Lawn care companies in the US number close to 700,000, and the one you hire will charge most Florida homeowners $30 to $85 a visit to mow a typical yard. The crew member running the mower earns about $18 an hour. Somewhere between those two numbers is the reason your last lawn guy stopped showing up in July.
We're Epic Horizons Landscaping, out of North Port. Dennis started the company in 2022, and lawn mowing is still how a lot of our customers first meet us. We mow in North Port, Venice, Port Charlotte and Englewood every week, so these aren't numbers pulled from a desk. They're the numbers that decide whether a lawn care company is still around next summer.
Below are the questions people actually type into Google about lawn care companies, answered word for word: how many there are, what they charge per visit, per acre, per hour and per square foot, what the owners make, and what the crews get paid. Start with the size of the field you're picking from.
How many: 692,777 landscaping and lawn care businesses in the US (IBISWorld, 2025).
What they charge: $30 to $85 per mowing visit on a 1/8 to 1/4 acre lot; $60 to $150 per acre on bigger lots (HomeGuide, 2026).
What crews earn: $18.82 an hour national median, $17.84 in Florida (BLS, May 2025).
how many lawn care companies are there in the us
There are about 692,777 landscaping and lawn care businesses in the US as of 2025, according to IBISWorld. That count is up 4.8% from 2024. Together these companies bring in roughly $188.8 billion a year and employ more than 1.4 million people. Lawn care companies are counted inside that landscaping services total.
That number surprises people, but it makes sense once you see what it takes to start. A used truck, a trailer, a zero-turn mower, a trimmer and a blower, and you're a lawn care company. No state exam stands between a guy with a mower and your front yard. Pesticide application in Florida does require a license, but mowing, edging and trimming don't.
So the field is huge, and most of it is small. The average business in that count is one owner and a handful of workers, not a corporation with a call center. Down here, where grass grows almost all year, you see that every spring: new trailers on the road in March, and fewer of them by the end of August.
Which raises a better question than "how many." How many of them are actually the kind of company you'd want on your lawn every week?
how many lawn care companies are there
Roughly 690,000 lawn care and landscaping companies operate in the US, based on IBISWorld's 2025 count of 692,777 businesses. The number grew about 3.3% a year from 2020 to 2025. Most are small, owner-run operations. A few national firms, led by BrightView, each bring in revenue in the billions.
Not all of those companies do the same job, and that's where most homeowners get tripped up comparing quotes. "Lawn care" covers two very different businesses:
We're the right-hand column. We don't fertilize lawns and we don't spray for weeds or bugs. If your grass has an insect problem, that's a separate call to a licensed treatment company. We'll mow it, edge it, and handle the beds, plants, sod and drainage around it.
Knowing which kind of company you're calling clears up half the confusion. The other half is money: if there are this many of them, is anybody making a living at it?
how much do lawn care companies make
The average US lawn care and landscaping company brings in about $270,000 a year in revenue. That figure comes from dividing IBISWorld's $188.8 billion 2025 industry total by its 692,777 businesses. Big national firms pull that average up. A one-person mowing route grosses far less, and the owner keeps only part of it after costs.
Revenue isn't profit. Out of every mowing check comes fuel, blades, trimmer line, mower repairs, the truck payment, liability insurance, workers' comp, dump fees and the crew's wages. A zero-turn mower that runs 30-plus hours a week in Florida summer doesn't last forever.
Here's what a residential route looks like at simple math. These are example numbers, not our books: $50 a cut and about 40 cuts a year, which is close to what a SW Florida lawn needs.
| Route size | Who it takes | Cuts per year | Yearly gross at $50 a cut |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30 regular yards | One person | 1,200 | $60,000 |
| 60 regular yards | Owner plus one helper | 2,400 | $120,000 |
| 120 regular yards | Two crews | 4,800 | $240,000 |
Illustration only. Real routes mix weekly and every-other-week customers, and every yard is priced differently.
Look at that middle row. Double the yards and you need a second person, which means payroll, which eats a big piece of the gain. That's the trap that sinks a lot of new lawn care companies. They price low to fill the route, hire help, and find out in August they're working harder for the same money.
So everything comes back to the per-visit price. What should that number actually be?
how much do lawn care companies charge
Lawn care companies charge most homeowners $30 to $85 per mowing visit for a 1/8 to 1/4 acre yard, according to HomeGuide's 2026 national pricing. That price normally covers mowing, string trimming, edging along concrete and blowing off the driveway and walks. Shrub trimming, weeding, mulch and storm cleanup are usually extra.
Here's a lawn care pricing chart pulling the common ways companies quote, all from national 2026 ranges:
| How it's priced | Typical range | Where you'll see it |
|---|---|---|
| Per visit, 1/8 to 1/4 acre | $30–$85 | Most residential mowing |
| Per acre | $60–$150 | Half-acre and larger lots, open ground |
| Per hour, crew with equipment | $50–$100 | Cleanups, overgrown yards, trimming |
| Per year, regular mowing | $900–$2,000 | National average; SW Florida runs higher |
Where your yard falls inside those ranges comes down to time on site. Every palm, bed, light post, AC pad and pool cage means more hand trimming. North Port lots have roadside drainage swales that are slower to mow than flat ground. Port Charlotte canal lots have seawall edges that get trimmed carefully, not run over. A side gate too narrow for a full-size mower means the backyard gets done with a smaller machine.
