2026 Landscape Labor & H-2A Visa Report

The landscape labor H-2A visa system was rebuilt in October 2025 when the Department of Labor switched the Adverse Effect Wage Rate (AEWR) from the USDA Farm Labor Survey to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics dataset, splitting every state into Skill Level I and Skill Level II rates and cutting headline AEWRs by an average of $3 to $5 per hour for nursery, greenhouse, and on-farm landscape workers. Data verified as of June 17, 2026. This report pulls the Federal Register text of the Interim Final Rule (FR 2025-19365), the FY2025 OFLC H-2A certification totals, USCIS H-2A Employer Data Hub statistics, BLS OEWS May 2024 wage tables for SOC 37-3011, the FY2026 H-2B supplemental cap rule (FR 2026-02131), and the cost math employers actually run when deciding between domestic recruitment, H-2A for nursery cultivation work, or H-2B for landscape installation and maintenance.

The big picture

The H-2A program is a non-numerically-capped temporary agricultural visa, meaning that unlike the H-2B program there is no annual ceiling on certifications. In fiscal year 2025 the Office of Foreign Labor Certification (OFLC) processed more than 320,700 worker positions through July 1, 2025 alone and certified 99 percent of the requested demand, ending the year with 398,258 total certified positions according to OFLC selected statistics. Source: DOL ETA Foreign Labor Certification. That is up from 378,513 certified positions in FY2024 per American Farm Bureau Federation tabulation of OFLC data. Source: American Farm Bureau Market Intel.

For landscape operators, the critical legal distinction is between H-2A “agricultural” work and H-2B “non-agricultural” work. Per the Department of Homeland Security and 20 CFR 655 Subpart B, H-2A work includes “the planting, raising, cultivating, harvesting, or production of any agricultural or horticultural commodity” including operations conducted on nurseries, ranges, and greenhouses. Source: eCFR 20 CFR Part 655 Subpart B. A nursery that grows and sells trees, shrubs, perennials, and ornamentals to landscape installers can use H-2A workers for the propagation, growing, and harvesting work. The same business cannot use H-2A for the field crews who load those plants onto trucks, drive them to residential or commercial sites, dig the holes, and install them; that activity falls under SOC 37-3011 (Landscaping and Groundskeeping Workers) and requires H-2B. Source: Digger Magazine (Oregon Association of Nurseries).

That distinction matters because the H-2B program is statutorily capped at 66,000 visas per fiscal year (33,000 each half) under INA Section 214(g)(1)(B), and demand has exceeded supply every year since 2017. DHS published a temporary final rule on February 3, 2026 (FR 2026-02131) authorizing 64,716 supplemental H-2B visas for FY2026, divided into three tranches to give spring-start landscape and summer-start hospitality businesses a chance to compete. Source: Federal Register FR 2026-02131. The National Association of Landscape Professionals (NALP) reports that landscape and groundskeeping workers make up nearly 40 percent of all H-2B positions, the single largest occupational use of the program. Source: NALP / Love Your Landscape.

The BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for May 2024 reports 906,000 landscaping and groundskeeping workers nationally with a mean annual wage of $40,880 and a national mean hourly wage of $19.65 per hour. Source: BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook: Grounds Maintenance Workers. Data USA’s compilation of OEWS, ACS, and Census data places employment concentration in Florida, California, and Texas, with Hawaii leading state mean wages at $40,445 annually for the occupation, followed by Massachusetts at $38,236 and New Jersey at $37,647. Source: Data USA SOC 37-3011 profile.

State-by-state FY2026 AEWR table

The FY2025 AEWRs published by DOL under the legacy Farm Labor Survey methodology remain in effect for ETA-790 job orders that were already filed before October 2, 2025, and continue until the first new OEWS-based rates are scheduled to publish in July 2026. New job orders filed on or after October 2, 2025 use the new Skill Level I / Skill Level II OEWS-based AEWRs that vary by state and occupation. The table below shows the legacy FY2025 FLS AEWRs that are still in force for filings made before the cutover, sourced from DOL OFLC and the JTP Agency H-2A wage page which mirrors the OFLC FLAG portal. Sources: DOL FLAG AEWR portal, JTP Agency H-2A Wages.

FY2025 AEWR rates by state, still in effect for pre-October 2, 2025 ETA-790 job orders. Source: DOL OFLC FLAG portal, accessed June 17, 2026.

