Landscaping and Groundskeeping Workers in Indiana

Gardening tools, gloves and potted plants beside a landscaped garden.

May 2025 wages · tax year 2026

You keep

$31,676

after federal, FICA and Indiana tax

Tax takes

$6,394

16.8% of the whole

Worth, in national money

$34,361

Indiana costs less than average

One filer, standard deduction, no dependants and nothing paid in before tax — the same household the rest of this page uses, so the comparison holds. City and school-district income taxes are not included.

Median here

$38,070

Kept after tax

$31,676

Worth in national money

$34,361

State rank

35

of 51 states

What this pays, and what it is worth

  • Pay for landscaping and groundskeeping workers is on the low side in Indiana. The middle earner gets $38,070. That is 35 of 51 states, and about 2.76% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
  • Against 493 occupations Indiana publishes, landscaping and groundskeeping workers lands at 421. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
  • Indiana is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $38,070 the take-home is $31,676; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $34,361 would nationally. The average comes to $40,020, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
  • For landscaping and groundskeeping workers, Indiana sits in the lower band at $38,070, ranking 35 of 51 and trailing the national median by about 2.76%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
  • Within Indiana, this work ranks 421 of 493 occupations by median pay, in the bottom quartile. The within-state position is the more salient one for anyone weighing this job against alternatives available to them locally.
  • Post-tax income for landscaping and groundskeeping workers in Indiana, on $38,070, is $31,676 — equivalent to $34,361 once regional price parity is applied. ⚠️ The adjustment uses a statewide index that describes no particular address; within-state price variation, concentrated in housing, routinely exceeds the difference between two states. At $40,020 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.

Compare this career across states

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Pay band: Landscaping and Groundskeeping Workers

The state median for this job

50thpercentile, roughly
Lowest tenth earn under$28,870
Half earn under$38,070
Top tenth earn over$49,820
This salary$38,070

Positions between the published tenth, quarter, half, three-quarter and ninetieth points are estimated by straight line.

The same pay, somewhere else

The state median for this job

Compare with
+$1,094take-home per year in Texas
Take-home in Indiana$31,676
Take-home in Texas$32,769
Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity−$639

The raise and the real gain point in opposite directions here.

State income tax and state price levels only. No city income tax, and no housing market.

What you would need there

The state median for this job

Moving to
$0$38,843
$38,843in Texas, for the same life
To match take-home only$36,709
Raise you would need+$773
Prices in Texas97 vs 92

State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.

Sources and assumptions
  • A median is the middle, not an offer. Half of landscaping and groundskeeping workers in Indiana earn under $38,070 and half over. The published range runs $28,870 at the tenth percentile to $49,820 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
  • In Indiana the take-home figure of $31,676, from $38,070, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 421 of 493 occupations here.
  • The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $34,361 uses one figure for the whole of Indiana. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 493 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 421.
  • Figures are distribution medians for landscaping and groundskeeping workers in Indiana, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $28,870 to $49,820; within-state dispersion of that width routinely exceeds the dispersion between states, so tenure, employer and metropolitan area predict an individual's pay better than geography does.
  • Take-home for Indiana is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $31,676 from $38,070. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 421 of 493 locally.
  • Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $34,361, worked from $38,070, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular Indiana address, on work sitting at 421 of 493 locally.

Questions people ask

Is this the average pay for the job?

Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $40,020 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.

How much does pay for this job actually vary?

Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $28,870 at the tenth percentile, $49,820 at the ninetieth.

What does this pay actually buy where I live?

Further than the number implies. Indiana is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $34,361 in national terms.

Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?

Three of them are federal and one is not. After income tax, Social Security, Medicare and Indiana's own levy, $31,676 remains.

Can I compare this job across every state?

Yes for this one. Pay is published in all 51 jurisdictions, so a state-to-state comparison here rests on the same survey everywhere rather than on a patchwork.

How does the published median differ from the mean for this occupation?

The median is the midpoint of the distribution; the mean for this occupation in Indiana is $40,020. Wage distributions are right-skewed, so the mean exceeds the median wherever a minority earn substantially more. BLS publishes both because substituting one for the other misstates a typical worker's pay.

What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?

The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($28,870 to $49,820) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Indiana rather than a national figure.

What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?

Indiana's regional price parity is at or below the national average, so nominal wages understate purchasing power. Take-home deflated by the state price level is $34,361 in national-average terms. The adjustment uses an all-items index and does not isolate housing.

What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?

Take-home of $31,676 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Indiana income tax for a single filer with no adjustments. The state layer is levied in addition to the federal one; only its rate and base differ between states.

Is this occupation's state coverage complete?

State-level estimates are published for all 51 jurisdictions for this occupation, so cross-state comparison is not confounded by suppression. ⚠️ Estimates remain survey-based and carry sampling error; small differences between adjacent states should not be over-read.