Landscaping and Groundskeeping Workers vs Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners: $39K vs $36K Median Pay

Landscaping and Groundskeeping Workers vs Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners: what changes?

Consider Landscaping and Groundskeeping Workers if you want to landscape or maintain grounds of property using hand or power tools or equipment. Consider Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners if you would rather perform any combination of light cleaning duties to maintain private households or commercial establishments, such as hotels and hospitals, in a clean and orderly manner. Both list no formal educational credential; compare training and prior experience separately.

Try this next: Compare three local entry-level postings for Landscaping and Groundskeeping Workers and Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners. 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

Landscaping and Groundskeeping Workers

National median pay (2025): $39,150
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: Gather and remove litter.
Annual openings (2025–2035): 149,500

Know before you choose

The work can involve real occupational hazards. Training, protective equipment, and routine safety discipline matter every day.

See the full Landscaping and Groundskeeping Workers brief

Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners

National median pay (2025): $35,510
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: Keep storage areas and carts well-stocked, clean, and tidy.
Annual openings (2025–2035): 175,500

Know before you choose

BLS projects essentially flat employment (0.6%) through 2035. Annual openings mostly reflect replacement, not a rapidly expanding field.

See the full Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners brief

How the national numbers differ

Landscaping and Groundskeeping Workers has the edge on projected growth

Landscaping and Groundskeeping Workers is at 4.7% projected growth, compared with 0.6% projected growth for Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners.

Landscaping and Groundskeeping Workers has the edge on median pay

Landscaping and Groundskeeping Workers is at $39,150, compared with $35,510 for Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners.

Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners has the edge on annual openings

Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners is at 175,500 annual openings, compared with 149,500 annual openings for Landscaping and Groundskeeping Workers.

61/ 100

Landscaping and Groundskeeping Workers

50/ 100

Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners

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

Landscaping and Groundskeeping Workers vs Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners

Dimension	Landscaping and Groundskeeping Workers	Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners
Median pay (2025)	$39,150	$35,510
Pay percentile	10.1 percentile	3.6 percentile
Projected growth (2025–2035)	4.7%	0.6%
Annual openings (2025–2035)	149,500	175,500
2025 employment	1,188,600	1,332,100
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 Landscaping and Groundskeeping Workers brief Read Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners brief

Landscaping and Groundskeeping Workers vs Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners: what changes?

The facts most likely to affect your decision

Landscaping and Groundskeeping Workers

Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners

How the national numbers differ

Landscaping and Groundskeeping Workers has the edge on projected growth

Landscaping and Groundskeeping Workers has the edge on median pay

Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners has the edge on annual openings

Landscaping and Groundskeeping Workers vs Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners

Try another comparison

Landscaping and Groundskeeping Workers vs Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners

Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners vs Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners