Landscape Architects
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Overview
Plan and design land areas for projects such as parks and other recreational facilities, airports, highways, hospitals, schools, land subdivisions, and commercial, industrial, and residential sites.
Highlights
Undergraduate program resulting in the highest median salary ($126K): Computer Science
Largest undergraduate program (65.4% of workers): Architecture
Explore Pathways
Titles for this career often contain these words
LandscapeArchitectDesignerPlannerEnvironmentalGolfCourseEnvironmentFriendlyExteriorIndoorLandEngineerOutdoorProjectSeniorSiteSustainable
SOURCES:
2018 SOC codes
2020 CareerOneStop
25.2 O*NET
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Responsibilities and activities

Landscape architects typically do the following:

  • Meet with clients, engineers, and building architects to understand the requirements of a project
  • Prepare site plans, specifications, and cost estimates
  • Coordinate the arrangement of existing and proposed land features and structures
  • Prepare graphic representations of plans using computer-aided design and drafting (CADD) software
  • Select appropriate landscaping materials
  • Analyze environmental reports on land conditions, such as drainage and energy usage
  • Inspect landscape project progress to ensure that it adheres to plans
  • Seek new work through marketing activities or by giving presentations

Landscape architects design attractive and functional public parks, gardens, playgrounds, residential areas, college campuses, and public spaces. They also plan the locations of buildings, roads, walkways, flowers, shrubs, and trees within these environments. Landscape architects design these areas so that they are not only easy to use but also harmonious with the natural environment.

Landscape architects use various technologies in their work. For example, using CADD software, landscape architects prepare models of their proposed work. They present these models to clients for feedback and then prepare the final look of the project. Many landscape architects also use Geographic Information Systems (GIS) which offer GPS coordinates of different geographical features. This helps landscape architects design different environments by providing clues on where to start planning and how to anticipate future effects of the landscape, such as rainfall running into a valley.

The goals of landscape architects are to enhance the natural beauty of a space and foster environmental benefits. Landscape architects may plan the restoration of natural places that were changed by humans or nature, such as wetlands, streams, and mined areas. They also may design green roofs (roofs that are covered in soil and plants) or rooftop gardens that can retain storm water, absorb air pollution, and cool buildings while also providing pleasant scenery.

SOURCES:
2020 Occupational Outlook Handbook
Salary
Median salary: $70,630 annually
Half of those employed in this career earn between $54,790 and $92,670.
$71K$0$20K$40K$60K$80K$100K$120K
SOURCES:
2019 BLS Occupational Employment
Context: Median Salary
How do salaries for this career compare to other jobs' salaries?
SOURCES:
2019 BLS Occupational Employment
Fewer details
Salary growth for landscape architects
Is this job likely to reward you for sticking with it through pay raises and promotions? The higher a job’s “experience quotient,” the more you are likely to get as you stay there.
Experience quotient percentile
Take a minute to look at how much you might expect your salary to increase with each five years' experience, as well as how the numbers working at each age change. Does this seem to be a job for the young or the old, or could it be a career offering steady salary growth for many years?
Salary distribution
$63K$85K$97K$79K$74K$84K$54K$101K$37K$0$50K$100K$150K$200K20-2425-2930-3435-3940-4445-4950-5455-5960-64
Number employed
01K2K3K4K5K20-2425-2930-3435-3940-4445-4950-5455-5960-64
SOURCES:
2019 ACS microdata
About Landscape Architects
How do benefits for this career compare to other jobs? The availability of health care, especially employer provided health care, and pension plans can add significantly to the value of compensation you receive in a career. These charts compare how this career compares to other careers with regard to health care and pension plans.
Employee has health insurance
Employer is providing health insurance
Employer-provided pension plan is available
SOURCES:
2018-2020 CPS
2019 ACS microdata
Worker concerns
Some jobs are more stressful than others, and some are just plain dangerous. The following list gives the percentages of landscape architects who report hazardous or difficult situations typically occurring at least once a week.
  • Time Pressure (64%)
SOURCES:
25.2 O*NET
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Personality and skills
Can you see yourself in the ranks of Landscape Architects? Here are the skills and traits that could lead to success.
Analytical skills
Landscape architects must understand how their designs will affect locations. When designing a building’s drainage system, for example, landscape architects must understand the interaction between the building and the surrounding land.
Communication skills
Landscape architects share their ideas, both orally and in writing, with clients, other architects, and workers who help prepare drawings. Effective communication is essential to ensuring that the vision for a project gets translated into reality.
Creativity
Landscape architects create the overall look of gardens, parks, and other outdoor areas. Their designs should be both pleasing to the eye and functional.
Problem-solving skills
When designing outdoor spaces, landscape architects must be able to provide solutions to unanticipated challenges. These solutions often involve looking at challenges from different perspectives and providing the best recommendations.
Technical skills
Landscape architects use computer-aided design and drafting (CADD) programs to create representations of their projects. Some also must use Geographic Information Systems (GIS) for their designs.
Visualization skills
Landscape architects must be able to imagine how an overall outdoor space will look once completed.
SOURCES:
2020 Occupational Outlook Handbook
Injury and Illness
About 33 landscape architects become injured or ill for every 10,000 workers, making this job more dangerous than 61% of other careers.
All injuries and illnesses
SOURCES:
2019 BLS Injuries, Illnesses, and Fatalities
Education pathways to this career
Education attained by landscape architects
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), landscape architects typically hold a bachelor's degree.
Sometimes the typical education identified by the BLS differs a bit from the reality of the how much education current workers actually have. The donut shows the education level held by people currently working as landscape architects as reported in responses to the American Community Survey.
Details: Education and training recommended for landscape architects

