Forester: what the job is, what it pays, and how to get hired.
The work, the skills that matter, the tools in demand and the pay range, from U.S. government data, plus every TryHired page for the role.
10% of foresters earn less than this amount.
- Annual
- $50,790
- Hourly
- $24.42
- Source
- BLS May 2025
25% of foresters earn less than this amount.
- Annual
- $62,710
- Hourly
- $30.15
- Source
- BLS May 2025
Half of foresters earn more than this and half earn less.
- Annual
- $76,400
- Hourly
- $36.73
- Source
- BLS May 2025
75% of foresters earn less than this amount.
- Annual
- $91,640
- Hourly
- $44.06
- Source
- BLS May 2025
90% of foresters earn less than this amount.
- Annual
- $109,700
- Hourly
- $52.74
- Source
- BLS May 2025
Foresters manage public and private forested lands for economic, recreational, and conservation purposes. The median pay is $76,400 a year ($36.73 an hour) (BLS, May 2025).
- Median pay
- $76,400
- BLS May 2025
- Employed in the U.S.
- 10,430
- BLS May 2025
- Preparation
- Job Zone 4 of 5
- considerable preparation
Foresters at a glance
Foresters in the United States earned a median annual wage of $76,400 in May 2025, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Source: BLS OEWS, May 2025
In its 2025–35 employment projections, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics lists a bachelor's degree as the typical entry-level education for foresters in the United States.
Source: BLS Employment Projections, 2025–35
BLS projects employment of foresters in the United States to grow 2.2% from 2025 to 2035, with about 900 openings a year on average, including replacement openings.
Source: BLS Employment Projections, 2025–35
BLS estimated that 10,430 people were employed as foresters in the United States in May 2025, not counting the self-employed.
Source: BLS OEWS, May 2025
Every page for Foresters
What foresters do day to day
Data Core tasks rated most important by workers in the role (O*NET).
- Establish short- and long-term plans for management of forest lands and forest resources.
- Plan cutting programs and manage timber sales from harvested areas, assisting companies to achieve production goals.
- Determine methods of cutting and removing timber with minimum waste and environmental damage.
- Negotiate terms and conditions of agreements and contracts for forest harvesting, forest management and leasing of forest lands.
- Perform inspections of forests or forest nurseries.
- Monitor contract compliance and results of forestry activities to assure adherence to government regulations.
- Supervise activities of other forestry workers.
- Provide advice and recommendations, as a consultant on forestry issues, to private woodlot owners, firefighters, government agencies or to companies.
Industries that employ it
Data Share of all forester jobs in each industry, 2025 (BLS Employment Matrix).
- Government, excluding state and local education and hospitals49.3% of all jobs in this occupation · +0.7% projected change here 2025–35 · mean wage $75,640
- Support activities for agriculture and forestry12.0% of all jobs in this occupation · +4.6% projected change here 2025–35
- Forestry and logging9.9% of all jobs in this occupation · -3.8% projected change here 2025–35 · mean wage $81,450
- Utilities7.0% of all jobs in this occupation · +4.9% projected change here 2025–35 · mean wage $103,150
- Professional, scientific, and technical services5.1% of all jobs in this occupation · +15.1% projected change here 2025–35 · mean wage $69,080
- Wood product manufacturing4.2% of all jobs in this occupation · -0.2% projected change here 2025–35 · mean wage $84,430
Sources: BLS 2025–35 National Employment Matrix (share of the occupation's jobs, projected change) and BLS OEWS May 2025 industry estimates (mean wage). Different industry estimates are not a pay forecast for any person.
Ranked by importance to the job
Data O*NET importance ratings. The first three are core.
Knowledge areas: Biology, Mathematics, English Language, Geography, Administration and Management, Customer and Personal Service.
Software foresters use
Data Examples reported for the role; employer demand flags from O*NET.
- ESRI ArcGIS softwareGeographic information systemIn demand
- Geographic information system GIS systemsGeographic information systemIn demand
- ESRI ArcViewGeographic information system
- Forest MetrixInventory management software
- Forest vegetation simulatorsAnalytical or scientific software
- Forest yield softwareAnalytical or scientific software
- Fountains Forestry TwoDogInventory management software
- Geographic information system GIS softwareGeographic information system
- Global positioning system GPS softwareMobile location based services software
- Mapping softwareMap creation software
- Microsoft ExcelSpreadsheet softwareIn demand
- Microsoft Office softwareOffice suite softwareIn demand
Also called: Area Forester, District Forester, Environmental Protection Forester, Fire Prevention Forester, Forest Silviculturist, Procurement Forester.
How this page is built
Tasks, skills, tools, education and related roles come from O*NET 31.0. Pay and employment come from the BLS OEWS May 2025 national estimates. The skill-match score is our calculation: Skill match is the cosine similarity of the two occupations' skill profiles: for each of 35 O*NET skills (10 essential, 25 transferable) we multiply importance by level and subtract the average across all occupations, then compare the direction of the two profiles. 100 means identical shape; 0 means unrelated or opposite (negative values are shown as 0). Only occupations that O*NET itself lists as related are compared.
- How a specific employer defines the job.
- Pay for self-employed workers (OEWS covers employees).
- Your own chances: data describes the occupation, not you.
- O*NET 31.0 Database, U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under the CC BY 4.0 license. TryHired selected, ranked and combined the data; O*NET is not responsible for these pages.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 estimates (public domain).
How TryHired builds this data: sources, methods and downloads. Spotted an error? Report a correction.