State	FY2025 AEWR (per hour)	Region / Notes
Alabama	$14.39	Southeast region
Arkansas	$14.39	Delta region
Arizona	$17.51	Mountain II
California	$19.97	Pacific (single-state survey)
Colorado	$17.51	Mountain II
Connecticut	$19.38	Northeast I
Delaware	$17.45	Northeast II
Florida	$16.23	Florida (single-state survey)
Georgia	$14.39	Southeast
Idaho	$17.51	Mountain II
Illinois	$18.60	Cornbelt I
Indiana	$18.60	Cornbelt I
Iowa	$18.60	Cornbelt II
Kansas	$17.51	Northern Plains
Kentucky	$14.39	Appalachian II
Louisiana	$14.39	Delta
Maine	$19.38	Northeast I
Maryland	$17.45	Northeast II
Massachusetts	$19.38	Northeast I
Michigan	$18.60	Lake
Minnesota	$18.60	Lake
Mississippi	$14.39	Delta
Missouri	$18.60	Cornbelt II
Montana	$17.51	Mountain III
Nebraska	$17.51	Northern Plains
Nevada	$17.51	Mountain II
New Hampshire	$19.38	Northeast I
New Jersey	$17.45	Northeast II
New Mexico	$17.51	Mountain II
New York	$19.38	Northeast I
North Carolina	$14.39	Appalachian I
North Dakota	$18.60	Northern Plains
Ohio	$18.60	Cornbelt I
Oklahoma	$14.39	Southern Plains
Oregon	$19.12	Pacific
Pennsylvania	$17.45	Northeast II
Rhode Island	$19.38	Northeast I
South Carolina	$14.39	Southeast
South Dakota	$18.60	Northern Plains
Tennessee	$14.39	Appalachian II
Texas	$14.39	Southern Plains
Utah	$17.51	Mountain II
Vermont	$19.38	Northeast I
Virginia	$14.39	Appalachian I
Washington	$19.12	Pacific
West Virginia	$14.39	Appalachian II
Wisconsin	$18.60	Lake
Wyoming	$17.51	Mountain III

For ETA-790 job orders filed on or after October 2, 2025, the OEWS-based Skill Level I and Skill Level II rates apply at the state level. Cornell Agricultural Workforce Development published illustrative OEWS-based AEWRs for the new methodology including: New York Skill Level I $15.68 / Skill Level II $18.75; California Skill Level I $16.45 / Skill Level II $18.71; Florida Skill Level I $12.47 / Skill Level II $15.06; Georgia Skill Level I $12.27 / Skill Level II $16.22; Massachusetts Skill Level I $15.29 / Skill Level II $17.57; Michigan Skill Level I $13.78 / Skill Level II $17.47; New Jersey Skill Level I $16.05 / Skill Level II $19.41; North Carolina Skill Level I $12.78 / Skill Level II $16.39; Pennsylvania Skill Level I $13.88 / Skill Level II $17.99; Washington Skill Level I $16.53 / Skill Level II $19.00; and Wisconsin Skill Level I $13.29 / Skill Level II $18.22. Rates flagged for state minimum wage floors include New York, California, Florida, and Washington where the state minimum wage exceeds the Skill Level I OEWS figure. Source: Cornell Agricultural Workforce Development.

What changed in the AEWR methodology and why it matters

For three decades the AEWR was set by the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) Farm Labor Survey (FLS), which collected wage data from approximately 12,000 agricultural employers twice a year and averaged the rate for field workers and livestock workers combined across multi-state regions (Pacific, Mountain, Cornbelt, Southeast, and so on). Source: Federal Register, FR 2025-19365 preamble. The new Interim Final Rule replaces FLS with the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey, which collects from a much larger sample of 1.1 million establishments across all industries and produces state-level wage estimates by detailed SOC code with experience-level percentile breakouts. Source: BLS OEWS Overview May 2024.

Skill Level I is calculated as the average hourly wage paid to the lowest-paid third of workers in the occupation in that state, capturing entry-level workers with 0 to 2 months of required experience. Skill Level II is the average hourly wage paid to all workers in the occupation in that state, representing experienced workers with 3 or more months of required experience. The split lets agricultural employers pay lower wages for genuinely entry-level field positions while paying higher wages for tractor operators, irrigators, and crew leaders. Source: Congressional Research Service IF12408.

