Fun Facts about Lawns

A surprisingly high percentage (80%) of U.S. households has a private lawn. The potential collective effect on our daily lives is significant. Consumers annually spend around $40 billion per year to maintain and improve their yards, and the growth is accelerating as the U.S. population matures. Lawns, flower gardening, shrub care and general landscaping are important components of local economies. The personal and public benefits are well-documented.

A healthy and vigorous landscape traps pollution, prevents runoff, improves the air we breathe and can significantly increase property values. Gardening is a healthful activity both physically and emotionally. Contact with nature for the typical urban dweller is often limited to the patch of green that surrounds their home. An estimated 63 million U.S. adults watch wildlife around their home.

• Improper design, plant selection and maintenance of our lawns and gardens can negatively affect our environment and waste precious water resources.

• Improperly applied pesticides and fertilizers that end up on impervious surfaces can be washed into a nearby stream with the next rain.

• Urban areas generate nine times more runoff than a woodland area of the same size.

• Selecting appropriate plant varieties and proper maintenance of turf areas can greatly reduce water use and off-target movement.

This fact sheet was developed as a resource for responsible Lawn Care and Landscaping and to provide background information. The referenced list contains statistics and facts concerning the size, expenditures, social benefits and costs of residential lawn care and landscaping.

Total lawn acreage and average size

• 27.6 million acres of turf grass in U.S.; 21 million acres in home lawns (Borman, 2001).

• 80% of all U.S. households have private lawns. (Templeton, 1998).

• Average American lawn is 1/3 acre (Templeton, 1998).

• Close to 80% of homes have a lawn and account for 18 million acres (Kline, 1990).

• 50 million homeowners maintain residential lawns (Lawn Institute, n.d,).

Top ten reasons to have a lawn:

#10 Gives you some place to put your feet when you walk out the back door.

#9 Covers up all that brown stuff underneath it.

#8 Gives you a reason to fire up your lawn mower every week.

#7 No need to go elsewhere to get grass stains.

#6 It smells good when you cut it.

#5 It gives weeds a place to stand out and be recognized.

#4 What else could you spend your money on that doesn't complain about it not being the right color or size?

#3 The grass is so much better for your dog to take care of business on than your living room carpet.

#2 It's the closest your kids will ever get to playing at Wimbledon.

#1 It just looks pretty.



(Courtesy of American-lawns.com)