BLS wage data says landscapers in New York earn $24.79/hr. That's 33.1% above the national average. Here's what that means for your bids.
BLS Hourly Wage
$24.79
Customer Rate
$53–$71/hr
Markup Factor
2.5x
Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) 2023. Customer rate = wage × markup.
New York
National Avg
New York runs noticeably above the national average. Higher cost of living pushes wages up, and your bids should reflect that. Underbidding here means underpaying yourself.
| Service | New York Price Range |
|---|---|
| Lawn mowing (average lot, weekly) | $53–$106 |
| Seasonal cleanup (spring/fall) | $200–$532 |
| Mulching (per cubic yard installed) | $80–$160 |
| Shrub trimming and pruning | $67–$200 |
| Sod installation (per 1,000 sq ft) | $532–$1197 |
| Flower bed design and planting | $399–$1996 |
| Retaining wall (per linear ft) | $33–$100 |
| Irrigation system install | $3326–$6653 |
| Full landscape design-build | $3992–$19958 |
Prices adjusted from national averages using New York BLS wage data. Your local market may vary.
Pre-loaded with New York rates. Enter your job's square footage and type to get a starting price.
Estimated per-job price for New York (—–—/hr effective rate)
Based on BLS wage data for New York (NY). Rates reflect state-level labor costs.
State averages hide the gap between metros. Here's what landscapers actually charge in the largest New York markets.
Highest landscaping rates in the country. Manhattan and brownstone Brooklyn (Park Slope, Cobble Hill, Carroll Gardens, Boerum Hill, Brooklyn Heights) dominate; queue-and-walk-up access (no driveway, no truck parking) drives 25–40% access overhead. NYC commercial work intersects Local Law 97 (building-decarb mandate) green-roof and bioswale scope on multifamily and commercial properties. Per-visit minimums of $185+ are normal even on small townhouse gardens. NYC noise rules limit gas-equipment hours; battery-equipment crews are increasingly the default.
Two-tier market. Nassau and inland Suffolk track NYC suburban rates. The Hamptons (East Hampton, Southampton, Sag Harbor, Bridgehampton, Montauk) and North Shore Gold Coast (Old Westbury, Oyster Bay, Sands Point) support summer-peak premium pricing for full-service estate work — heads-of-household expect named-foreman, bilingual crew leads, and same-day response May–September. Suffolk County ag-board nursery and farm-to-residential supply chain is a meaningful labor and material distinction.
Strong year-round commuter-market base with high-end estate sub-market in Bedford, Pound Ridge, Scarsdale, Rye, Bronxville, Greenwich-adjacent. Westchester deer pressure is severe — deer-resistant plant selection and fencing scope are a sustained sub-category. Rockland and Putnam track lower than Westchester core but retain the I-87 / I-684 corridor commute-radius premium.
Weekend-home and second-home market dominates north of Beacon — Hudson, Rhinebeck, Kingston, Saugerties, Tannersville, Tivoli, Millbrook. Friday-arrival / Sunday-departure rhythm drives pre-arrival walk-and-restart scope (irrigation on, mowing complete, hardscape blown clear). Native-plant and ecological-restoration work is a growing sub-market — Hudson Valley clientele is environmentally-engaged and willing to pay for documented native sourcing (Catskill Native Nursery, Hudson Valley Seed).
Hard-freeze seasonal economics. Service window is roughly Memorial Day to Columbus Day (5 months) for active landscape work; snow plowing and winter property checks fill the remaining 7 months for crews that maintain year-round operation. Lake Placid, Lake George, Bolton Landing, Hague, and Tannersville support resort-and-second-home premium rates for the short season; interior Adirondack and Catskill rural rates run lower. Trail-and-driveway maintenance, dock and waterfront landscape work, and hardwood-tree storm cleanup are major sub-categories.
Lowest landscaping rates in the state. Saratoga Springs (Saratoga Race Course, August summer-peak) supports a 6-week premium summer rate. Buffalo and Rochester have strong year-round snow-plowing demand offsetting the short landscape season. Cornell Cooperative Extension network drives a research-informed native-plant sub-market in Tompkins (Ithaca) and Onondaga (Syracuse) counties.
The factors that actually move landscaping bids in New York — beyond the BLS wage number.
NYC has a substantial inventory of landlord-owned multifamily and townhouse properties with rear-yard gardens, front-tree-pit beds, and roof-deck planters where the maintenance scope is contractually the landlord's, not the tenant's. NYC Multiple Dwelling Law and HPD rules require landlords to maintain rear-yard drainage, tree-pit health (DPR jurisdiction on street trees, landlord on private trees), and walkway/safety scope. Landscape maintenance bids on multifamily must include access-coordination scope (super or porter coordination, key/buzzer protocol, garbage-day timing constraints) and per-visit minimums that reflect the access overhead. A simple front-tree-pit refresh that's $185 in suburban Westchester is $385+ in Brooklyn because of the access-coordination labor.
