Ranch Hand Jobs

45 listings are live on WildWork as of October 28, 2026. 35 state their pay and 18 include housing.

The median posted rate is $17.71/hr across 28 current listings that state pay in that unit, with posted rates from $11.81/hr to $19.71/hr. These are advertised rates; tips, overtime and room and board are extra where the listing says so.

40% of current listings say the employer provides housing, free or at a charge, and 9% include meals. Each listing shows whether housing is included and what it costs when the employer says.

Some, but most listings ask for it. A Sheridan, Wyoming ranch hand job and a western North Dakota job posted in 2026 both asked for 2 to 5 years. Even a South Dakota listing marked 0 to 2 years wanted experience with cattle, calving, equipment, fencing and haying. The North Dakota post also required previous farm or ranch livestock work.

BLS 2025 data put the median for farmworkers who tend ranch animals at $36,670 a year, or $17.63 an hour, with the bottom 10 percent under $13.15 an hour and the top 10 percent above $26.00. Posted 2026 packages ran higher: $35,000 to $45,000 plus a house near Sheridan, Wyoming, and $55,000 or more with housing in western North Dakota.

Not when it meets the IRS test. Publication 15-B lets an employer exclude lodging from your wages if it is on the business premises, furnished for the employer’s convenience, and a condition of employment. If you can take extra pay instead of the house and choose the house, it is not excluded, and a cash housing allowance never is.

It follows the cattle. The University of Nebraska-Lincoln beef calendar for a March-calving herd has calving in March and April, branding and turning in bulls in May, fly control and checking water, fences and pastures in summer, pregnancy checks and weaning in fall, and hay feeding in winter. The 2026 Sheridan, Wyoming listing added equipment, fence maintenance, irrigation and welding.

Most cannot. USDA’s Economic Research Service says most livestock producers, including ranches, are not legally allowed to use the H-2A program to meet year-round labor needs, with an exception for range sheep and goat operations. USDA also notes the average farm wage was about 60 percent of the nonfarm wage in 2024, $18.12 against $30.13.