Cities where lawn care services cost the most green in 2025

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Cities where lawn care services cost the most green in 2025

Leaves are piling up and budgets are feeling tighter with back-to-school season here and the holidays around the corner. So, where might expensive lawn care services drive homeowners to DIY their yard chores?

To find out, Lawn Love looked at six metrics across 460 of the biggest U.S. cities to rank the Cities Where Lawn Care Services Cost the Most Green in 2025.

Some highlights:

• On average, urban U.S. households spend 0.56% of their annual household income on professional lawn and gardening services.
• Annual spending ranges from $273 in Flint, Michigan (No. 366) to $1,597 in Newton, Massachusetts (No. 159), with a national average of $622.
• Average peak lawn care season lasts 250 days, with some cities like Houston (No. 135) and San Antonio (No. 46) lasting as long as 277 days and places like Philadelphia (No. 289) as short as 220 days.

Explore our ranking below. To learn how we ranked the cities, see our methodology.

5 most expensive cities for professional lawn care services

Check out the list below for insights on each of our five cities where lawn care services might stretch homeowners’ budgets in 2025.

No. 1: Conroe, Texas

Overall score: 49.74

Portion of Household Income Spent on Professional Lawn Care: 0.66% | Rank: 13

Mowing Frequency Index: 5.9 | Rank: 111

Average Yard Acreage: 0.45 acres | Rank: 13

Lawn Watering Cost Index: 37 | Rank: 33

Google Search Interest (Population-Adjusted): 1,144 | Rank: 5

Lawn care tips:

• The Best Grass for East Texas Lawns
• When to Fertilize Your Lawn in East Texas
• The Most Common East Texas Weeds

No. 2: Melbourne, Florida

Overall score: 46.08

Portion of Household Income Spent on Professional Lawn Care: 0.62% | Rank: 45

Mowing Frequency Index: 6.55 | Rank: 80

Average Yard Acreage: 0.26 acres | Rank: 130

Lawn Watering Cost Index: 107 | Rank: 98

Google Search Interest (Population-Adjusted): 1,692 | Rank: 1

Lawn care tips:

• The Best Grasses for Florida Lawns
• The Best Time to Water Your Grass in Florida
• 30 Best Native Plants for Florida

No. 3: Georgetown, Texas

Overall score: 45.1

Portion of Household Income Spent on Professional Lawn Care: 0.67% | Rank: 7

Mowing Frequency Index: 4.29 | Rank: 253

Average Yard Acreage: 0.33 acres | Rank: 57

Lawn Watering Cost Index: 47 | Rank: 43

Google Search Interest (Population-Adjusted): 926 | Rank: 13

Lawn care tips:

• The Best Grass for Central Texas Lawns
• When to Fertilize Your Lawn in Central Texas
• The Most Common Central Texas Weeds

No. 4: Suffolk, Virginia

Overall score: 44.81

Portion of Household Income Spent on Professional Lawn Care: 0.62% | Rank: 44

Mowing Frequency Index: 4.71 | Rank: 212

Average Yard Acreage: 0.68 acres | Rank: 1

Lawn Watering Cost Index: 68 | Rank: 63

Google Search Interest (Population-Adjusted): 486 | Rank: 109

Lawn care tips:

• An Ultimate Guide to Grass Types
• How to Get Greener Grass
• When is the Best Time to Water Your Grass?

No. 5: Mountain View, California

Overall score: 42.72

Portion of Household Income Spent on Professional Lawn Care: 1% | Rank: 1

Mowing Frequency Index: 5.66 | Rank: 127

Average Yard Acreage: 0.09 acres | Rank: 433

Lawn Watering Cost Index: 357 | Rank: 332

Google Search Interest (Population-Adjusted): 158 | Rank: 386

Lawn care tips:

• 5 Best Grass Types for California Lawns
• When to Fertilize Your Lawn in California
• The 19 Most Common Weeds in Your California Lawn

City rankings

See how each city fared in the ranking:

Key insights

37.5% of the 40 largest U.S. cities — including San Antonio (No. 46), Tucson, Arizona (No. 67), and Houston (No. 135) — land in the less affordable half of the ranking.

• Residents of Kansas City, Missouri (No. 138), Indianapolis (No. 269), and Virginia Beach, Virginia (No. 294), allocate a higher share of their average household income to professional lawn and gardening services than the average percentage spent (0.56%) in our ranking.
• Suburbs might be known for more expansive (aka expensive) yards, but some big cities with populations above 250,000, like North Carolina cities Winston-Salem (No. 213) and Greensboro (No. 214), as well as Nashville (No. 373), have larger-than-average yards to maintain.

Draining your wallet

It is most expensive to water lawns in Arizona, Texas, and Southern California. Homeowners who aren’t willing to splurge on green grass can lower their water bills with xeriscaping.

