is typically required; employer requirements vary.	No prior related occupation is typically required; employer requirements vary.
On-the-job training	One month or less of on-the-job training, in addition to any qualifying education or licensing.	One month or less of on-the-job training, in addition to any qualifying education or licensing.

The table reports national benchmarks and reviewed work descriptions. It does not rate personal suitability, job security, or physical safety.

Read Farmworkers and Laborers, Crop, Nursery, and Greenhouse brief Read Farmworkers, Farm, Ranch, and Aquacultural Animals brief

Farmworkers and Laborers, Crop, Nursery, and Greenhouse vs Farmworkers, Farm, Ranch, and Aquacultural Animals: what changes?

The facts most likely to affect your decision

Farmworkers and Laborers, Crop, Nursery, and Greenhouse

Farmworkers, Farm, Ranch, and Aquacultural Animals

How the national numbers differ

Farmworkers and Laborers, Crop, Nursery, and Greenhouse has the edge on annual openings

Farmworkers, Farm, Ranch, and Aquacultural Animals has the edge on median pay

Farmworkers and Laborers, Crop, Nursery, and Greenhouse has the edge on projected growth

Farmworkers and Laborers, Crop, Nursery, and Greenhouse vs Farmworkers, Farm, Ranch, and Aquacultural Animals

Try another comparison

Farmworkers and Laborers, Crop, Nursery, and Greenhouse vs Graders and Sorters, Agricultural Products

Farmworkers, Farm, Ranch, and Aquacultural Animals vs Graders and Sorters, Agricultural Products