The Economic Policy Institute calculates that more than 350,000 H-2A workers will see annual wages cut by $2 billion or more (26 to 32 percent), and that downward pressure on US farmworker wages will reduce domestic farmworker compensation by another $3 billion (up to 9 percent) for a combined annual labor cost reduction of $4.4 to $5.4 billion. Source: Economic Policy Institute. The American Farm Bureau Federation projects opposite directional effects on growers, calling the methodology change “a long-overdue correction” and projecting that growers in the Southeast, Delta, and Appalachian regions (which were paying $14.39 per hour under FLS) will see Skill Level I wages drop into the $12.27 to $13.30 range. Source: American Farm Bureau Federation Market Intel.

The full-cost math: H-2A versus domestic worker

The AEWR is only one input to the per-worker cost stack. Per 20 CFR 655.122, H-2A employers must also provide free housing meeting OSHA Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act (MSPA) standards, daily transportation between housing and worksite, inbound and return transportation reimbursement once the worker completes 50 percent of the contract period (the 50 percent rule) and 100 percent of the contract period respectively, three free meals per day or free convenient cooking and kitchen facilities, and a guarantee of work for at least three-fourths of the contract period (the 3/4 guarantee). Source: eCFR 20 CFR 655.122.

For a 6-month contract (26 weeks at 40 hours = 1,040 contract hours, 3/4 guarantee = 780 paid hours minimum), the worked example for a North Carolina nursery hiring under the new Skill Level I rate of $12.78 per hour looks like this. Direct AEWR wages at 1,040 hours: $13,291. Housing at $400 per worker per month for 6 months: $2,400. Daily worksite transport at 26 weeks times 5 days at $4 per worker round trip: $520. Inbound and return international transport (typical from Mexico via H-2A consular processing): $1,200 round trip. Three meals per day or kitchen facilities (assume kitchen at amortized $300 per worker): $300. DOL labor certification ($100 plus $10 per worker capped at $1,000, prorated across a 50-worker petition): $30. USCIS Form I-129 H-2A petition fee for 1 to 25 named beneficiaries prorated across 25 workers: $44. Asylum Program Fee for a non-small employer prorated: $24. Per-worker visa application MRV fee paid at US Embassy ($190): $190. Consular processing and recruiter coordination fees (varies widely by recruiter; assume $800): $800. Worker compensation insurance at NCCI Class Code 0042 (Landscape Gardening) rate of roughly $5.50 per $100 of payroll in North Carolina: $731. Total per-worker cost for a 6-month contract: approximately $19,530, or an effective rate of $18.78 per hour against the 1,040 contract hours. Sources: USCIS Fee Calculator, DOL ETA, eCFR 20 CFR 655.122.

Compare to a domestic North Carolina worker at the BLS OEWS May 2024 mean wage for SOC 37-3011 of approximately $16.45 per hour (state-level data via the BLS OEWS state tables), with FICA, FUTA, and SUTA employer contributions of roughly 8.5 percent ($1.40), workers comp ($0.90), and group health, vacation, and turnover costs typically adding $3 to $5 per hour for full-time employees. Effective domestic loaded rate: approximately $21.75 to $23.75 per hour. Source: BLS OEWS May 2024 State Estimates.

The arithmetic is why labor-intensive growers and nurseries in low-AEWR states use H-2A despite the friction of housing, transport, and federal paperwork: the loaded H-2A cost is meaningfully below the loaded domestic cost when minimum wages are low and turnover is high, and the H-2A worker is locked to the employer for the contract period. The arithmetic reverses in California, New York, and Washington where state minimum wages or prevailing wages either match or exceed the Skill Level II rate after housing deduction, and the operational overhead of H-2A often exceeds the wage savings.

The H-2A timeline: SWA job order through arrival

The H-2A process is governed by 20 CFR 655 Subpart B and runs through three federal agencies: the Department of Labor’s Office of Foreign Labor Certification, US Citizenship and Immigration Services, and the Department of State consular section in the worker’s home country. The full timeline from initial filing to worker arrival is approximately 75 calendar days for a clean application. Source: DOL FLAG H-2A program page.

