Hiring a landscape architect in Durham, NC

Employers in the Durham-Chapel Hill, NC area pay landscape architects a median of $84,270, with the middle half of the market between $66,870 and $99,940. Durham residents working in architecture and engineering occupations report a median of $92,128, which is 9% above what the metro pays for this role.

Get Instant Pricing

What does a landscape architect earn here?

Place of work

What employers pay

Annual wages paid by employers in the Durham-Chapel Hill, NC area. BLS OEWS, May 2025.
25th percentile	$66,870
Median	$84,270
75th percentile	$99,940

Half of landscape architects in this area earn between $66,870 and $99,940. A band set below $66,870 competes for the bottom quarter of the market.

Place of residence

What Durham residents earn

$92,128

Median earnings of Durham residents working in architecture and engineering occupations, 3,094 people. Census ACS 5-year 2023, tables S2401 and B24011. Where people live, not where they work, so it is not the same measurement as the wages beside it.

The 9% figure is not a pay gap. ACS counts the civilian employed population 16 and over, part-time and part-year work included; OEWS counts wage-and-salary jobs only. The two populations differ, so read this number against other cities rather than as a shortfall: the same definitional difference applies to every city equally, which is what makes a city-to-city reading sound.

The two sit close together, so pay alone is unlikely to be what wins or loses this hire.

What does the role actually involve?

Core tasks

Prepare graphic representations or drawings of proposed plans or designs.
Confer with clients, engineering personnel, or architects on landscape projects.
Integrate existing land features or landscaping into designs.
Inspect landscape work to ensure compliance with specifications, evaluate quality of materials or work, or advise clients or construction personnel.
Analyze data on conditions such as site location, drainage, or structure location for environmental reports or landscaping plans.

O*NET 29.1, task statements for SOC 17-1012.

Tools and technologies in demand

Adobe Creative Cloud software, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe InDesign, Adobe Photoshop, Autodesk AutoCAD, Autodesk AutoCAD Civil 3D, Autodesk Revit, ESRI ArcGIS software.

O*NET 29.1, flagged in demand or hot for this occupation. Useful as a screen, not as a checklist.

Is the talent actually in Durham?

This is a job zone four: considerable preparation needed occupation. Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not.

That matters here, because 55.7% of Durham adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher. That is a deep local pool for a degree-requiring role. Census ACS 5-year 2023, table S1501.

The average Durham commute runs 22.7 minutes, which is roughly how far your catchment reaches before candidates start saying no. 20.6% already work from home, so a fully onsite requirement here is competing against that.

How often do these jobs turn over?

In Durham County, architectural, engineering and related services employs 3,403 and turns over 4.9% a quarter, with 186 hires against 208 separations. Average earnings in that industry run $9,845 a month. Census LEHD Quarterly Workforce Indicators, 2024 Q1, NAICS 5413.

That figure covers every occupation in the industry, not this role alone, so read it as the local churn rate rather than as a number about landscape architects. It still tells you what you are hiring into: a low-churn market, where people do not move often and passive candidates are the whole game.

What does the search cost?

The fee is set by the seniority of the role, never by salary and never by location. Across all six tiers it runs $6,240 to $54,340 per search. A contingency firm hiring at this role's median would bill roughly $16,854 to $25,281 on the first year salary alone.

One owner runs the search from market map to signed offer. Searches typically fill in 23 to 35 days, which is a typical window rather than a promise, and the replacement guarantee runs 45 days at 50% off.

Price this search

Eight questions about the role. Your tier range appears on screen.