Forest and Conservation Workers Salary and Pay
How much do Forest and Conservation Workers make?
Forest and Conservation Workers pay a median of $43,680 a year in the BLS May 2024 survey, with a mean of $42,830 across 5,630 counted jobs. Half of all workers in the occupation earn between $36,400 and $45,200.
One page for the whole Forest and Conservation Workers pay distribution: national ladder first, then all 25 state rows and the metro rankings, every figure from BLS OEWS May 2024.
Updated November 5, 2026
Salary converter for this occupation
Gross pay only, before taxes and benefits. The picker starts at this occupation's median ($43,680); the custom box accepts any annual figure, which is how you price an offer letter against the ladder below.
The national wage ladder (BLS OEWS, May 2024)
| Pay level | Annual wage | Hourly wage |
|---|---|---|
| 10th percentile | $33,050 | $15.89 |
| 25th percentile | $36,400 | $17.50 |
| Median (50th) | $43,680 | $21.00 |
| 75th percentile | $45,200 | $21.73 |
| 90th percentile | $54,190 | $26.05 |
Read the ladder vertically: each row is the wage of the Forest and Conservation Workers worker at that point in the distribution, so $45,200 at the 75th percentile means three quarters of the occupation earns less. Figures BLS cannot publish appear as n/p, and its top code prints as $239,200+.
Employment and concentration
With 5,630 jobs nationally, Forest and Conservation Workers make up 0.00% of U.S. employment as BLS measured it in May 2024. The map is uneven: California alone holds 1,840 of those jobs, the top three states hold 49.6%, and the deepest concentration sits in South Dakota (location quotient 40.33, where 1.00 is the national average). A quotient above 2 usually signals a local industry cluster rather than evenly spread demand.
One in ten workers in this field earns $33,050 or less, and one in ten earns $54,190 or more, so the top-to-bottom ratio is 1.6 to 1 and the annual gap is $21,140. The mean ($42,830) versus median ($43,680) comparison shows an unusually symmetric ladder in this occupation.
Pay by state
The state spread for Forest and Conservation Workers runs from the $64,430 median in Illinois down through every other publishing state. Employment concentrates in California (1,840 jobs). The complete table:
| State | Employment | Jobs per 1,000 | Location quotient | Mean annual | Median annual |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| California | 1,840 | 0.1 | 2.79 | $43,630 | $43,680 |
| South Dakota | 670 | 1.5 | 40.33 | $39,070 | $37,690 |
| Wisconsin | 280 | 0.1 | 2.58 | $39,630 | $35,320 |
| Pennsylvania | 220 | 0.0 | 1.02 | $50,900 | $49,160 |
| Tennessee | 220 | 0.1 | 1.82 | $35,560 | $40,320 |
| Louisiana | 210 | 0.1 | 3.07 | $41,380 | $40,830 |
| South Carolina | 210 | 0.1 | 2.54 | $38,370 | $36,810 |
| Washington | 200 | 0.1 | 1.57 | $45,090 | $43,480 |
| Georgia | 180 | 0.0 | 1.01 | $45,150 | $37,930 |
| Oregon | 140 | 0.1 | 2.01 | $42,960 | $42,810 |
| Florida | 100 | 0.0 | 0.27 | $39,790 | $36,970 |
| Ohio | 80 | 0.0 | 0.41 | $50,850 | $53,350 |
| Colorado | 60 | 0.0 | 0.60 | $48,750 | $45,420 |
| Idaho | 60 | 0.1 | 1.96 | $43,320 | $46,010 |
| Illinois | 60 | 0.0 | 0.28 | $67,450 | $64,430 |
| New Jersey | 60 | 0.0 | 0.38 | $47,470 | $41,600 |
| Connecticut | 50 | 0.0 | 0.79 | $42,570 | $35,300 |
| Texas | 50 | 0.0 | 0.11 | $40,830 | $38,720 |
| Indiana | 40 | 0.0 | 0.36 | $40,520 | $40,140 |
| Arkansas | n/p | n/p | n/p | $43,090 | $46,110 |
| Iowa | n/p | n/p | n/p | $35,690 | $30,290 |
| Massachusetts | n/p | n/p | n/p | $51,050 | $43,630 |
| Missouri | n/p | n/p | n/p | $39,050 | $43,330 |
| New Mexico | n/p | n/p | n/p | $36,870 | $36,460 |
| North Carolina | n/p | n/p | n/p | $39,130 | $38,000 |
The occupation in context
Ranked against all 826 published occupations, Forest and Conservation Workers stands number 751 by employment and number 656 by median pay. Inside its own major group, Farming, Fishing, and Forestry Occupations, the group median wage is $46,710 across 13 detailed occupations, so this occupation pays 6% less than its group median, and it supplies 1.3% of the group's 440,980 jobs. In 6 of the 25 states with a published median, the state median beats the national median of $43,680, which is the single best quick test of whether this occupation's pay is set nationally or locally: a high count means local markets regularly outbid the national figure.
