Will landscapers be replaced by AI?
Updated
Landscapers score 11 of 100 for AI exposure. 85% of their task time still needs a person. AI speeds up the other 15%.
- 15% AI helps
- 85% Needs a person
Low exposure
Lower than 95% of the 923 occupations we scored.
Task by task
We graded 26 tasks, listed here from most to least exposed. AI can't do any of them end to end yet. It speeds up 5 and leaves 21 to people.
| Task | AI exposure |
|---|---|
| Advise customers on plant selection or care. AI can answer plant care questions, customer contact stays human. | 50% AI helps |
| Use irrigation methods to adjust the amount of water consumption and to prevent waste. Smart controllers and weather data can schedule water use. | 45% AI helps |
| Plan or cultivate lawns or gardens. AI can help plan designs and plant choices, cultivation is physical. | 40% AI helps |
| Care for natural turf fields, making sure the underlying soil has the required composition to allow proper drainage and to support the grasses. AI can interpret soil test results, physical care stays manual. | 22% AI helps |
| Follow planned landscaping designs to determine where to lay sod, sow grass, or plant flowers or foliage. AI can read plans and list layout points, crew does placement. | 20% AI helps |
| Mix and spray or spread fertilizers, herbicides, or insecticides onto grass, shrubs, or trees, using hand or automatic sprayers or spreaders. AI can help with mix rates, but spraying is physical. | 12% Needs a person |
| Decorate gardens with stones or plants. AI can suggest design ideas, placement is physical. | 10% Needs a person |
| Water lawns, trees, or plants, using portable sprinkler systems, hoses, or watering cans. Manual watering with hoses and sprinklers is physical work. | 8% Needs a person |
| Maintain or repair tools, equipment, or structures, such as buildings, greenhouses, fences, or benches, using hand or power tools. Repairing structures and equipment with tools is physical. | 8% Needs a person |
| Care for established lawns by mulching, aerating, weeding, grubbing, removing thatch, or trimming or edging around flower beds, walks, or walls. Aerating, weeding and edging are physical outdoor labor. | 6% Needs a person |
Show the other 16 tasks
| Task | AI exposure |
|---|---|
| Provide proper upkeep of sidewalks, driveways, parking lots, fountains, planters, burial sites, or other grounds features. Upkeep of grounds features is physical maintenance work. | 6% Needs a person |
| Maintain irrigation systems, including winterizing the systems and starting them up in spring. Winterizing and starting irrigation hardware is hands on. | 6% Needs a person |
| Gather and remove litter. Picking up litter outdoors needs physical presence and hands. | 5% Needs a person |
| Prune or trim trees, shrubs, or hedges, using shears, pruners, or chain saws. Pruning with shears and chainsaws is skilled physical work. | 5% Needs a person |
| Trim or pick flowers and clean flower beds. Picking flowers and cleaning beds is hands on physical work. | 5% Needs a person |
| Care for artificial turf fields, periodically removing the turf and replacing cushioning pads or vacuuming and disinfecting the turf after use to prevent the growth of harmful bacteria. Removing turf and cleaning fields is physical labor. | 5% Needs a person |
| Install rock gardens, ponds, decks, drainage systems, irrigation systems, retaining walls, fences, planters, or playground equipment. Building ponds, decks and walls is physical construction work. | 5% Needs a person |
| Use hand tools, such as shovels, rakes, pruning saws, saws, hedge or brush trimmers, or axes. Hand tool use is physical work on site. | 4% Needs a person |
| Plant seeds, bulbs, foliage, flowering plants, grass, ground covers, trees, or shrubs, and apply mulch for protection, using gardening tools. Planting with gardening tools is physical handwork. | 4% Needs a person |
| Mow or edge lawns, using power mowers or edgers. Mowing and edging with power equipment is physical work. | 4% Needs a person |
| Rake, mulch, and compost leaves. Raking and composting leaves is physical outdoor work. | 4% Needs a person |
| Operate vehicles or powered equipment, such as mowers, tractors, twin-axle vehicles, snow blowers, chainsaws, electric clippers, sod cutters, or pruning saws. Operating mowers, tractors and chainsaws is physical machine work. | 3% Needs a person |
| Attach wires from planted trees to support stakes. Tying trees to stakes is physical work on site. | 3% Needs a person |
| Shovel snow from walks, driveways, or parking lots, and spread salt in those areas. Shoveling snow and spreading salt is physical labor. | 3% Needs a person |
| Haul or spread topsoil, or spread straw over seeded soil to hold soil in place. Hauling and spreading topsoil and straw is physical labor. | 3% Needs a person |
| Build forms and mix and pour cement to form garden borders. Building forms and pouring concrete is physical construction work. | 3% Needs a person |
How landscapers compare
All occupations (923)
Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance (8)
Pay and outlook in the US
- Median pay
- $39,150 a year, May 2025
- People employed
- 952,640 in the US, May 2025
- Projected change in jobs
- +4.7% from 2024 to 2034
Skills to build
- Run irrigation controllers and read weather data for watering schedules
- Hold a state commercial pesticide applicator license
- Mix and calibrate fertilizer and herbicide sprayers on site
- Read soil test results to set drainage and turf care
- Log crew hours and material costs in Microsoft Excel
- Write customer care plans in Microsoft Word
Safer roles nearby
5 related occupations with lower scores.
Questions about landscapers and AI
Will AI replace landscapers?
Partly. About 1 in 10 working hours go to tasks AI can already do, mostly advising customers on plant care and scheduling irrigation water use. Physical work such as mowing, planting, and laying sod stays with people because it needs a crew on site.
Which tasks will AI take from landscapers?
Advising customers on plant selection or care has the highest exposure score at 50, because AI can answer common care questions. Irrigation scheduling follows at 45, since smart controllers and weather data can set water use. Lawn and garden planning, at 40, also moves to AI for design and plant choices.
Which tasks stay with landscapers?
Operating mowers, tractors, and chainsaws scores 3, the lowest on the list, because it is physical machine work. Hauling topsoil, spreading straw, and pouring concrete for garden borders also score 3 since they need a person on site. Crews keep these hours.
How can landscapers stay valuable as AI spreads?
Learn to set and check irrigation controllers so water use is measured and logged in Microsoft Excel. Hold a state pesticide applicator license before mixing and spraying, a task that scores 12 and needs a licensed person. Use Microsoft Word to write site care plans for customers, and keep strong skills in mowing, trimming, and planting.
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