SOC 45-2092.00

    Farmworkers and Laborers, Crop, Nursery, and Greenhouse

    Manually plant, cultivate, and harvest vegetables, fruits, nuts, horticultural specialties, and field crops.

    Median pay
    $35,660
    Growth
    -2.4%
    Decline
    Openings a year
    72,500
    Typical education
    No formal credential

    Data verified Nov 2026 · CollegesRef 2026–27 edition

    Source: BLS 2025 wages · 2025–35 projections

    See the pathway

    Annual pay range

    Lowest 10% earn less than
    $32,900
    Median
    $35,660
    Highest 10% earn more than
    $45,690
    National wages for all workers in this occupation. BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025.

    265,500 people work in this occupation.

    What farmworkers and laborers, crop, nursery, and greenhouse do

    Job Zone 2: Some preparation

    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.

    Usually a high school diploma; some on-the-job training or experience.

    Interest profile

    Realistic (R) · strongest
    100 / 100
    Investigative (I)
    22 / 100
    Artistic (A)
    5 / 100
    Social (S)
    14 / 100
    Enterprising (E)
    23 / 100
    Conventional (C)
    39 / 100
    How strongly each interest area describes the work, from O*NET (scores rescaled to 0–100). The interest code lists the strongest areas in order.

    Interest code RCE. Compare it with yours

    What you'd do

    Performing General Physical Activities
    76
    Handling and Moving Objects
    72
    Getting Information
    70
    Identifying Objects, Actions, and Events
    69
    Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or Subordinates
    67
    Controlling Machines and Processes
    65
    Updating and Using Relevant Knowledge
    64
    Operating Vehicles, Mechanized Devices, or Equipment
    64
    Inspecting Equipment, Structures, or Materials
    62
    Making Decisions and Solving Problems
    62
    Work activities rated by importance for this occupation, O*NET (0–100).

    Skills and strengths

    Skills

    • Operations Monitoring
    • Speaking
    • Active Listening
    • Critical Thinking
    • Monitoring
    • Operation and Control
    • Reading Comprehension
    • Repairing
    • Social Perceptiveness
    • Time Management

    Knowledge

    • Biology
    • Food Production
    • Mechanical
    • Administration and Management
    • Chemistry
    • Mathematics
    • English Language
    • Production and Processing
    • Customer and Personal Service
    • Transportation

    Abilities

    • Trunk Strength
    • Arm-Hand Steadiness
    • Control Precision
    • Extent Flexibility
    • Manual Dexterity
    • Multilimb Coordination
    • Finger Dexterity
    • Static Strength
    • Dynamic Strength
    • Near Vision

    Work styles

    • Dependability
    • Perseverance
    • Attention to Detail
    • Integrity
    • Stress Tolerance
    • Cautiousness
    • Cooperation
    • Adaptability
    • Optimism
    • Initiative

    Also called

    Agriculture Laborer · Agriculture Worker · Apple Picker · Apple Thinner · Apple Turner · Asparagus Cutter · Bale Sewer · Baller · Bean Picker · Beet Topper

    CareerOneStop

    Certifications, licenses and pay by state

    What farmworkers and laborers, crop, nursery, and greenhouse may need beyond a degree, where a license is required, and what the work pays in each state.

    Certifications

    Core certifications employers recognise for this work.

    Search all certifications on CareerOneStop

    Licenses by state

    10 states list a license for this work. Open your state for the license and the agency that issues it.

    Check license requirements on CareerOneStop

    Data from CareerOneStop, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor (Employment and Training Administration, with the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development). Retrieved November 9, 2026.

    Your plan

    Build my pathway plan

    Courses, majors, colleges, scholarships and a timeline for this career, built from your profile.

    Related careers

    Careers with similar work, interests or skills.

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    Sources and attribution

    Every figure on this page comes from these public datasets. Missing values are shown as not reported, never estimated.

    O*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. CollegesRef has modified all or some of this information.

    Data from CareerOneStop, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor (Employment and Training Administration, with the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development). Retrieved November 9, 2026.

    Page data updated November 5, 2026.