Report Overview
Featuring 43 tables and 5 figures
What is a priority for younger consumers?
- Environmentally friendly lawn care practices
Lawn care participation varies significantly across the United States, influenced by factors such as geographic location, household income, and work arrangements. In recent years, the shift towards remote work has reshaped how many Americans engage with their outdoor spaces. Those working from home often find themselves with more time and opportunity to tend to their lawns, leading to an uptick in personal lawn maintenance activities.
Where one lives plays a crucial role in lawn care practices. For instance, residents of suburban areas typically have larger yards and may invest more time and resources into maintenance. In contrast, urban dwellers often have limited or no lawn space, not only due to the condensed living spaces that allow for small, if any, yards for single-family housing, but also because of the prevalence of multifamily housing, which typically does not have individual yards. This reduces their participation in traditional lawn care activities as they instead develop gardens and craft hardscaped areas. Climate also factors heavily into regional differences. For instance, homeowners in arid Western states increasingly opt for xeriscaping or artificial turf due to water scarcity concerns, while those in the lush Southeast may engage in frequent mowing over a long growing season and need to invest in additional pest control efforts.
Household income also significantly influences lawn care habits. Higher-income households are more likely to own their own homes and have larger private outdoor spaces to maintain. These households are also best able to afford pro-level equipment with all the latest features. Still, these households are also best positioned to invest in professional lawn care services instead of doing it themselves. Conversely, lower-income families may rely more on more basic or used versions of tools, or may prioritize other household expenses over intensive lawn care doing just the minimum mowing.
The culture surrounding lawn care in America is deeply rooted in notions of homeownership, community aesthetics, and personal pride. Many engage in activities like mowing, raking, and trimming to create inviting outdoor spaces for family gatherings and children's play. A well-maintained lawn often serves as a visual representation of responsible homeownership and contributes to neighborhood appeal. Some homeowners view their lawns as a canvas for self-expression or a way to compete with neighbors for the best-looking yard, whether informally or via local competitions for the best landscaping.
However, lawn culture is experiencing a shift as environmental concerns gain traction. Homeowners and urban planners are beginning to question the sustainability of traditional grass lawns, which often require significant water, chemical fertilizers, and gas-powered equipment to maintain. This is particularly taking hold in areas that have had significant and long-running drought periods where public policy and water utility incentives increasingly encourage residents to remove their conventional lawns. The result has been growing interest in alternative landscaping options (e.g., native plant gardens, pollinator-friendly spaces, edible landscapes, and permeable types of hardscaping). Still, lawn culture is well-entrenched and homeowners in areas with water restrictions may instead keep less conventional lawn in their outdoor spaces and use gentled options including electric or manual mowers to maintain them.
This report includes analysis, data, trends, and customized cross tabs related to homeownership and renting, mental and physical wellbeing, work-from-home trends, lawn care activity, landscaping preferences, ownership of relevant equipment, and more using:
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proprietary results from the August 2021, February 2022, August 2022, February-March 2023, May 2023, September-October 2023, November-December 2023, February-March 2024, May 2024, and July-August 2024 editions of The Freedonia Group National Online Consumer Survey
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syndicated national consumer survey results from MRI-Simmons Fall 2013-2023 Reports and from MRI-Simmons Spring 2011-2024 Reports
Consumers’ opinion on the topics above is analyzed by the following metrics:
age group
gender
urban/suburban/rural location
household income
region
homeownership
Scope of the Report
This study examines consumer insights and trends in the US regarding lawn care activity. Survey data display historical trends and consumer sentiment back to 2011, including examination of the pandemic-era for 2020-2022 and the return to “normal” along with the impacts of the recent inflation-driven economy into 2024.
Owned Land & Property Size
Most US homes have a lawn, garden, or outdoor space, whether it is an owned space, part of rented land, or a common use space for multifamily dwellings. A higher-than-average percentage of homes in suburban and rural areas has these features, in contrast to urban dwellings. Urbanites and others who live in apartment and condominium complexes are most likely to have common outdoor spaces, lawns, and gardens. Townhome owners sometimes have their own private outdoor spaces, while others only have access to common spaces.
Similarly, lot sizes of a half-acre or less were most frequent across all four US regions, as increasing urbanization and population density drives the need to maximize available space. Overall, ownership of a half-acre or more was found to be more prevalent in the South and Midwest. In these regions, larger properties are common due to greater prevalence of outer suburban and rural areas where home lots tend to be larger. Similarly, homeowners with more than two acres of land were found most often in the South and Midwest, where a significant amount of land is tied to economies and histories based on farming and agriculture. Land is often less expensive in these regions, as well.
Lawns, Gardens, & Outdoor Space
Consumers are undertaking larger and more extensive renovations and installations of outdoor areas, supported by the popularity of outdoor living. Consumers look to bring in higher-end elements and include more functionality to their outdoor living spaces. As a result, outdoor spaces are increasingly elaborate, with areas for different activities, like dining, lounging, or cooking, and augmented with landscape lighting, heating elements, and live plants, pots and planters, and decorative structures like pergolas to make them more attractive.
Going forward, consumers will continue to expand the useable space of their homes by creating “outdoor rooms” that have both the comfort and aesthetics of indoor spaces. More than half of consumers – with highest rates among urban dwellers and those who live in the Northeast -- use their private outdoor spaces to entertain family and friends. The preferred use of outdoor spaces at home varies to some degree by where people live, in terms of urban, suburban, or rural areas and in terms of geographic regions. This is due to the amount of space people might have access to, as well as how long their outdoor season typically lasts. For instance, food gardening is more widely selected as a use of outdoor space by those living in outer suburbs and rural areas, who tend to have more land around their home.