STEM

Botanist

Study plants, from rare wildflowers to crop seeds, to learn how they grow and how to protect them

Open interactive guide

What does a Botanist do?

Botanists work in botanical gardens, plant collections, universities, seed companies, and government land agencies. They identify plants, test how they react to soil and weather, and track rare species. People who notice small details and enjoy being outside do well.

A day in the life

7:00 AMDrive to a field site with a plant press and hand lens
8:30 AMIdentify plants and record where each one grows
11:00 AMCollect leaf and flower samples for the plant collection
1:30 PMPress and label dried specimens back at the lab
3:00 PMCheck seedlings in the greenhouse for growth
4:30 PMUpdate the plant database with today's finds

What's great

  • Plant science touches food, medicine, and nature
  • Time outdoors in wild places
  • New plant species and uses are still being found
  • Work in gardens, labs, or fields

The hard parts

  • Fewer openings than in other sciences
  • Field work in heat, rain, and ticks
  • Research roles often need a graduate degree
  • Funding for plant studies can be limited

What is a Botanist's salary and outlook?

$39k – $98k
Salary Range
Bachelor's degree
Typical Education
Growing

Typical pay in this guide runs from about $39,000 to $97,500 a year, with a midpoint around $65,000. These are planning figures for students, not a job offer or an official wage.

CareerLens rates the outlook as Growing.

For the official national outlook, see BLS Occupational Data.

How do you become a Botanist?

A common path is Bachelor's degree in botany, plant science, or biology. The ladder often runs from Botany Technician to Botanist, then Senior Botanist or Collection Curator, and Director of Botanical Research. Other routes: Volunteer at a botanical garden or nature preserve; Master's degree for research and curator roles; Start on agriculture or forestry field crews.

  • Volunteer at a botanical garden or nature preserve
  • Master's degree for research and curator roles
  • Start on agriculture or forestry field crews

Career path

Entry level
Botany Technician
Mid career
Botanist
Senior
Senior Botanist or Collection Curator
Executive
Director of Botanical Research

Will AI replace a Botanist?

How much will AI change this job?

A lot

AI will change many everyday tasks in this job. The work shifts toward judgment, checking, and people.

AI helps analyze plants, but botanists still explore and decide.

AI tools can now scan plant data, spot patterns, and speed up research tasks. But botanists still need to go outside, collect samples, and make sense of what nature is really doing. The job is shifting from doing every task by hand to guiding smart tools and checking their work.

AI can help with

  • Sorting through large plant and soil data sets
  • Identifying plant species from photos or samples
  • Predicting how plants might grow under certain conditions

What stays human

  • Collecting samples in real outdoor environments
  • Designing new experiments and asking research questions
  • Explaining findings clearly to other scientists and communities

Skills to build now

  • Join a science club or garden project
  • Practice writing clear observations in a notebook
  • Learn basic biology and environmental science in school

Based on public research from Anthropic and OpenAI, drafted with AI, checked automatically, and read by a person. How we know

This describes how the work may change. It is not a prediction that the job will disappear.