"I had a really hard time finding someone in North Port that could service our lawn but they answered right away, provided a quick quote, and have been showing up consistently."
— Jessica Shouman, Google Review
"Showing up consistently" is the part that's worth paying for, and it's the first thing a too-cheap price takes away. Per-visit pricing works for a normal lot. But what happens when the yard is an acre or more?
how much do lawn care companies charge per acre
Lawn care companies charge about $60 to $150 per acre to mow larger open lots, based on 2026 national price guides. The per-acre price drops as the property gets bigger, because a wide zero-turn covers open ground fast. Slopes, ditches, trees, fences and grass that's been let go all push the price up.
Per-acre pricing assumes the ground is ready to mow. A lot of acreage around here isn't. Outer North Port and inland Englewood have parcels with palmetto, pepper trees and brush mixed into the grass, and you can't run a residential mower through that. That's a land clearing job first, then mowing after. If that's your lot, our land clearing page covers what that involves.
Wet ground matters too. North Port sits on spodosol with a hardpan layer 18 to 24 inches down, so after a summer storm, water sits on top. Mowing a soaked acre ruts the lawn and buries the mower. A good crew reschedules that cut. A cheap one runs it anyway, and you live with the tire tracks until spring.
Per acre and per visit are both flat prices. Some lawn care companies skip that and just start the clock.
how much do lawn care companies charge per hour
Lawn care companies that bill by time usually charge $50 to $100 per hour for a crew with equipment, based on national pricing guides. That hourly rate pays for the worker's wage, the mower, fuel, insurance and drive time. Hourly billing is most common for cleanups, overgrown yards and shrub trimming, not routine weekly mowing.
People see $75 an hour and compare it to the $18 the crew member earns. The gap isn't all profit. Payroll taxes and workers' comp sit on top of every wage dollar. Then add fuel, blades, equipment wear, liability insurance, the truck, and the 15 minutes between every stop where nobody gets paid. A two-person crew at Florida's median wage is already about $36 an hour in wages alone, before a single cost is covered.
If a company quotes by the hour, ask two things up front. Does the clock run during drive time? Is there a minimum charge per visit? Neither is wrong, but you want to know before the bill shows up. For routine mowing, we give you a set price per visit up front, so the number doesn't change because one week ran long. Cleanups and one-time jobs get quoted after Dennis has walked the yard.
One more pricing model shows up in search results a lot, and it's almost never how a lawn crew actually bills you.
how much do lawn care companies charge per square foot
Most lawn care companies don't quote mowing per square foot. Doing the math on a typical $30 to $85 visit for a 1/8 to 1/4 acre lot, it works out to roughly 0.3 to 1.6 cents per square foot per cut. On an acre at $60 to $150, it drops to about 0.14 to 0.34 cents.
| Lot size | Square feet | Typical price per cut | Works out to per sq ft |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1/8 acre | 5,445 | $30–$85 | 0.55–1.56 cents |
| 1/4 acre | 10,890 | $30–$85 | 0.28–0.78 cents |
| 1 acre | 43,560 | $60–$150 | 0.14–0.34 cents |
Calculated from national 2026 per-visit and per-acre ranges. Lot size, not lawn size.
That last note matters. Your lot isn't all grass. The house, driveway, pool and beds take a big bite, so the turf a crew actually mows is often half the lot or less. That's why nobody prices mowing by the square foot. Two yards on the same size lot can take very different amounts of time.
Where square footage does matter is sod. Sod is bought by the pallet and priced by the square foot, and the prep under it (grading, leveling, getting water to drain off) is where most of the cost hides. Our sod installation page walks through it.
That's the customer's side of the bill. Flip it around, and what does a full year look like from the company's side?
how much do lawn care companies make a year
The average lawn care and landscaping company makes about $270,000 a year in revenue, based on IBISWorld's 2025 totals. A one-person mowing route with 30 to 60 regular yards grosses roughly $60,000 to $120,000 at $50 a cut. What the owner takes home depends on labor, equipment and insurance, and is a fraction of gross.
In Florida the year is lopsided. From May through September, St. Augustine grows fast enough that most lawns need a weekly cut. December through February, every other week is usually plenty. So a route's income swells in summer and thins out in winter, while the truck payment and insurance stay the same every month.
Then there's storm season. After Hurricane Milton in October 2024, cleanup work buried every crew in the area for weeks: downed limbs, fence lines, palms leaning over driveways. That work pays, but it isn't something any company can plan a year around. Some years it's huge. Some years there's none.
The companies that last are the ones that price for the whole year, not just the good months. And a big part of that price is the person running the trimmer.
how much do lawn care companies pay their employees
Lawn care companies pay landscaping and groundskeeping workers a national median of $18.82 an hour, or $39,150 a year, according to BLS data from May 2025. Florida pays a little less, about $17.84 an hour statewide. Crew leaders, irrigation techs and equipment operators earn more. New laborers often start below the median.