Stage one: State Workforce Agency (SWA) job order. The employer files ETA Form 790 with the SWA in the area of intended employment between 60 and 75 days before the date of need. The SWA reviews for compliance with state and federal regulations, posts the job to the state’s workforce system, and begins active US worker recruitment. Source: eCFR 20 CFR 655 Subpart B.

Stage two: ETA Form 9142A federal application. No fewer than 45 days before the date of need, the employer files ETA Form 9142A with the OFLC Chicago National Processing Center (NPC). The NPC reviews the application for completeness, AEWR compliance, housing inspection certification, and recruitment compliance. The NPC issues a Notice of Acceptance or Notice of Deficiency. Average NPC processing time is approximately 23 calendar days from filing. Source: Boundless Immigration H-2A overview.

Stage three: Final temporary labor certification (TLC). The NPC issues the final certified ETA 9142A no later than 30 days before the date of need, provided the employer’s recruitment report shows good-faith efforts to recruit US workers and that any US worker applicants were lawfully rejected.

Stage four: USCIS Form I-129 petition. The employer files Form I-129 with USCIS along with the certified TLC, paying the $1,090 base fee for 1 to 25 named beneficiaries plus the $600 Asylum Program Fee (or $300 for small employers under 26 FTE, or no Asylum Program Fee for nonprofits). USCIS adjudicates the I-129 in 15 days under standard processing for H-2A petitions from designated countries. Sources: USCIS Fee Calculator, USCIS Form G-1055 Fee Schedule.

Stage five: Consular processing. Approved I-129 petitions are sent via the Kentucky Consular Center to the US Embassy or Consulate in the worker’s home country. Each worker pays the $190 MRV nonimmigrant visa application fee and attends a consular interview. Most H-2A workers travel from Mexico, where consulates in Monterrey, Guadalajara, and Matamoros are designated H-2 processing posts. Approved workers receive visa stamps and travel to the US, where CBP admits them at the port of entry. Source: US Department of State Temporary Worker Visas.

Top H-2A employers and OFLC public disclosure data

OFLC publishes quarterly public disclosure files for the H-2A program at the FLAG portal, downloadable as CSVs that list every certified application by employer name, state, SOC code, requested positions, and certified positions. For FY2025 the top occupational category was Farmworkers and Laborers, Crop, Nursery, and Greenhouse (SOC 45-2092) with 75.1% of certified positions per AFBF tabulation. The landscape and groundskeeping SOC 37-3011 represented a smaller share within H-2A, since most landscape installation and maintenance work is non-agricultural and uses H-2B instead. Source: American Farm Bureau Market Intel.

The largest H-2A user states by certified positions in FY2024 (the most recent OFLC selected statistics published) were Florida, Georgia, Washington, California, and North Carolina, mirroring the geography of fruit, vegetable, nursery, and Christmas tree production. Source: DOL OFLC H-2A Selected Statistics FY2024 Q1.

For the H-2B program that handles landscape installation and maintenance, USCIS’s approved H-2B cap-subject beneficiaries by job code data has historically listed BrightView Landscapes LLC and Yellowstone Landscape-Central Inc. among the highest-volume H-2B landscape petitioners. Source: USCIS H-2B Cap-Subject Beneficiaries by Job Code FY2017. BrightView Holdings disclosed in its fiscal 2025 10-K (NYSE: BV) that it employed approximately 1,500 seasonal workers in fiscal 2025 and approximately 2,000 in fiscal 2024 through the H-2B program. Source: BrightView Holdings FY2025 10-K.

Internal context on the dominant H-2B users in landscape: we cover the platform structure of private-equity-backed landscape consolidators and the operating economics of the $186 billion US landscaping market elsewhere in the HMNDP research library.

BLS OEWS landscape wages: where the labor actually is

BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics for SOC 37-3011 Landscaping and Groundskeeping Workers, May 2024 release, reports a national total of approximately 906,000 employed workers with a mean hourly wage of $19.65 and a mean annual wage of $40,880. The 10th percentile hourly wage is around $13.50 and the 90th percentile is around $26.80, capturing the range from entry-level seasonal workers to experienced crew members and equipment operators. Sources: BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, Data USA SOC 37-3011 profile.

By state employment level, the top employer states for SOC 37-3011 are Florida, California, Texas, New York, and Pennsylvania, reflecting the geography of both year-round Sunbelt landscape demand and the dense Northeast residential and commercial property market. Source: Data USA.

