What Landscaping and Groundskeeping Workers earn in Mecklenburg County, NC
If you are weighing a move or a job offer, start with $38,630: the median annual pay for Landscaping and Groundskeeping Workers in Mecklenburg County, NC. Spread over a standard 2,080-hour work year, that is $18.57 an hour. Because the wage survey covers the whole Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC metropolitan area, the number reflects employers across the region rather than a single town or a single company.
The mean wage is $41,320, which is 7.0% above the median, a sign that a group of high earners lifts the average. The survey counts about 8,400 people working in this occupation across the Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC metropolitan area, so the estimate rests on a substantial pool of workers. Mecklenburg County, NC has roughly 1,154,681 residents, according to the population figures used by the rent data.
The salary range, from entry level to top earners
Pay for Landscaping and Groundskeeping Workers in the Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC metropolitan area is not one number. The lowest-paid tenth of workers earn up to $34,230 a year ($16.46 an hour), while the highest-paid tenth earn $48,300 or more ($23.22 an hour). That is a gap of $14,070 between the bottom and the top of the scale. The middle half of workers falls between $37,450 at the 25th percentile and $46,390 at the 75th percentile. A top-tier earner makes 1.4 times what someone at the bottom makes, so experience, certification and employer all matter.
What the hourly rate looks like
Converted to an hourly wage, the median for Landscaping and Groundskeeping Workers in Mecklenburg County, NC is $18.57. A full-time schedule of 40 hours for 52 weeks adds up to $38,630, and the same salary is $3,219 a month before taxes or about $1,486 per biweekly pay period. After taxes the same job pays $15.42 per hour of take-home income, which is the number that actually has to cover rent and groceries.
About this occupation: Landscaping and Groundskeeping Workers
The U.S. Department of Labor's O*NET database describes the work of Landscaping and Groundskeeping Workers this way: "Landscape or maintain grounds of property using hand or power tools or equipment. Workers typically perform a variety of tasks, which may include any combination of the following: sod laying, mowing, trimming, planting, watering, fertilizing, digging, raking, sprinkler installation, and installation of mortarless segmental concrete masonry wall units."
Core tasks recorded by O*NET include: "Mow or edge lawns, using power mowers or edgers"; "Care for established lawns by mulching, aerating, weeding, grubbing, removing thatch, or trimming or edging around flower beds, walks, or walls"; "Use hand tools, such as shovels, rakes, pruning saws, saws, hedge or brush trimmers, or axes"; "Prune or trim trees, shrubs, or hedges, using shears, pruners, or chain saws".
Job outlook for Landscaping and Groundskeeping Workers
The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects national employment in this occupation to grow from 1,188,600 jobs in 2025 to 1,244,200 in 2035, a change of +4.7%, faster than the 3.5% projected for all occupations. The projection counts 149,500 openings a year on average, including positions created by growth and positions left by workers who retire or move to another occupation; that equals 12.6% of current employment each year. About 20.2% of the people in this occupation are self-employed, and wage figures cover wage and salary workers only.
Typical entry-level education: no formal educational credential. Typical on-the-job training to reach competency: short-term on-the-job training. BLS lists a national median annual wage of $39,150 for this occupation; the Mecklenburg County, NC median of $38,630 is 1.3% below it.
How pay in Mecklenburg County, NC compares
Compared with the North Carolina average
Mecklenburg County, NC pays above the state benchmark. The North Carolina employment-weighted average for Landscaping and Groundskeeping Workers is $37,495; the local median of $38,630 beats it by $1,135, or 3.0%. Within North Carolina, Mecklenburg County, NC already has the highest median we track for this job.
Compared with the national average
The national employment-weighted average for Landscaping and Groundskeeping Workers is $40,603 across the contiguous United States. At $38,630, Mecklenburg County, NC pays $1,973 less, which is 4.9% below that benchmark. Keep in mind that a higher salary only helps if living costs do not rise faster, which is why the cost sections below matter as much as the headline number.
Where this job ranks in Mecklenburg County, NC
Among the 583 occupations with published wages in Mecklenburg County, NC, Landscaping and Groundskeeping Workers ranks number 511 by median pay, ahead of about 12% of them. The best-paying occupation we track here is Computer and Information Systems Managers at $176,840 a year, which is $138,210 more than the median for Landscaping and Groundskeeping Workers.