A bachelor's or master's degree in landscape architecture is usually necessary for entry into the profession. There are two undergraduate landscape architect degrees: a Bachelor of Landscape Architecture (BLA) and a Bachelor of Science in Landscape Architecture (BSLA). These programs usually require 4 to 5 years of study.

Accredited programs are approved by the Landscape Architectural Accreditation Board (LAAB). Prospective landscape architects whose undergraduate degree is in another field may enroll in a Master of Landscape Architecture (MLA) graduate degree program, which typically takes 3 years of full-time study.

Courses typically include landscape design and construction, landscape ecology, and site design. Other relevant coursework may include history of landscape architecture, plant and soil science, and professional practice.

The design studio is a key component of any curriculum. When possible, students are assigned projects that offer hands-on experience. These projects allow students to work with computer-aided design and drafting (CADD), model building, and other design software.

Details: Licensing and certification recommended for landscape architects

All states require landscape architects to be licensed. Candidates for licensure must pass the Landscape Architect Registration Examination (LARE), which is sponsored by the Council of Landscape Architectural Registration Boards.

Candidates who are interested in taking the exam usually need a degree from an accredited school and experience working under the supervision of a licensed landscape architect, although standards vary by state. For candidates without a degree in landscape architecture, many states offer alternative paths—which usually require more work experience—to qualify to take the LARE.

In addition to the LARE, some states have their own registration exam to test for competency on state-specific issues, such as earthquakes in California or hurricanes in Florida. State-specific exams may focus on laws, environmental regulations, plants, soils, climate, and other characteristics unique to the state.

Licensed landscape architects also may obtain voluntary certification from the Council of Landscape Architectural Registration Boards, which might make it easier to get licensed in another state.

