Lawn Care profit margin benchmarks
The IRS reports what one-owner businesses filing Schedule C earn, by sector. Lawn Care falls under Administrative and support services. For tax year 2023, 3,118,914 returns reported $114.4 billion in receipts, $17.9 billion in cost of sales and $24.2 billion in net income less deficit (the table gives thousands of dollars):
| Benchmark | Value |
|---|---|
| Gross margin | 84.3% |
| Net margin, owner pay included | 21.2% |
| Average receipts per return | $36,687 |
| Average net income per return | $7,769 |
The owner's own draw is not an expense on a Schedule C, so that net margin is mostly the owner's wage, not profit on top of it.
Where the money goes in lawn care
Lawn care is labor, fuel and equipment wear. Route density decides how many lawns fit in a day.
For a worked example, our lawn care cost calculator puts mowing, 1/2 acre lawn at $50 to $72 a visit, typical $61, and treats about 80% of that as labor. On the typical price, that is about $49 of labor and $12.15 of materials, equipment and everything else, before your overhead and profit.
Where lawn care margin leaks, and how to win it back
- Scattered routes
- Prices not raised yearly
- Equipment downtime
- Wet weather days
- Extra work without a charge
Ways lawn care companies raise margin: tighten routes; raise prices every season; sell programs, not single visits; charge for extra work.
Check your lawn care prices against the costs
The typical national prices from our sourced calculators are a check on whether your prices leave room for margin:
| Service | Typical | Range |
|---|---|---|
| Mowing, 1/4 acre lawn | $47 | $33 to $61 a visit |
| Mowing, 1/2 acre lawn | $61 | $50 to $72 a visit |
| Mowing, 1 acre lawn | $131 | $105 to $157 a visit |
| Core aeration, typical lawn | $167 | $100 to $250 a job |
| Fertilizer, first application | $223 | $67 to $343 an application |
| Weed control, one application | $93 | $60 to $120 an application |
Work out the margin on each line of your menu, not just the big jobs. The usual lawn care menu: mowing, 1/4 acre lawn; mowing, 1/2 acre lawn; mowing, 1 acre lawn; core aeration, typical lawn; fertilizer, first application; weed control, one application; overseeding; spring or fall cleanup; leaf removal; shrub trimming; mulch install.
Overhead comes out of the margin before profit. In lawn care it includes general liability insurance, which Insureon's customers who are lawn care businesses pay an average of $57 a month for; commercial auto at $255 a month on the same figures.
Work out your own margin
Put one recent lawn care job into the calculator above, or switch it to "My margin for the year" to set your year next to the IRS benchmark. A 50% markup is a 33% margin; the markup calculator shows the rest.
Sources
- IRS Statistics of Income: Nonfarm sole proprietorships, Table 2, income statements by industrial sector, tax year 2023, checked October 9, 2026
- IRS: SOI tax stats, nonfarm sole proprietorship statistics, checked October 9, 2026
- Insureon: Insurance cost for lawn care businesses, checked October 9, 2026
- LawnStarter, lawn mowing cost, checked October 8, 2026
- LawnStarter, lawn care cost, checked October 8, 2026
- LawnStarter, mulch cost, checked October 8, 2026
- Lawn Love, lawn care cost, checked October 8, 2026
- Lawn Love, mulch cost, checked October 8, 2026
- Today's Homeowner, lawn care cost, checked October 8, 2026
- Jobber, how to price lawn care services, checked October 8, 2026
- Inch Calculator, lawn mowing and maintenance cost, checked October 8, 2026
- Inch Calculator, mulch cost, checked October 8, 2026
- UF/IFAS Gardening Solutions, mulch, checked October 8, 2026
- BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 (state and national files), checked October 8, 2026
- US Census Bureau, 2020 ZIP Code Tabulation Area to county relationship file, checked October 8, 2026
Last checked October 9, 2026. This page is general information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change and differ by state and city, so confirm with the agency named before you act.