Horticulture
Everything OPM FedScope (June 2026) reports about the Horticulture occupation series (code 0437): headcount, average salary, length of service, and pay comparison.
The verdict
With 102 employees (0.0% of the federal civilian workforce), Horticulture ranks as a smaller, specialized federal occupation within the Biological Sciences Group family, and headcount declined from the prior period. Its average salary of $109,640 pays near the federal average.
- Headcount change
- -1.9%
- Pay change
- -0.2%
- Avg tenure
- 15.5 yrs
- Rank in family
- #27 of 31
FedScope read on Horticulture (thin series)
Headcount moved down versus the prior period, though at this small a headcount, year-to-year swings can reflect a handful of hires or departures rather than a broad hiring trend. Pay moved down between the two reporting periods, a small shift, within the range of normal year-to-year rounding rather than a broad pay-table change. On length of service, this series shows a long average tenure, typical of career federal roles where employees stay through much of a full career before retirement.
Horticulture sits inside the Biological Sciences Group family (code 04), which contains 31 related occupations across the federal government. Candidates browsing USAJOBS for Horticulture postings should also review these sibling occupations in the Biological Sciences Group family. The Biological Sciences Group family totals 67,961 employees, and Horticulture accounts for 0.2% of them.
Salary Context
How Horticulture pay compares to the federal average
Occupation Average
$109,640
Federal Average
$117,339
vs. Federal Avg
-6.6%
Where Horticulture ranks on federal pay
Horticulture earns more on average than 60% of federal occupation series (327 of 541). The highlighted bar marks where Horticulture sits in the federal pay distribution.
Average-salary distribution across all 541 federal occupation series; the highlighted bar marks Horticulture.
Related Occupations in Biological Sciences Group
10 other occupations in the same family
| Occupation | Employees | Avg Salary | Avg LOS |
|---|---|---|---|
| General Natural Resources Management and Biological Sciences | 23,662 | $124,641 | 14 yrs |
| Forestry Technician | 11,090 | $61,659 | 8.7 yrs |
| Wildland Fire Management | 9,667 | $64,457 | 7 yrs |
| Biological Science Technician | 5,212 | $56,618 | 8.9 yrs |
| Soil Conservation | 4,101 | $89,391 | 13.8 yrs |
| Wildlife Biology | 1,868 | $95,468 | 16.3 yrs |
| Fish Biology | 1,629 | $116,550 | 16.2 yrs |
| Microbiology | 1,629 | $143,306 | 16.3 yrs |
| Forestry | 1,626 | $88,902 | 15.1 yrs |
| Ecology | 989 | $122,664 | 16.1 yrs |
Nationwide peers near this thin headcount
Two peer sets for Horticulture outside the Biological Sciences Group family, on headcount and average salary axes that vary across all OPM occupation series.
Similar thin headcount
Nearest employee counts in other occupation families (102 here).
Similar average salary
Nearest average salaries in other occupation families ($109,640 here).
Key takeaways
- Place Horticulture pay in context with the pay-rank chart above, then compare it with another occupation.
- Turn an average salary into a grade: the GS pay grade tables show how grades and steps map to pay.
- Browse the Biological Sciences Group family occupations in the table above, or search current Horticulture postings on USAJOBS.
OPM FedScope and Federal Workforce Data figures are federal civilian headcounts, average salaries, and length-of-service statistics - not job-quality scores, hiring advice, or a live vacancy listing. A larger or higher-paid agency is not a better employer.