How Much Time Americans Spend Mowing in Their Lifetime - Today's Homeowner (original) (raw)
Mowing your lawn serves the dual purpose of keeping your grass healthy while keeping your yard crisp and clean for outdoor enjoyment. Mowing can be a source of income for young adults, a stabilizing force during a stressful week, or a chore we dread as the weekend draws closer. But how long do we really spend on our lawn care regimen on a weekly or yearly basis—let alone throughout our lives?
We reviewed data for the 300 largest Metropolitan Statistical Areas and calculated how long an average resident spends mowing. We considered hours of sun exposure, spring and summer temperature, and mowing frequency per year. Our full ranking breaks down the top 10 cities that spend the most and least time mowing every year.
Our Interesting Findings:
Before we look at specific cities, we’ll share a few eye-opening statistics that affect the whole country:
- On average, Americans will spend over 384 hours of their lifetime mowing their lawn. That’s about 16 days.
- The Southern U.S. sod takes the top spot for time investment. It takes an average of 510 lifetime hours to mow, only 20 hours less than the Northeastern and Western U.S. combined.
- Augusta, GA residents spend the most time mowing per year compared to any other city in the country, about 27.2 hours on average.
- Cambridge, MA residents spend the least amount of time mowing among our reviewed cities, only 30.7 hours on average in their lifetime.
- Chesapeake, VA residents mow more frequently than any other American city. The weather here is full of sun and is at just the right temperature for lawn growth.
The Top 10 Cities for Most Time Spent Mowing
We found that the cities where people spend the most time mowing were primarily in the West and South. These areas have plenty of sunlight and spring and summer temperatures near year-round. Residents here also have larger average yard sizes, falling between roughly 1/2 acre to one full acre.
The Top 10 Cities for Least Time Spent Mowing
If you’re hunting for a home where the lawn is the least of your worries, you may want to look in the Northeastern states first. Factors such as shorter growing seasons, smaller average yard sizes, and different landscaping contribute to a lower average mowing time here—about half of how long it takes for the average Southerner.
Factors Influencing Mowing Time
Since every yard is unique, the time it takes for you to mow your lawn will also be unique. A few factors that influence it include:
- Local climate: Lawns in areas with longer growing seasons typically need more frequent mowing, and vice versa.
- Yard size: Larger yards naturally take longer to mow, but it’s easier to maintain smaller urban and suburban lots. If a city has more spacious properties on average, it tended to rank higher in our list.
- Mowing frequency: Even if a neighborhood has a short growing season, the residents may mow more frequently out of habit to keep the yard manicured. HOA requirements can also play a role in mowing frequency.
- Equipment: Large riding mowers can lessen the time it takes to mow a large lawn, especially compared to a tiny push mower.
- Mowing pattern: Some people mow their lawn in lines, others mow in boxes, and still others mow following diagonal lines. The time differences are marginal between these three methods, but it may take a few more seconds to adjust your mower and keep the overlap consistent.
Methodology
To determine which cities have the longest and shortest mowing times, we looked at data for the 300 largest Metropolitan Statistical Areas in the U.S. After removing some outliers, such as New York City and Anchorage, Alaska, we determined these variables would help our calculation:
- Weather data: This included the average hours of sunlight per year by state, as well as the average spring and summer temperatures by state.
- Average lawn acreage: We calculated this by subtracting the city’s median home size from its average yard size.
- Mower size: For lawns less than half an acre, we assumed the use of a push mower with a 21-inch deck. For lawns half an acre or larger, we assumed the use of a push mower with a 28-inch deck.
Using this data, we calculated the time it takes to mow per acre based on the mower deck size and speed potential:
The time to mow a single acre was calculated based on mower deck size and speed potential using this formula from Encore Equipment:
Hours to mow per acre = 108.9 / (3.1 mph x 0.9 x mower deck width in inches)
“0.9” refers to the minimal overlap used when mowing each swath of lawn, and “108.9” is the dimensions of the acres per hour plus a time factor.
Once we had a result for this formula, we multiplied it by the average lawn size in each city to determine the hours to mow an average yard.
Sources
Elisabeth Beauchamp
Senior Staff Writer
Elisabeth Beauchamp is a content producer for Today’s Homeowner’s Lawn and Windows categories. She graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with degrees in Journalism and Linguistics. When Elisabeth isn’t writing about flowers, foliage, and fertilizer, she’s researching landscaping trends and current events in the agricultural space. Elisabeth aims to educate and equip readers with the tools they need to create a home they love.
Lora Novak meticulously proofreads and edits all commercial content for Today’s Homeowner to guarantee that it contains the most up-to-date information. Lora brings over 12 years of writing, editing, and digital marketing expertise. She’s worked on thousands of articles related to heating, air conditioning, ventilation, roofing, plumbing, lawn/garden, pest control, insurance, and other general homeownership topics.