From gross pay to take-home pay
A salary of $38,630 does not arrive in full. We model a single filer with wage income only, the standard deduction and tax-year 2025 rules, and we keep the three tax layers apart: federal income tax, FICA (Social Security and Medicare) and state income tax. Together they take $6,562 a year, which leaves $32,068, or $2,672 a month.
Put another way, of every $100 earned, about $17 goes to taxes and $83 reaches the paycheck. The overall effective tax rate is 17.0%.
Federal income tax
After the $15,750 standard deduction, taxable income is $22,880. Federal brackets are marginal, so only the slice of income above each threshold is taxed at the higher rate; the last dollars of this salary fall in the 12% bracket. The resulting federal income tax is $2,507, an effective 6.5% of gross pay, well below the 12% marginal rate because the lower brackets are cheaper.
Social Security and Medicare (FICA)
Payroll taxes are a flat percentage of wages. Social Security takes 6.2% up to a wage base of $176,100, which costs $2,395 on this salary. Medicare takes 1.45%, or $560. FICA totals $2,955, which is 7.7% of gross pay.
State income tax in North Carolina
North Carolina income tax on this salary is $1,100 a year, or 2.8% of gross pay, after the state's own deductions and exemptions are applied. That is 44% of the federal income tax bill, and it comes out to $92 a month. Local taxes such as county or city income taxes are not included, so a few jurisdictions may withhold slightly more.
A cross-check with IRS data for Mecklenburg County, NC
IRS Statistics of Income data for Mecklenburg County, NC show an average adjusted gross income of $111,114 per return and an average effective federal income tax rate of 16.8% across all filers. Filers in the $25,000 to under $50,000 bracket, where this salary falls, paid an average of 5.5%, compared with the 6.5% estimated here for a single filer taking the standard deduction. Gaps between the two reflect filing status, dependents, credits and other income, none of which a single-person wage estimate includes.
Cost of living in Mecklenburg County, NC
Take-home pay only means something next to what life costs. We price four basics for one adult in Mecklenburg County, NC: a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline. All of them are converted to annual figures first, then compared with the $32,068 of take-home pay.
Rent
The HUD Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Mecklenburg County, NC is $1,640 a month, or $19,680 a year. A two-bedroom costs $1,785 a month. For Landscaping and Groundskeeping Workers, a one-bedroom absorbs 61.4% of take-home pay and 50.9% of gross pay.
Food
The USDA Thrifty Food Plan (August 2026) puts the cost of a nutritious home-cooked diet for an adult at about $3,436 a year, which is $286 a month or $66.07 a week. That equals 8.9% of gross pay for Landscaping and Groundskeeping Workers in Mecklenburg County, NC. It is a thrifty budget with no restaurant meals, so treat it as a floor.
Energy and gasoline
Using North Carolina residential prices from the Energy Information Administration and national household averages for consumption, electricity costs about $1,493 a year and other home energy such as natural gas about $645, for $2,138 in total. Gasoline in North Carolina averages $3.18 per gallon; at about 463 gallons a year (11,106 miles at 24 miles per gallon) fuel adds $1,472.
What is left over
Add the four basics together and living costs come to $26,726 a year, 83% of take-home pay. That leaves $5,342 a year, or $445 a month, for savings, transportation beyond fuel, health care, debt and everything else. That margin equals 13.8% of gross pay, a workable but modest cushion.
Local housing and commute data for Mecklenburg County, NC
The budget above covers rent, food, energy and gasoline. Three more local facts shape what a paycheck buys in Mecklenburg County, NC: property taxes, housing prices and the daily commute. The figures below are exact U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-year estimates for Mecklenburg County, NC, set beside the North Carolina and national medians.
Property taxes in Mecklenburg County, NC
Homeowners in Mecklenburg County, NC pay a median of $2,890 a year in real estate taxes, 52% above the North Carolina median of $1,896 and 7% below the U.S. median of $3,119. Against a median home value of $406,800, the median tax bill is 0.71% of that value (the ratio of the two county medians). For a worker paid the local Landscaping and Groundskeeping Workers median of $38,630, a tax bill of that size would equal 7.5% of gross pay, which matters for anyone planning to buy rather than rent.
