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:
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:
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:
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:
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:
City rankings
See how each city fared in the ranking:
Lawn Love’s list of the top cities where lawn care services cost the most. – Lawn Love
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.
Table breaking down the – Lawn Love
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-yourselfRedesign your lawn and landscapeKeep your lawn healthy
This story was produced by Lawn Love and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.
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