SOURCES:
2019 ACS microdata
Education level of Landscape Architects
About 88% of landscape architects have at least a bachelor's degree.
Education attained by landscape architects
None
High School
Some College
Associate's Degree
Bachelor's Degree
Master's Degree
Professional Degree
Doctorate
SOURCES:
2021 Ididio: Award levels
2019 ACS microdata
Top college degrees
Here are the top college degrees held by the 84% of people in this job who have at least a bachelor's degree. Some of degrees may link to multiple programs due to the way Census classifies college majors. Click on a program to learn more about career opportunities for people who major in that field.
  1. Architecture
  2. Commercial Art and Graphic Design
  3. Business/Commerce
  4. Computer Science
  5. Visual and Performing Arts
SOURCES:
2019 ACS microdata
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College majors held by landscape architects
This table shows the college majors held by people working as landscape architects. If you see "**" before the name of a degree/program, that means this field is one that the Department of Education believes is preparatory for this career. However, you can see from this list that those recommendations are far from your only path to this job!
Major
Select any title to learn more about that degree
Salary comparison for bachelor's only
Higher
Similar
Lower
Career salary (tail) versus Career/Major salary (dot)
Does the bachelor's-only salary rise or fall with this major?
$74K$74K
Salary for bachelor's-only
For people with this career and major
Median
Middle 50%
Middle 80%
Salary for all workers
For people with this career and major
Median
Middle 50%
Middle 80%
Education for Career and Major
Bachelor's
Master's
Professional
Doctorate
Workers with this career/major
Percentage in this career with this major
SOURCES:
2019 ACS microdata
2010 CIP Codes
Not so much?
The link between degrees and this career
With the following sankey diagram, you can follow the top ten bachelor's degrees held by people working as landscape architects, and then, in turn, you can see the 10 occupations that hire the most of each degree's graduates. We hope this provides ideas for similar jobs and similar fields of study.
Expand degrees
ArchitectureCommercial Art and G...General BusinessComputer ScienceFine ArtsBusiness Management ...Electrical Engineeri...Philosophy and Relig...General Computer and...General EngineeringAll other degreesThis jobTop 10 majors
SOURCES:
2019 ACS microdata
Where are the jobs
State-by-state employment numbers
Some careers tend to be centered in specific parts of the country. For example, most jobs in fashion are in New York or California. Let's see if your dream job is easy to find in your dream location! We have a few choices for viewing the data that can help you get a full employment picture.
Select a state to see local area details
Number of Landscape Architects per 1,000 workers (ACS)
AKMEWIVTNHWAIDMTNDMNILMINYMAORUTWYSDIAINOHPANJCTRICANVCONEMOKYWVVAMDDEAZNMKSARTNNCSCDCOKLAMSALGAHITXFLPR
SOURCES:
2019 ACS microdata
Fewer details
Job density versus job count
Which states hire the most landscape architects? We wonder if that's a fair question since states come in all sizes, so instead let's start with the question of which states have the highest density of people working as landscape architects. You can choose to view the number of jobs per state if you prefer.
Salaries by state
Let's get a feel for where landscape architects earn the highest salaries. There are several choices for which data we consider and how we view that data, and each can lead to different conclusions, so please read on...
Median salary versus state ratio
We use two methods to compare salaries across states:
  • In-state comparisons: the ratio of median (middle) salaries for landscape architects compared to the median salary for all people working in each state, or
  • Median salary: the unaltered median salaries for landscape architects.
We hope the ratio allows perspective about how salaries may compare to the regional cost-of-living.
The darkest shading corresponds to states in which landscape architects earn the highest salary when compared to other jobs in the state. We think this figure might be a better indicator than the actual salary for your buying power as a state resident.
Select a state to see local area details
Location-adjusted median salary for Landscape Architects (ACS)
AKMEWIVTNHWAIDMTNDMNILMINYMAORUTWYSDIAINOHPANJCTRICANVCONEMOKYWVVAMDDEAZNMKSARTNNCSCDCOKLAMSALGAHITXFLPR
SOURCES:
2019 BLS Occupational Employment
2019 BEA Regional Price Parities
Employment
11% of Landscape architects are working part time.
We’ve found that some jobs have a huge number of part-time workers, and typically that is because they are unable to find full-time work or the job itself can’t provide full-time hours. With 11% part-time workers, this occupation has a lower percentage of part-time workers than 52% of careers.
11%0%20%40%60%80%100%
SOURCES:
2019 ACS microdata
Employer types
This donut shares the break-down of workers by employer type, giving us a picture of what employers most typically hire for this career.
Employers of undefined (ACS)
Private for-profit
Private not-for-profit
Local government
State government
Federal government
Self-employed incorporated
Self-employed not incorporated
Working without pay
SOURCES:
2021 Ididio: Comparing employment
2019 ACS microdata
Fewer details
Distribution: Salaries of landscape architects by type of employer
Here are the salary distributions based on employer type.
$72K$72K$58K$72K$76K$90K$76K$0$50,000$100,000$150,000$200,000Self-employed not incorporatedSelf-employed incorporatedFederal governmentState governmentLocal governmentPrivate for-profitAll
SOURCES:
2021 Ididio: Comparing employment
2019 ACS microdata
Gender
Landscape architects and gender
With 33% women, this occupation has a lower percentage of women than 54% of careers.
Gender of Landscape architects
Men (67%)
Women (33%)
SOURCES:
2019 ACS microdata
Distribution: salaries by gender
Does gender greatly influence your salary in this career? The closer the bars are, the less discrepancy there is.
$62K$75K$0$100K$200K$300KWomenMen
We only include salary data when the survey error is less than 20%, so you may see only partial information for some categories.
SOURCES:
2019 ACS microdata
Fewer details
Context: Women in the workforce
How does this career compare to other careers with regard to the percentage of women in the career.
33%0%20%40%60%80%100%
SOURCES:
2019 ACS microdata
Context: Salary inequity
The median (middle) salary for all full-time male workers in the US exceeds the full-time median salary for women by 19%, and the difference for landscape architects tops that, with the median salary for men 22% higher than the median salary for women.
22%0%20%40%60%80%100%
SOURCES:
2019 ACS microdata
Race/Origin
Race and origin of Landscape architects
This donut shows the distribution of race and origin among those employed as Landscape architects.
Race/origin of landscape architects
White (83% )
Asian (8% )
Black (4% )
Other (3% )
Multiracial (2% )
American Indian (0% )
Hispanic (0% )
SOURCES:
2019 ACS microdata
Distribution: salaries by race/origin
Some careers might have a pay disparity based on race or origin, the closer the below bars are the less of a discrepancy is present.
$62K$70K$85K$0$50K$100K$150KOtherWhiteAsian
We only include salary data when the survey error is less than 20%, so you may see only partial information for some categories.
SOURCES:
2019 ACS microdata
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