Rents, home prices and household income in Mecklenburg County, NC
Renters in Mecklenburg County, NC pay a median gross rent of $1,627 a month in the Census survey, 32% above the North Carolina median of $1,228. HUD's Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment, which this site uses in the budget, is $1,640 a month; the two measures differ because the Census figure covers units of every size that renters already occupy, while the HUD figure is a one-bedroom benchmark. The median value of an owner-occupied home is $406,800, 41% above the North Carolina median of $288,900. Median household income is $87,005, 20% above the North Carolina median of $72,388, so a year of one-bedroom Fair Market Rent equals 22.6% of that income.
Commuting in Mecklenburg County, NC
Workers in Mecklenburg County, NC who travel to a workplace spend an average of 25.1 minutes each way, in line with the North Carolina average of 25.1. For someone who commutes five days a week, that is 4.2 hours of round-trip travel every week, a cost the budget does not price. 28.5% of workers in Mecklenburg County, NC work from home, compared with 15.1% nationally, which removes the commute for them.
Can Landscaping and Groundskeeping Workers afford to live in Mecklenburg County, NC?
The 30% rent guideline
A common rule of thumb says rent should stay under 30% of gross income. For a gross salary of $38,630 that ceiling is $966 a month. The one-bedroom Fair Market Rent of $1,640 is $674 over it, so rent breaks the guideline. Put as a wage, covering a one-bedroom at the 30% guideline takes $31.54 an hour; the median for Landscaping and Groundskeeping Workers is $18.57, which is 41% below that mark. Another way to see it: at $15.42 of take-home pay an hour, a one-bedroom takes about 24.5 working hours every week.
Splitting a two-bedroom
Sharing a two-bedroom at $1,785 a month means $893 each. Compared with renting a one-bedroom alone, that saves $8,970 a year. With a roommate, the yearly margin after the basics becomes $14,312.
How fast you can save
At $445 a month of margin, building a $10,000 emergency fund would take about 23 months. Setting aside half of the margin stretches the same goal to about 46 months. These figures ignore interest, raises and any spending beyond the four basics.
Frequently asked questions about Landscaping and Groundskeeping Workers pay in Mecklenburg County, NC
What is the hourly wage for Landscaping and Groundskeeping Workers in Mecklenburg County, NC?
The median is $18.57 per hour, based on $38,630 a year over 2,080 hours. Hourly pay runs from about $16.46 at the 10th percentile to $23.22 at the 90th percentile.
What is the take-home pay for Landscaping and Groundskeeping Workers in Mecklenburg County, NC?
After federal income tax, FICA and state income tax, the median salary of $38,630 becomes $32,068 a year. That is $2,672 a month, $1,233 every two weeks or $617 a week.
What percentage of pay goes to taxes for Landscaping and Groundskeeping Workers in Mecklenburg County, NC?
Total taxes are $6,562 a year, an effective rate of 17.0%: $2,507 federal income tax, $2,955 FICA and $1,100 North Carolina income tax.
Is pay for Landscaping and Groundskeeping Workers in Mecklenburg County, NC above the North Carolina average?
Yes. The local median of $38,630 is +3.0% versus the North Carolina average of $37,495, a difference of $1,135 a year.
Is a one-bedroom rent affordable on the median Landscaping and Groundskeeping Workers salary in Mecklenburg County, NC?
A one-bedroom costs $1,640 a month against take-home pay of $2,672, which is 61.4% of take-home pay. That does not meet the 30%-of-gross guideline, which allows up to $966 a month.
How much is left after rent, food and energy for Landscaping and Groundskeeping Workers in Mecklenburg County, NC?
About $445 a month ($5,342 a year) remains after a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline, which together cost $26,726 a year.
What hourly wage covers a one-bedroom in Mecklenburg County, NC at the 30% guideline?
$31.54 an hour for a full-time schedule, calculated as the $19,680 annual rent divided by 0.30 and by 2,080 hours. The median for Landscaping and Groundskeeping Workers is $18.57.
How we calculated these numbers
Wages are May 2025 medians from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for the Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC metropolitan area; hourly-only values are annualized at 2,080 hours. Rents are HUD Fair Market Rents, food costs come from the USDA Thrifty Food Plan, and energy prices come from the Energy Information Administration. County-level tax statistics come from the IRS Statistics of Income.
Taxes use tax-year 2025 federal brackets, FICA rates and the North Carolina rules for a single filer with wage income only. Figures are estimates for planning and comparison, not tax or financial advice, and they exclude local income taxes, benefits, retirement contributions and individual circumstances.