---
title: "Farmworker and Laborer, Crop, Nursery, and Greenhouse"
description: "Manually plant, cultivate, and harvest vegetables, fruits, nuts, horticultural specialties, and field crops. Use hand tools, such as shovels, trowels…"
canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/farmworker-and-laborer-crop-nursery-and-greenhouse"
last-updated: "2026-08-23T15:56:39.581Z"
---

# Farmworker and Laborer, Crop, Nursery, and Greenhouse

**Category:** Farming, Fishing, and Forestry · **SOC code:** 45-2092 · **O\*NET-SOC code:** 45-2092.00

Manually plant, cultivate, and harvest vegetables, fruits, nuts, horticultural specialties, and field crops. Use hand tools, such as shovels, trowels, hoes, tampers, pruning hooks, shears, and knives. Duties may include tilling soil and applying fertilizers; transplanting, weeding, thinning, or pruning crops; applying pesticides; or cleaning, grading, sorting, packing, and loading harvested products. May construct trellises, repair fences and farm buildings, or participate in irrigation activities.

Also advertised as: Farm Laborer; Farmer; Field Irrigation Worker; Gardener; Greenhouse Worker; Grower; Harvester; Nursery Worker.

## At a glance

- **Median annual wage:** $35,660 (BLS OEWS, May 2025)
- **Median hourly wage:** $17.15/hr
- **Wage range (10th–90th percentile):** $32,900 to $45,690, with the middle half between $34,320 and $38,840
- **Total US employment:** 265,500
- **Typical entry education:** No formal credential
- **Preparation required:** Little or no preparation — O\*NET rates this "Job Zone 1-2: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed"
- **Projected growth:** -3.3% over 2024–2034 (BLS EP, 2024–2034)
- **Annual job openings:** 71,700 openings a year
- **AI-resilience score:** 63/100 — a NueCareer heuristic over O\*NET work activities and context, not a BLS or O\*NET figure

## Pay

National wage distribution, BLS OEWS, May 2025, across 265,500 US jobs.

| Percentile | Annual wage |
| --- | --- |
| 10th | $32,900 |
| 25th | $34,320 |
| 50th (median) | $35,660 |
| 75th | $38,840 |
| 90th | $45,690 |
| Mean (average) | $37,630 |

### Pay by state

The 15 highest-paying states, by median annual wage. The cost-of-living-adjusted column divides the state median by that state's BEA Regional Price Parity, so the columns answer different questions: the first is what the job pays there, the second is what that pay buys there.

| State | Median annual wage | Cost-of-living adjusted | Employment |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| WY | $55,180 | $59,531 | 50 |
| SD | $42,260 | $47,705 | 190 |
| MT | $41,390 | $43,732 | 720 |
| IL | $41,050 | $41,067 | 2,850 |
| NY | $40,930 | $37,926 | 2,760 |
| NE | $39,530 | $43,872 | 440 |
| WA | $39,170 | $36,603 | 13,490 |
| ME | $39,060 | $40,247 | 280 |
| MI | $38,680 | $40,201 | 5,410 |
| MD | $38,420 | $36,605 | 1,380 |
| MA | $38,220 | $36,139 | 1,340 |
| CO | $38,170 | $37,040 | 2,450 |
| MN | $38,080 | $38,612 | 1,200 |
| NJ | $37,710 | $34,658 | 2,430 |
| IA | $37,590 | $42,832 | 930 |

36 more states with published wage data are omitted here. The full table for all 51 states is at https://nuecareer.com/careers/farmworker-and-laborer-crop-nursery-and-greenhouse/salary-by-state, or as JSON at https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/farmworker-and-laborer-crop-nursery-and-greenhouse.

## Outlook

BLS projects employment to move from 504,800 in the 2024–2034 base year to 488,100 by the end of the cycle — a loss of 16,800 jobs, or -3.3%. Declining: -3.3% against 3.1% projected for all occupations over the same cycle. About 71,700 openings a year are expected on average, counting openings from growth as well as from workers leaving the occupation permanently. Source: BLS EP, 2024–2034.

## How to get in

- **Typical entry education:** No formal educational credential (BLS Employment Projections).
- **Preparation level:** Little or no preparation — O\*NET's preparation band for this occupation is "Job Zone 1-2: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed".
- **Related work experience typically required:** None.
- **Typical on-the-job training:** Short-term on-the-job training.

### Education people in this job actually hold

O\*NET surveys incumbents, so this distribution describes who is in the job today and can differ from the BLS entry requirement above.

| Education level | Share of workers |
| --- | --- |
| Less than a High School Diploma | 39.0% |
| High School Diploma | 28.5% |
| Bachelor's Degree | 15.3% |
| Some College Courses | 5.3% |
| Master's Degree | 5.1% |
| First Professional Degree | 3.0% |

## What the work involves

- Operate tractors, tractor-drawn machinery, and self-propelled machinery to plow, harrow and fertilize soil, or to plant, cultivate, spray and harvest crops.
- Repair and maintain farm vehicles, implements, and mechanical equipment.
- Harvest plants, and transplant or pot and label them.
- Identify plants, pests, and weeds to determine the selection and application of pesticides and fertilizers.
- Direct and monitor the work of casual and seasonal help during planting and harvesting.
- Participate in the inspection, grading, sorting, storage, and post-harvest treatment of crops.
- Load agricultural products into trucks, and drive trucks to market or storage facilities.
- Record information about crops, such as pesticide use, yields, or costs.