By state mean wage, the highest paying states for the occupation are Hawaii at $40,445 annual mean (driven by Honolulu metro premium and tourism-driven property maintenance), Massachusetts at $38,236, New Jersey at $37,647, Washington, and Connecticut. The lowest paying states are concentrated in the Southeast and Delta, including Mississippi, Arkansas, Alabama, and Tennessee, where state minimum wages match the federal $7.25 and the landscape labor market is heavily seasonal. Source: Data USA.

The top metropolitan areas for landscape and groundskeeping employment by raw count are New York-Newark-Jersey City, Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, and Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington. The top metros by mean wage are San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, Honolulu, and Boston-Cambridge-Newton, all driven by local cost of living and high-end residential property service rates. Source: BLS OEWS May 2024 SOC 37-3011.

For pricing context on labor inputs at the operator level, see HMNDP’s coverage of lawn care pricing strategy and landscape business EBITDA multiples 2026.

2026 regulatory landscape: AEWR litigation, OSHA heat, and NLRA exclusion

The October 2, 2025 AEWR Interim Final Rule has drawn formal opposition from worker advocacy organizations including the United Farm Workers, Farmworker Justice, and the Economic Policy Institute, all of whom submitted comments before the December 1, 2025 deadline. EPI’s comment argued that DOL’s regulatory impact analysis “fails to fully consider the new AEWR’s wage impacts” and ignored alternative methodologies. Source: EPI comment on 2025 IFR. Litigation challenging the IFR under the Administrative Procedure Act is anticipated but had not been filed in a reported docket as of the verification date.

OSHA’s Heat Injury and Illness Prevention in Outdoor and Indoor Work Settings rulemaking (Docket OSHA-2021-0009, Notice of Proposed Rulemaking 89 FR 70698 published August 30, 2024) covers all general industry, construction, maritime, and agriculture employers including H-2A and H-2B landscape crews. The informal public hearing concluded July 2, 2025; the post-hearing comment period ended October 30, 2025. The rule is expected to finalize in 2026 with mandatory water provision (at least one quart per worker per hour), shaded rest areas, paid rest breaks at specific heat index trigger thresholds, acclimatization protocols for new and returning workers, and heat-related illness response procedures. Sources: OSHA Heat Rulemaking docket page, Federal Register heat rule extension notice.

The National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) excludes “agricultural laborer” from its definition of “employee” under 29 USC Section 152(3), meaning H-2A workers do not have federal collective bargaining rights. California’s Agricultural Labor Relations Act provides state-level collective bargaining rights to farmworkers including H-2A workers performing agricultural work in California. Source: California Agricultural Labor Relations Board. H-2B landscape workers, by contrast, do fall under NLRA coverage because the work is non-agricultural.

State-level developments include New York’s Farm Laborers Fair Labor Practices Act (Chapter 105, Laws of 2019), which extended overtime pay to farmworkers including H-2A above a threshold that phased down to 40 hours per week by January 1, 2032. Source: New York DOL Farm Labor Resources. Washington’s overtime law for agricultural workers (RCW 49.46.130) phased in to require overtime at 40 hours per week starting January 1, 2024. Source: Washington L&I Overtime Rules for Ag Workers.

H-2B for landscape installation and maintenance: the parallel program

For landscape work that is not direct nursery cultivation, the H-2B Temporary Non-Agricultural Worker visa is the correct vehicle. H-2B is statutorily capped at 66,000 per fiscal year under INA Section 214(g)(1)(B), split 33,000 first half (April 1 start dates and later for second-half users) and 33,000 second half. Source: Congressional Research Service R44306, The H-2B Visa and the Statutory Cap.

DHS’s FY2026 temporary final rule (FR 2026-02131, published February 3, 2026) authorized 64,716 supplemental H-2B visas above the statutory cap. The supplementals were allocated in three tranches: 18,490 visas for returning workers issued H-2B in FY2023, FY2024, or FY2025 for work beginning before April 1, 2026; 27,736 visas for returning workers for work beginning in April 2026; and 18,490 visas (not limited to returning workers) for work beginning May 1 through September 30, 2026, which captures the peak landscape and grounds maintenance season. Source: Federal Register FR 2026-02131.

