Motherhood Moment: House & Home - Most Expensive Cities for Lawn Maintenance

Where do Americans spend the most to keep the grass greener on their side of the fence?

To mark National Lawn Care Month, Lawn Love ranked 2024’s Most Expensive Metro Areas for Lawn Maintenance.

We compared nearly 120 of the biggest U.S. metro areas based on 3 categories. We looked at household spending on lawn care and gardening services, lawn watering costs, and average yard sizes. We also considered mowing frequencies during peak grass season, between March and October.

See the 10 most expensive (and 10 most affordable) cities for lawn maintenance below, followed by key takeaways. (Don’t see your city below? Check out the full ranking.)

Most Expensive Metro Areas for Lawn Maintenance		Most Affordable Metro Areas for Lawn Maintenance
Rank	City	Rank	City
1	Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA	1	New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA
2	Visalia, CA	2	Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE
3	Bakersfield, CA	3	Flint, MI
4	Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX	4	Reading, PA
5	Lafayette, LA	5	San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley, CA
6	McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, TX	6	Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI
7	Shreveport-Bossier City, LA	7	Buffalo-Cheektowaga, NY
8	Mobile, AL	8	St. Louis, MO-IL
9	Oklahoma City, OK	9	Albany-Schenectady-Troy, NY
10	Chattanooga, TN-GA	10	Rochester, NY

Key Insights:

9 California metros land among the 50 most expensive for lawn maintenance due to high watering costs and frequent mowing needs, despite having smaller-than-average lawns.
Southern states like Louisiana, North Carolina, and Texas score among the most expensive half of our ranking with spacious yards, more frequent mows, and higher spending on lawn care services and watering. North Carolina metros claim some of the biggest lawns on average, with Asheville (No. 17) boasting the largest in our ranking, 0.62 acres.
Residents of Las Vegas-Henderson-Paradise, Nevada (No. 58), have their grass cut least often and claim the smallest yards, 0.12 acres. However, homeowners in this region are spending a higher share of their income on yard care, likely for converting grass to low-maintenance xeriscapes.