Manatee boasts 16th highest per capita number of lawn workers

MANATEE -- If you want to mow lawns for a living, there aren't many better places to do it than in the Bradenton-Sarasota area.

According to statistics kept by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton metropolitan statistical area boasts the 16th highest number of lawn care and maintenance professionals in the nation in relation to all other occupations. The numbers, updated in mid-2014, show that about 16 of every 1,000 workers in the statistical area are lawn care professionals.

Overall, about 4,160 people in the area mow lawns, trim trees and edge sidewalks as their year-round occupation, the data shows. That overall number ranks 70th nationwide.

Seven Florida metro areas rank in the country's top 20 for the ratio of lawn maintenance workers to the rest of the population. Among the states, Florida has the second-highest number of people in the profession, 74,200, behind California's 106,780.

While there may be a temptation to believe that Floridians are not self-reliant when it comes to working in the yard, that's not necessarily the case. Michelle Atkinson, an environmental horticulture agent with the University of Florida's Manatee County Extension Service, said having a large yard maintenance industry in the Manatee-Sarasota county area is practical considering local demographics.

Many residents live here part-time and many are retired, but their lawns and gardens need to be maintained year-round. Lawn services fill this need.

Additionally, the growth of "maintenance-free" communities and subdivisions with comparatively tiny lots make owning yard tools impractical and almost as expensive as contracting for lawn care.

"Is it really cost-effective to have a mower, a weed-eater and a pruner?" Atkinson said.

The industry is still expanding, said Josh Flowers, owner of Eco-Lectric Landscape Maintenance in Bradenton. He is seeing more well-equipped, highly professional lawn care services enter the local market. His own book of business has grown about 50 percent per year since starting in 2013. He now runs

two crews that service 10 to 15 clients each day.

Eco-Lectric does occupy a specialized niche in the industry. All of its equipment, including riding mowers, blowers, trimmers and edgers, is battery-powered. The company's trailer even has solar panels on top that charge equipment batteries during the day.

Going all electric is another way to appeal to the people who want and need lawn services.

"Most people don't like the noise and smell that gas powered machines emit," Flowers said. "Homeowners that are retired or work from home greatly benefit from our service by not being distracted by our electric machines."

Eco-Lectric's lawn and yard services generally cost between $100 and $150 per month, depending on what types of services are needed.

While in demand, lawn maintenance workers in Florida are far from the best-paid. The average wage for those workers is $11.25 per hour, ranking 426th in the nation. Top pay levels for these workers is in California and the Northeast. Lawn maintenance workers in Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard are the highest at $20.73 per hour.

The lowest pay in the nation is in Monroe, La., at $8.86 per hour.

Matt M. Johnson, Herald business reporter, can be reached at 941-745-7027 or on Twitter @MattAtBradenton.

This story was originally published February 21, 2016 at 8:56 PM with the headline "Manatee boasts 16th highest per capita number of lawn workers ."