NYC Local Law 97 (Climate Mobilization Act, in force since 2024 with escalating penalties through 2030) imposes carbon caps on most buildings >25,000 sq ft. Compliance pathways increasingly include green-roof installs, cool-roof transitions, bioswale and rain-garden stormwater scope, and building-perimeter native-plant carbon-sequestration installs. Landscape contractors with documented LL97-adjacent capability (green-roof certification — GRP or GAF-CRP, native-plant sourcing chain-of-custody, bioswale design coordination with landscape architects) win sustained multifamily and commercial contracts at premium rates. Quote LL97-driven work with explicit reference to the building's compliance pathway and the property manager's Article 320 reporting obligation.
New York requires DEC (Department of Environmental Conservation) pesticide-applicator certification (Category 3a — Ornamental and Turf, or Category 3b — Lawn) for any commercial application of restricted-use pesticides. Long Island has additional restrictions under the Long Island Pesticide Pollution Prevention Strategy — many residential pesticide applications restricted in Nassau and Suffolk to protect groundwater. The 2010 NY Neighbor Notification Law requires residential lawn pesticide applicators to register with the county and provide written notice to neighbors within 150 feet 48 hours before application in opt-in counties (Suffolk, Nassau, Westchester, Albany, Rockland, Erie, Monroe). Bid pesticide-inclusive maintenance contracts with explicit DEC-certification documentation and county-specific notification scope.
The Adirondack Park (6 million acres, mixed public/private with APA jurisdiction) and the Catskill Park (700,000 acres, mostly DEC Forest Preserve with private inholdings) impose substantial-environmental-review requirements on landscape work touching wetlands, shoreline buffers, or steep slopes. APA Class A wetlands permits (within 100 feet of designated wetland, navigable waterway, or shoreline) and DEC Article 24 freshwater-wetlands permits drive a 6–12 week permit timeline for any waterfront landscape work, dock-adjacent work, or shoreline-restoration scope. Lake-association-specific covenants (Lake George Park Commission, Lake Placid Land Conservancy) add layered review. Quote permit-required work with explicit APA/DEC permit timeline and refer the client to the regional permit-administration office for confirmation.
Hudson Valley north of Beacon has the densest concentration of NYC-owned weekend-and-second homes in the country outside of the Hamptons. Friday-arrival / Sunday-departure rhythm drives pre-arrival landscape scope: irrigation on, mowing complete by Friday noon, hardscape blown clear, deer-fence integrity check, deck-pot watering schedule confirmed. A Friday-arrival miss is a reputation event — NYC weekenders talk and one screwed-up property in a Rhinebeck or Hudson micro-market kills 4+ adjacent contracts. Quote Friday-deadline scope with explicit weather-contingency language and document the pre-arrival walk-and-restart with photos. Native-plant sourcing chain-of-custody (Catskill Native Nursery, Hudson Valley Seed Library) is a billable line item — Hudson Valley clientele will pay 25–40% above commodity-nursery pricing for documented native sourcing.
Everywhere in NY except NYC core (where snow is a building-staff or city-DSNY responsibility on most multifamily) and Long Island (where snow events are sporadic and rarely 12-month contracts), snow plowing is the year-round revenue offset that lets landscape crews maintain headcount through the November–April off-season. Standard contracts are seasonal-flat-rate (per-property) for residential and per-event-trigger (with hourly hot-line rates) for commercial. Capital Region (Albany, Schenectady, Troy) and Western NY (Buffalo especially — average 95+ inches/year) have the heaviest snow-plowing demand. Bid snow scope with explicit trigger thresholds (typically 2-inch trigger residential, 1-inch trigger commercial), salt/sand application rate per visit, and 24/7 callout rate.
The most common landscaping jobs in New York, with what to focus on in the bid and what to watch out for.
What to know about New York-specific licensing, permitting, and compliance before bidding landscaping work.
This is general guidance, not legal advice. Confirm current requirements with the New York licensing board and your local jurisdiction before bidding.
Based on BLS wage data, landscapers in New York typically charge between $53 and $71 per hour. The actual rate depends on the job type, scope, and whether materials are included.
Landscaping labor costs in New York are 33.1% above the national average. The BLS-reported hourly wage in New York is $24.79, compared to $18.63 nationally.
Start with your labor cost ($24.79/hr in New York), apply a 2.5x markup to cover overhead, supplies, insurance, and profit. That puts your customer-facing rate around $53–$71/hr. Then adjust for job scope: complex jobs command higher rates.
The biggest factors are metro vs. rural (cities within New York can vary 30–40%), job complexity, and recurring vs. one-time work. Recurring contracts cost less per visit because there's no re-quoting or onboarding.
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Sample bid sheet with line items, scope, and payment terms — pair with the New York rates above.
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