The U.S. landscaping industry counted 114,842 employer firms in 2022, running 117,109 locations with 774,028 employees and $118.4 billion in receipts. 72.0 percent of those firms have fewer than five employees, payroll takes about 32.5 percent of revenue, and the 5.7 percent of firms with 20 or more staff collect 51.7 percent of all landscaping receipts, per Census and BLS data.
How many landscaping businesses are there in the United States?
There are 114,842 employer firms in landscaping services (NAICS 561730), operating 117,109 establishments, according to the Census Bureau's 2022 Statistics of U.S. Businesses. That is the largest single category inside the services-to-buildings-and-dwellings group (NAICS 5617), which also holds janitorial, pest control and carpet cleaning: landscaping accounts for 53.3 percent of that group's firms, 51.4 percent of its receipts and 36.7 percent of its employment.
These are employer firms only, meaning businesses with at least one paid employee. A mow-and-blow operator working alone is a nonemployer business and is not in this table, and landscaping has a very large solo tier, so the number of landscaping businesses is well above 114,842. The Bureau of Labor Statistics adds a useful clue on that side of the industry: 20 percent of grounds maintenance workers are self-employed, the second-largest employer category after contracted landscaping firms.
How much revenue does the average landscaping company make?
Landscaping firms averaged about $1.03 million in annual receipts in 2022 ($118.4 billion across 114,842 firms), but the average hides a wide spread. The 82,695 firms with fewer than five employees averaged about $300,000, firms with five to nine employees about $933,000, and firms with 10 to 19 employees about $1.88 million. Revenue roughly triples between the smallest tier and the five-to-nine tier, which is the step where a landscaper stops being an owner with a helper and becomes a crew-based business.
At the top, the concentration is real but modest next to other service industries. The 6,568 firms with 20 or more employees are only 5.7 percent of landscaping companies, yet they collect 51.7 percent of receipts. The 16 firms with 5,000 or more employees alone reported $9.9 billion, 8.3 percent of the category, which is where national commercial grounds-care contractors sit in the same Census code as a three-person residential crew.
How small is the typical landscaping business?
72.0 percent of landscaping firms (82,695 of 114,842) have fewer than five employees, and 94.3 percent (108,274) have fewer than 20. Those small firms employ a large share of the workforce: companies under 20 employees provide 340,782 of the industry's 774,028 jobs, or 44.0 percent, while the 6,568 larger firms employ the other 56.0 percent. The average landscaping firm has about 6.7 employees, and the average firm under five employees has only 1.4, which says that most of the smallest operators are one owner plus an occasional hire.
Compared with other trades we have covered, landscaping skews small. Its under-five share of 72.0 percent is higher than the 66.1 percent for cleaning firms, and it is a business where the owner's own hours are a large part of the labor. That matters for how the numbers read: a firm with $300,000 in receipts and one employee on the payroll is not a failing business, it is the normal shape of the industry.
What do landscaping companies spend on payroll, and what do landscapers earn?
Landscaping firms paid $38.5 billion in payroll in 2022, or 32.5 percent of receipts. The ratio climbs with size: 24.1 percent for firms under five employees, where the owner's own work is not on the payroll line, 29.8 percent for firms with five to nine employees and 32.5 percent across the whole industry. The remaining two-thirds of each dollar has to cover trucks, trailers, mowers and other equipment, fuel, materials such as mulch and plants, insurance and the owner's profit.
On the workforce side, the Bureau of Labor Statistics counted 1,299,200 grounds maintenance worker jobs in 2025, with a median pay of $40,080 a year ($19.27 an hour). Landscaping and groundskeeping workers, the largest group at 1,188,600 jobs, had a median wage of $18.82 an hour, while tree trimmers and pruners earned $24.50. Employment is projected to grow 5 percent from 2025 to 2035, adding about 60,100 jobs and 162,500 openings a year, which the BLS calls faster than average. 48 percent of these workers are employed by landscaping and building-services firms, 20 percent are self-employed and 8 percent work for government.
The BLS also notes that much of the work is seasonal, concentrated in spring, summer and fall, and that many companies add services such as snow removal in winter. That seasonality is the defining cash-flow fact of the industry: payroll and fuel run all season while a large share of annual revenue is concentrated in a few months.
What these numbers mean for financing a landscaping business
The data describes an industry that is easy to enter and capital-intensive to grow. A new landscaping company needs a truck, a trailer and a set of commercial mowers and trimmers before its first invoice, and moving from the $300,000 tier to the $933,000 tier means more crews, more equipment and more payroll in front of revenue. Owners commonly use equipment financing for mowers, skid steers and trucks, and a business line of credit to cover payroll and materials through the slow months. Commercial maintenance contracts that pay on net-30 or net-60 terms are a natural fit for invoice factoring.
Our guides on business funding for landscapers and funding for lawn care businesses cover which products fit which stage, and business loans for seasonal businesses explains how lenders look at revenue that peaks and dips. The Broker Shop is a funding broker, not a lender: one application is matched to the lenders among 50+ whose guidelines fit your business, and those lenders compete for the deal. Checking your options won't affect your credit score, and it is free to apply.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many landscaping companies are in the U.S.?
The Census Bureau's 2022 Statistics of U.S. Businesses counts 114,842 employer firms in landscaping services (NAICS 561730), operating 117,109 establishments with 774,028 employees. Solo landscapers with no payroll are counted separately as nonemployer businesses and are not included, so the total number of landscaping businesses is higher.
What is the average revenue of a landscaping business?
Landscaping firms averaged about $1.03 million in annual receipts in 2022 ($118.4 billion across 114,842 firms), according to Census SUSB data, but the typical company is much smaller: firms with fewer than five employees, which are 72.0 percent of the industry, averaged about $300,000, and firms with five to nine employees about $933,000.
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau — 2022 Statistics of U.S. Businesses, firms, establishments, employment, payroll and receipts by NAICS 561730 and 5617, by enterprise size · Bureau of Labor Statistics — Occupational Outlook Handbook, Grounds Maintenance Workers (2025 employment, median pay, 2025–35 projections, employment by industry)
Found these figures useful? You are welcome to cite or link to this page. Suggested attribution: “Landscaping Industry Statistics 2026 (Census & BLS Data),” The Broker Shop — thebrokershopinc.com/landscaping-industry-statistics-2026.html. Every figure links to its original primary source; averages and shares are computed from the totals named above.
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See What I Qualify For →The bottom line: The landscaping industry is 114,842 employer firms and 774,028 jobs earning $118.4 billion, where 72 percent of companies have fewer than five employees, payroll takes about 32.5 percent of every dollar and the 5.7 percent of firms with 20 or more staff collect 51.7 percent of revenue; the business that competes with them is a sub-$300,000 owner-and-helper crew whose growth is paced by how it funds equipment and seasonal payroll.