Arborist and Tree Surgeon
Impact: Managing and preserving the trees that define the character of our towns, cities, and countryside, ensuring their safety and long-term health
Carry out professional tree surgery, arboricultural management, and tree health assessment for residential, commercial, and public sector clients, combining climbing and chainsaw skills with arboricultural knowledge to manage trees safely and sustainably. Carry out tree climbing and aerial rescue; prune, crown reduce, and fell trees; carry out stump grinding; assess tree health and risk; and provide arboricultural reports. Develop expertise in a specific arboricultural domain such as ancient tree management, urban tree management, or woodland management.
What the day looks like
- People interaction
- Moderate
- Team vs solo
- 50% Team / 50% Solo
- Client facing
- Sometimes
- Impact visibility
- Very High
- Travel
- 40-60% travel to tree sites
- Schedule flexibility
- Moderate
- Remote work
- On-site Only
- Typical work hours
- 40-52 hours/week
- Stress level
- High
At a glance
- Median salary
- $42,000
- Entry-level
- $22,000 - $32,000
- Senior
- $75,000+
- Growth by 2033
- 8% (urban tree management and climate resilience driving demand)
- Demand
- Growing
- Freelance potential
- High
- Salary growth potential
- High -- 80-200% growth from arborist to arboricultural company owner
- Typical student debt
- $0 - $15,000
Skills you'll use
Hard skills
- Tree climbing (NPTC CS38
- CS39)
- Chainsaw operation (NPTC CS30
- CS31
- CS41)
- Tree pruning and felling
- Stump grinding
- Tree health and risk assessment
- Arboricultural reports (BS 5837)
Soft skills
- Safety awareness
- Physical fitness
- Attention to detail
- Technical aptitude
- Customer service
Technical complexity: High
How to get there
- Minimum education
- Certificate or Vocational Training
- Licensing
- Yes
- Years to mid-career
- 3-5 years
- Years to senior
- 7-12 years
- Career switching
- Hard
Where this career leads
How people arrive here
- Groundsworker
- Landscape Gardener
Where you can go from here
- Consulting Arborist
- Arboricultural Company Owner
Typical progression
- Arborist Apprentice
- Arborist
- Senior Arborist
- Arboricultural Company Owner
Future outlook
- Automation probability
- 5% -- arboriculture requires specialist human expertise and cannot be automated
- AI disruption risk
- Very Low
- Demand trend
- Growing
How people feel about it
- Overall satisfaction
- 8/10
- Meaning
- 8.5/10
- Work-life balance
- 7/10
- Prestige
- 7/10
- Social perception
- High