Landscaping and Groundskeeping Workers in Pennsylvania
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$32,706
after federal, FICA and Pennsylvania tax
Tax takes
$6,794
17.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$33,544
Pennsylvania costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Pennsylvania — roughly, since only five points along the band are published.
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
$39,500
Kept after tax
$32,706
Worth in national money
$33,544
State rank
23
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Pennsylvania pays landscaping and groundskeeping workers around $39,500 at the midpoint, 23 of 51 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Against 492 occupations Pennsylvania publishes, landscaping and groundskeeping workers lands at 419. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- No great distortion either way. Pennsylvania costs about what the country costs, so from $39,500, take-home of $32,706 is worth roughly $33,544 in national money. The average comes to $41,490, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For landscaping and groundskeeping workers the Pennsylvania median is $39,500, ranking 23 of 51 states reporting. Mid-band nominal positions are the ones most frequently reordered by the adjustments, because no large wage premium exists to absorb a state's tax or price level.
- Within Pennsylvania, this work ranks 419 of 492 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.
- Price parity in Pennsylvania is near the national base, so for landscaping and groundskeeping workers, whose median is $39,500, the adjusted figure of $33,544 differs little from $32,706 retained after tax. The state's position for this occupation is therefore set by wage and tax rather than by living costs. At $41,490 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
| Lowest tenth earn under | $29,780 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $39,500 |
| Top tenth earn over | $53,320 |
| This salary | $39,500 |
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
| Take-home in Pennsylvania | $32,706 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $33,918 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,360 |
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
| To match take-home only | $37,991 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$1,645 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 98 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $39,500 as a midpoint for Pennsylvania, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $29,780 and the ninetieth is $53,320 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $32,706 take-home in Pennsylvania comes from $39,500. It is the no-frills case: single filer, standard deduction, nothing set aside before tax. Real circumstances almost always reduce the tax. City and school-district taxes are not counted at all. Locally the work ranks 419 of 492.
- Two cautions on $33,544, the adjusted value of that $39,500 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Pennsylvania. No actual address matches that. The wage figures and price figures are also from different years. Each is published on its own timetable. This work sits at 419 of 492 locally.
- The Pennsylvania median of $39,500 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $29,780 to $53,320. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Retained pay of $32,706, from $39,500, assumes a single Pennsylvania filer with the standard deduction and no elective deferrals. Pre-tax retirement or HSA contributions, dependants and itemized deductions all reduce it further; local income taxes, excluded here, would increase it in the states that levy them. This occupation ranks 419 of 492 locally, and the state ranks 23 of 51 for it.
- This $33,544 adjusted figure, worked from $39,500, rests on a state-level price parity averaging over within-state dispersion larger than much of the between-state dispersion. Wage and price vintages differ by publication schedule. The result is directionally sound and not address-specific, for work at 419 of 492 in the state. The occupation ranks 419 of 492 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $41,490, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $29,780 at the bottom tenth to $53,320 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Pennsylvania sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $33,544 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Into four separate taxes, not one. Federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare apply everywhere, and Pennsylvania adds its own income tax on top — which is why $32,706 of this wage survives to your account.
Can I compare this job across every state?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like one.
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 Pennsylvania is $41,490. 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 ($29,780 to $53,320) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Pennsylvania rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Pennsylvania'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 $33,544 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 $32,706 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Pennsylvania 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.