Seeking pros

Demand for professional services is highest in Florida — particularly in Orlando (No. 30) and Fort Myers (No. 16).

On the other side of the country, professional services are least sought after in California cities, particularly Chula Vista (No. 194), Glendale (No. 376), and Huntington Beach (No. 303).

Mowing mayhem

On average, about 3% of Lawn Love customers across the cities in the ranking are charged long grass fees.

Some cities with a high Mowing Frequency Index — such as New Jersey cities Paterson (No. 264) and Jersey City (No. 309), and New Bedford, Massachusetts (No. 337) — also have among the highest shares of mowing jobs with long grass fees.

Some cities with the tidiest lawns include Savannah, Georgia (No. 93), Scottsdale, Arizona (No. 54), and Ann Arbor, Michigan (No. 444).

State stat spotlight

• Texas: Every major city in the Texas Triangle scores in the more expensive half, except for Dallas (No. 327). Among the state’s five biggest cities, Dallas lawns are the most affordable to water, and residents have a lower rate of overgrown lawns.
• Florida: Only five Florida cities — Gainesville (No. 242), St. Petersburg (No. 247), Fort Lauderdale (No. 265), Daytona Beach (No. 322), and Miami Beach (No. 390) — land in the more affordable half of the ranking. These cities spend a smaller percentage of their income on professional lawn care services and have more affordable lawn watering requirements.
• New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey: All six New York, seven Pennsylvania, and six New Jersey cities score in the more affordable half of the ranking, with less costly lawn watering needs, smaller average yard sizes, and less spending on professional services — except for Pennsylvania cities Scranton (No. 301) and Erie (No. 344).
• North Carolina: Despite having some of the biggest yards on average among large cities, North Carolina cities Raleigh (No. 292), Durham (No. 333), and Charlotte (No. 411) finish in the more affordable half due to moderate mowing frequency rates, less expensive lawn watering costs, and lower spending on professional lawn care services.

Behind the rankings

First, Lawn Love determined the factors (metrics) that are most relevant to rank the Cities Where Lawn Care Services Cost the Most Green in 2025. They then assigned a weight to each factor based on its importance and grouped those factors into two categories: Lawn Care Cost and Search for Service Providers. The categories, factors, and their weights are listed in the table below.

For each of the 500 biggest U.S. cities, they then gathered data on each factor from the sources listed below the table. They eliminated 40 cities lacking sufficient data in a single category, resulting in a final sample size of 460 cities.

Finally, they calculated scores (out of 100 points) for each city to determine its rank in each factor, each category, and overall. A city’s Overall Score is the average of its scores across all factors and categories. The highest Overall Score ranked “Most Expensive” (No. 1) and the lowest “Least Expensive” (No. 460).

Notes:

• The “Worst” among individual factors may not be No. 460 due to ties.
• The Mowing Frequency Index: Considers the local peak season length for lawn care, average mowing price per square foot, and average monthly precipitation.
• The Lawn Watering Cost Index: From Lawn Love's Most Expensive Cities for Watering Your Lawn study, which includes 10 metrics, including water requirements for the most common grass types in a region, the portion of household income spent on water, and drought susceptibility.

Sources

Census Business Builder, Google Ads, U.S. Federal Housing Finance Agency, LawnStarter, and Other Lawn Love Studies

Creative ways to lower lawn care costs

Professional lawn mowing services cost between $48 and $207 per visit on average, with costs differing due to yard size, grass height, and other factors like lawn health.

When it comes to lawn care, some of the costliest expenses can be avoided with a little creativity and DIY magic. Check out the tips below.

Do-it-yourself

• Learn how to aerate, dethatch, and overseed your lawn.
• Make your own homemade fertilizer.
• Learn some lawn mowing tips and tricks before taking the mower out for a spin.
• Equipment can be the most expensive part of DIY lawn care. Save money by borrowing from a local community tool shed, a close friend, or a neighbor.
• Ready to drop some cash on a lawn mower of your own? Read through this guide on the best time to buy a lawn mower.

Redesign your lawn and landscape

• Switch to a low-maintenance grass type.
• Skip the weekly mow with a no-mow grass alternative, like a ground cover.
• Fill your property with low-maintenance landscaping, like native plants or xeriscaping. Lawn Love has dozens of local guides to picking the best native plants — just search for your city or state on their blog.
• Enhance curb appeal and lower lawn care needs with clever hardscaping projects.
• Convert a section of your yard into a veggie garden and enjoy or sell the produce.
• Opt for drought-tolerant landscaping and grass types to lower your water bills.

Keep your lawn healthy

• Choose an ideal grass type for your location and follow proper lawn care practices.
• Water your lawn at the right time of day and avoid overwatering to prevent lawn diseases and pests.
• Conduct a soil test for your lawn and make amendments based on the results.
• Maintain your lawn equipment and sharpen mower blades one to two times per year.

This story was produced by Lawn Love and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.