Here's how that breaks down in a few Florida metros, including the ones people searching for lawn care in Gulf Breeze, Winter Haven, Haines City and Davenport live in:
| Area | Includes | Median hourly | Median yearly |
|---|---|---|---|
| United States | National | $18.82 | $39,150 |
| Florida | Statewide | $17.84 | about $37,110 |
| Cape Coral–Fort Myers | Lee County, just south of us | $17.69 | $36,790 |
| Pensacola–Ferry Pass–Brent | Gulf Breeze, Pensacola | $17.38 | $36,160 |
| Lakeland–Winter Haven | Winter Haven, Haines City, Davenport | $17.06 | $35,490 |
Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, landscaping and groundskeeping workers.
Why should a homeowner care what the crew makes? Because it tells you whether a quote is real. If a company is quoting $25 a cut on a quarter-acre lot, run the numbers: wages, payroll costs, fuel, insurance, drive time. Something has to give. Usually it's the insurance, the edging, or the showing up.
Ask for a certificate of liability insurance, not just "yes, we're insured." Ask what happens on rain days. Ask whether the price or schedule changes in summer. Ask if edging is every visit or only "when it needs it." A company that can't answer all four on the phone probably won't be answering the phone in August either.
Pay, pricing and revenue all roll up into one number you actually care about: what this costs you over a full year.
how much do.lawn care companies cost
Lawn care companies cost most homeowners $900 to $2,000 a year for regular mowing, trimming, edging and blowing, based on national 2026 price guides. In SW Florida, plan on the upper half of that range or more, because grass grows almost year-round and needs about 40 cuts a year instead of a northern season's 26 to 30.
The schedule drives the bill more than the per-visit price does. Here's the Florida lawn care schedule we see for St. Augustine and Bahia, with how Central Florida differs:
| Months | SW Florida (North Port, Venice, Port Charlotte, Englewood) | Central Florida (Polk County and inland) |
|---|---|---|
| Dec–Feb | Every 2 weeks; growth slows but rarely stops | Every 2 to 3 weeks; frost can brown the lawn and pause growth |
| Mar–Apr | Every 1 to 2 weeks as days warm; dry season, watch irrigation | Every 2 weeks, moving to weekly by late April |
| May–Sep | Weekly; afternoon rain drives fast growth | Weekly |
| Oct–Nov | Weekly, easing to every 2 weeks | Every 1 to 2 weeks |
A few Florida lawn care tips that hold no matter who you hire:
- Mow St. Augustine at 3.5 to 4 inches. Cutting it short to stretch the time between visits is how lawns go thin and yellow by August.
- Never take more than a third of the blade at once. In July that means weekly, period.
- Sharp blades. A dull blade tears the grass tip, and torn tips brown out.
- Water early in the morning, on your county's assigned days. Sarasota and Charlotte counties both set watering rules. Check yours before you set the timer.
"We've had several landscapers in the past, all ok, but these guys are amazing. Our lawn has not looked this great in years!"
— Ruthie W, Google Review
If you want the season-by-season detail, we wrote up how often to mow in Southwest Florida, and our lawn care professionals pricing breakdown goes deeper on monthly cost.
The fastest way to know what your yard costs is to have someone look at it. Dennis does that himself, and the estimate is free. Call (941) 946-8403 or use our contact form, and you'll have a real number for your lawn, not a range.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do you offer lawn care services in Venice, FL?
Yes. We mow weekly and every other week in Venice, North Port, Port Charlotte and Englewood. See our lawn care services in Venice, FL page, or the main lawn care page for the full service area.
Do you do lawn care in Gulf Breeze, Winter Haven, Haines City or Davenport?
No. We only work in Sarasota and Charlotte counties. If you searched lawn care Gulf Breeze, lawn care in Winter Haven FL, lawn care Haines City FL or a lawn care service in Davenport FL, the pricing and pay numbers above still apply to you. So do the four questions in the warning box. Ask them to whoever you call.
What is the Florida lawn care schedule for mowing?
In SW Florida, mow weekly from May through September and every other week from December through February, with spring and fall in between. St. Augustine should stay at 3.5 to 4 inches. That works out to about 40 cuts a year.
How is the Central Florida lawn care schedule different?
Central Florida gets more frost, so lawns slow down or brown out for part of winter and can go every 2 to 3 weeks from December to February. Summer is the same: weekly cuts from May through September.
Do you fertilize lawns or treat for bugs and weeds?
No. We don't fertilize grass and we don't do pest or weed treatment of any kind. That's a separate, licensed trade in Florida. We do fertilize the shrubs, plants and trees we install.
Why do lawn care companies' quotes vary so much?
Because they aren't quoting the same thing. One includes edging every visit and liability insurance; another doesn't. Ask each company exactly what's in the price, how often they'll come in summer, and for proof of insurance before you compare numbers.
Is a cheap lawn care company worth it?
Only if they keep showing up. At Florida's median crew wage of about $17.84 an hour, a very low per-cut price leaves little room for insurance, equipment and fuel. That's usually the company that disappears mid-summer.