Metropolitan areas: where the jobs and the pay sit
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA is the largest metro employer with 310 jobs, 5.5% of the national total. The first table ranks metros by employment; the second ranks them by mean pay among metros with at least 500 jobs in the occupation, because a three-person metro can top a pay table by accident.
Largest metro employers
| Metropolitan area | Employment | Mean annual | Median annual |
|---|---|---|---|
| Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA | 310 | $43,730 | $43,680 |
| Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA | 270 | $43,010 | $43,680 |
| Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA | 160 | $43,080 | $43,680 |
| Sioux Falls, SD-MN | 150 | $39,870 | $37,690 |
| Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD | 130 | $42,600 | $39,040 |
| Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA | 100 | $44,040 | $42,810 |
| Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA | 100 | $43,190 | $43,680 |
| Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN | 70 | $65,220 | $55,790 |
| Rapid City, SD | 60 | $38,760 | $33,600 |
| Pittsburgh, PA | 40 | $48,860 | $48,050 |
What the median pay looks like as a budget
The median annual wage of $43,680 works out to $3,640 a month before taxes, $1,680 per biweekly paycheck, and $840 a week. Moving from the 25th percentile ($36,400) to the 75th ($45,200) is worth $8,800 a year, which is the realistic size of the experience and specialization premium inside this occupation. Run the median through the paycheck calculator for a take-home estimate in your state, compare an offer against your current pay with the salary calculator, and check whether a raise actually beats prices with the raise vs inflation calculator.
To place a real offer: a salary of $48,048 would sit between the median ($43,680) and the 75th percentile ($45,200), inside the top half but outside the top quarter of this occupation's ladder. An offer at the 25th percentile, $36,400, is $7,280 under the median, the typical size of the discount attached to entry-level or low-cost-market postings in this field.
Related occupations in Farming, Fishing, and Forestry Occupations
Compare the ladder above with the closest relatives in the survey: Farmworkers and Laborers, Crop, Nursery, and Greenhouse, Farmworkers, Farm, Ranch, and Aquacultural Animals, Agricultural Equipment Operators, First-Line Supervisors of Farming, Fishing, and Forestry Workers, Graders and Sorters, Agricultural Products, Logging Equipment Operators. The Careers hub carries the whole branch, group by group.
Frequently asked questions
How much do Forest and Conservation Workers make?
The median annual wage is $43,680 and the mean is $42,830 in the BLS OEWS May 2024 estimates. The middle half of workers earn between $36,400 and $45,200 a year.
Which state pays Forest and Conservation Workers the most?
By median annual wage, Illinois leads the state table at $64,430, based on 60 jobs in that state. By mean wage and by headcount the leaders can differ, so the state table on this page shows all three measures side by side.
How many Forest and Conservation Workers are there in the United States?
BLS counted 5,630 wage and salary workers in this occupation in May 2024, 0.00% of all U.S. employment in the survey. The largest state employer is California with 1,840 jobs.
What do the OEWS percentiles mean for Forest and Conservation Workers?
They mark points in this occupation's pay distribution. One worker in ten earns $33,050 or less and one in ten earns $54,190 or more; the median, $43,680, is the wage of the worker exactly in the middle of the 5,630 counted jobs.