## Skills and knowledge

### Essential skills

- Speaking — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Listening — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Reading Comprehension — importance 2.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Writing — importance 2.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Critical Thinking — importance 2.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Monitoring — importance 2.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Learning — importance 2.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Learning Strategies — importance 2.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Transferable skills

These are the skills that carry into other occupations, and they drive the related-occupation and career-change rankings on this site.

- Operations Monitoring — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Social Perceptiveness — importance 2.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Operation and Control — importance 2.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Repairing — importance 2.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Time Management — importance 2.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Equipment Maintenance — importance 2.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Troubleshooting — importance 2.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Quality Control Analysis — importance 2.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Knowledge areas

- Food Production — importance 2.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Biology — importance 2.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Mechanical — importance 2.7 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Administration and Management — importance 2.7 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Chemistry — importance 2.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Mathematics — importance 2.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Abilities

- Trunk Strength — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Arm-Hand Steadiness — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Control Precision — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Manual Dexterity — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Multilimb Coordination — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Extent Flexibility — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

## Who it suits

O\*NET rates every occupation on the six Holland (RIASEC) interest areas, on a 1–7 scale. This occupation's strongest areas are Realistic (R), Conventional (C).

| Interest area | Score (1–7) |
| --- | --- |
| R — Realistic | 7.00 |
| C — Conventional | 3.36 |
| E — Enterprising | 2.37 |
| I — Investigative | 2.32 |
| S — Social | 1.86 |
| A — Artistic | 1.28 |

### Personality fit

These scores are **derived by NueCareer**, not published by any government agency: they are cosine similarities between a personality type's trait profile and this occupation's O\*NET interest and work-style ratings, expressed 0–100. Treat them as a starting point for exploration, not as evidence that a type belongs in a job.

| Type | Fit score (0–100) |
| --- | --- |
| ISTJ | 84.7 |
| ISTP | 74.3 |
| ESTJ | 73.2 |
| ISFJ | 70.3 |
| ESTP | 63.1 |

Best-fitting types: ISTJ. The bank also flags this occupation as introvert-friendly, meaning O\*NET work-context ratings put it low on public contact and performing for the public.

## Related occupations

O\*NET's primary related occupations, in its own ranked order.

- [Agricultural Equipment Operator](https://nuecareer.com/careers/agricultural-equipment-operator) — median $41,730
- [Farmworker, Farm, Ranch, and Aquacultural Animal](https://nuecareer.com/careers/farmworker-farm-ranch-and-aquacultural-animal) — median $36,670
- [Grader and Sorter, Agricultural Products](https://nuecareer.com/careers/grader-and-sorter-agricultural-products) — median $35,730
- [Landscaping and Groundskeeping Worker](https://nuecareer.com/careers/landscaping-and-groundskeeping-worker) — median $39,150
- [Pesticide Handler, Sprayer, and Applicator, Vegetation](https://nuecareer.com/careers/pesticide-handler-sprayer-and-applicator-vegetation) — median $46,340
- [Separating, Filtering, Clarifying, Precipitating, and Still Machine Setter, Operator, and Tender](https://nuecareer.com/careers/separating-filtering-clarifying-precipitating-and-still-machine-setter-operator-and-tender) — median $51,610
- [Forest and Conservation Worker](https://nuecareer.com/careers/forest-and-conservation-worker) — median $43,680
- [Tree Trimmer and Pruner](https://nuecareer.com/careers/tree-trimmer-and-pruner) — median $50,960
- [Faller](https://nuecareer.com/careers/faller) — median $52,100
- [Laborer and Freight, Stock, and Material Mover, Hand](https://nuecareer.com/careers/laborer-and-freight-stock-and-material-mover-hand) — median $40,240

## Sources

- **O\*NET** — O\*NET 30.3 Database, May 2026. https://www.onetcenter.org/database.html
- **BLS OEWS** — BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. https://www.bls.gov/oes/
- **BLS EP** — BLS Employment Projections, Table 1.2, 2024–2034. https://www.bls.gov/emp/
- **BLS OOH** — BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2024–2034 edition. https://www.bls.gov/ooh/
- **BEA RPP** — BEA Regional Price Parities by State, 2024. https://www.bea.gov/data/prices-inflation/regional-price-parities-state-and-metro-area

---

This bank includes information from the O\*NET 30.3 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). O\*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. NueCareer has transformed the data by joining it to BLS wage and projection data and deriving facet, personality-fit and AI-resilience scores. BLS and BEA data are public domain (17 U.S.C. §105).

O\*NET content is used under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). How these figures are sourced and derived: https://nuecareer.com/careers/methodology

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