The supplemental visa allocation requires employer attestation of “irreparable harm” without the supplemental workers, signed under penalty of perjury on a new attestation form, per 8 CFR 214.2(h)(6)(xv). Source: USCIS Temporary Increase in H-2B for FY2026. NALP, which represents nearly 1 million landscape, lawn care, irrigation, and tree care professionals, has consistently advocated for permanent cap relief on the basis that the landscape industry alone could absorb the full 64,716 supplemental allocation. Source: NALP / Love Your Landscape H-2B page.

The H-2B prevailing wage is set by the OFLC National Prevailing Wage Center using OEWS data at the state and area level, calculated at one of four wage levels based on job complexity per the Wage and Hour Division’s prevailing wage determination methodology. For landscape and groundskeeping SOC 37-3011, the H-2B prevailing wage typically falls between the AEWR Skill Level I and Skill Level II rates because the H-2B wage levels capture additional complexity in supervisor and crew leader roles. Source: DOL FLAG H-2B program page.

What this means for landscape operators

For nursery and greenhouse operations: the new OEWS-based AEWR cuts the wage floor in most states by $1 to $5 per hour at Skill Level I, which materially improves H-2A unit economics for entry-level cultivation, propagation, and harvesting roles. Operators should reclassify their job orders to use Skill Level I where genuinely applicable (workers with less than 3 months of experience), but should be aware that DOL Wage and Hour Division will audit for misclassification and require Skill Level II pay for experienced returning workers. State minimum wage floors (California, Washington, New York, Florida) still bind where they exceed Skill Level I.

For pure-play landscape installation and maintenance contractors: H-2A is not an option for the field crews who install hardscape, lay sod, maintain mowing routes, prune, or perform leaf cleanup at customer properties; those workers fall under SOC 37-3011 and the H-2B program. H-2B operators need to file with OFLC as early as the 75 to 90 day filing window allows (October 1 through January 1 for April 1 starts; January 2 through March 31 for July 1 starts), be prepared for randomized lottery assignment when demand exceeds the cap, and budget for the irreparable harm attestation if seeking supplemental visas.

For mixed operators with both an installation arm and a wholesale or growing arm: the H-2A and H-2B programs can be used in parallel, but the work scopes must be cleanly separated and documented because cross-deployment risks debarment by either DOL OFLC or USCIS. Internal tracking systems that timestamp where each worker is and what task they are performing become critical compliance infrastructure.

For all H-2A and H-2B users in 2026 and beyond: budget for OSHA Heat Rule compliance once finalized. The proposed standard requires water at one quart per worker per hour, shaded rest areas, paid rest breaks at heat index 80 degrees Fahrenheit (initial trigger) and 90 degrees Fahrenheit (high heat trigger), and written heat illness prevention plans. Source: OSHA Heat Rulemaking Fact Sheet. Compliance investment estimates from regulated industry comments range from $200 to $800 per outdoor worker annually depending on operation type. For more on labor-cost inputs to landscape pricing, see HMNDP’s coverage of how much landscape business owners make and the US lawn care market size 2026 overview. Operators evaluating whether to scale via guest worker programs should also review the how to start a landscape business guide and our H-2A program for landscape crews overview.

Methodology

This report combines Tier 3 federal agency primary sources (DOL OFLC Foreign Labor Application Gateway, USCIS H-2A Employer Data Hub, USCIS Form G-1055 Fee Schedule, BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, Federal Register Interim Final Rule 2025-19365 and Temporary Final Rule 2026-02131, eCFR 20 CFR Part 655), Tier 2 SEC filings (BrightView Holdings FY2025 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, EDGAR), Tier 4 state agency sources (California Agricultural Labor Relations Board, Washington L&I, New York DOL), and Tier 5 industry and trade press (Cornell Agricultural Workforce Development, National Association of Landscape Professionals, American Farm Bureau Federation Market Intel, Economic Policy Institute analyses).

The verification window is October 2, 2025 through June 17, 2026. AEWR rates shown reflect the FY2025 FLS-based rates still in effect for ETA-790 job orders filed before October 2, 2025 and illustrative OEWS-based Skill Level I and Skill Level II rates published by Cornell Agricultural Workforce Development based on DOL OFLC’s transitional guidance. Final OEWS-based AEWRs for FY2026 are scheduled to publish in July 2026 per the IFR effective date provisions, after which this report will be refreshed. BLS OEWS wage figures use the May 2024 release, the most recent available as of the verification date. USCIS fee figures use the Form G-1055 schedule effective April 1, 2024 with the Asylum Program Fee in effect for I-129 petitions.

Inclusion criteria: federal regulations and agency-published data only for wage and program rules; SEC filings only for public-company H-2B employer counts; named industry data sources (NALP, AFBF, Cornell, EPI) only where their underlying analysis is reproducible and cited.

Limitations

This report does not provide a state-by-state OEWS Skill Level I and Skill Level II rate table for all 50 states because DOL’s final FY2026 OEWS-based AEWR table is scheduled to publish in July 2026 and was not yet available at the verification date. Only the Cornell-published illustrative subset of 11 states is shown for the OEWS-based methodology.

Top H-2A landscape employer rankings by certified position count are not included because OFLC’s public disclosure data is most cleanly indexed by SOC 45-2092 (crop, nursery, greenhouse) rather than SOC 37-3011 (landscaping and groundskeeping), and SOC 37-3011 is primarily H-2B rather than H-2A. Operators seeking certified employer lists by SOC code should query the OFLC FLAG public disclosure download directly.

State workers compensation Class Code rates and benefit accrual costs vary by carrier and experience modification factor and are shown as illustrative; operator-specific quotes will vary by NCCI experience modification.

Pending H-2A litigation: any Administrative Procedure Act challenges to the October 2, 2025 IFR were not yet docketed in federal court as of the verification date. The post-comment period closed December 1, 2025; the final rule may issue with modifications.

This report does not cover: the H-2 visa programs for nationals of specific designated countries (which are program-specific list updates from DHS); the Returning Worker Exemption history (lapsed); state-specific guest worker programs (which do not exist at scale for landscape); or J-1 Exchange Visitor programs sometimes used by tree care operators.

Future Updates

This report is scheduled for refresh quarterly through 2026 and 2027 as DOL OFLC publishes the first FY2026 OEWS-based AEWR table (expected July 2026), as USCIS releases FY2026 H-2A and H-2B Employer Data Hub Q4 data, as OSHA finalizes the Heat Injury and Illness Prevention rule (Docket OSHA-2021-0009, expected late 2026), and as litigation challenges to the AEWR IFR resolve. Next scheduled refresh: September 2026.

How to cite this report

APA: HMNDP Landscaping. (2026). 2026 Landscape Labor & H-2A Visa Report. https://hmndp.org/guides/2026-landscape-labor-h2a-visa-report/

Chicago: HMNDP Landscaping. "2026 Landscape Labor & H-2A Visa Report." 2026. https://hmndp.org/guides/2026-landscape-labor-h2a-visa-report/

MLA: "HMNDP Landscaping. 2026 Landscape Labor & H-2A Visa Report." HMNDP Landscaping, 2026, https://hmndp.org/guides/2026-landscape-labor-h2a-visa-report/.

Sources & References

• Federal Register. (2025). “Adverse Effect Wage Rate Methodology for the Temporary Employment of H-2A Nonimmigrants in Non-Range Occupations in the United States” (FR Doc. 2025-19365). https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/10/02/2025-19365/adverse-effect-wage-rate-methodology-for-the-temporary-employment-of-h-2a-nonimmigrants-in-non-range
• Federal Register. (2026). “Exercise of Time-Limited Authority To Increase the Fiscal Year 2026 Numerical Limitation for the H-2B Temporary Nonagricultural Worker Program” (FR Doc. 2026-02131). https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/02/03/2026-02131/exercise-of-time-limited-authority-to-increase-the-fiscal-year-2026-numerical-limitation-for-the
• Federal Register. (2025). “Heat Injury and Illness Prevention in Outdoor and Indoor Work Settings; Extension.” https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/09/25/2025-18670/heat-injury-and-illness-prevention-in-outdoor-and-indoor-work-settings
• U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration. “Foreign Labor Certification.” https://www.dol.gov/agencies/eta/foreign-labor
• U.S. Department of Labor, OFLC. “H-2A Adverse Effect Wage Rates (AEWRs).” https://www.flag.dol.gov/wage-data/adverse-effect-wage-rates
• U.S. Department of Labor, OFLC. “H-2A Temporary Certification for Agriculture Workers.” https://flag.dol.gov/programs/H-2A
• U.S. Department of Labor, OFLC. “H-2B Program.” https://flag.dol.gov/programs/H-2B
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