Lawn care prices rose 8.8% in the past year, more than twice the rate of overall inflation, after a 13.9% jump the year before.
What households pay for lawn care and gardening services rose 8.8% from September 2025 to September 2026, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Consumer Price Index. Overall inflation was 3.7% over the same year, so lawn care prices rose about 2.4 times as fast.
It’s the second big jump in a row. Lawn care prices were up 13.9% the year before, which adds up to about 24% over two years. Over 10 years, they’re up 99.8%, roughly double, compared with 39.6% for prices overall and 43.9% for services in general.
Why lawn care costs more
Labor is a big part of what a lawn crew costs, and crews are harder to staff. In a September 2026 survey, 39% of home builders said they were short of landscaping workers, up 7 points from April 2025, according to the National Association of Home Builders. The group’s economists pointed to competition for workers from data center construction and to immigration enforcement, which they said is making some workers stay away from job sites.
Pay is rising too. Average weekly pay at landscaping companies was 5.4% higher in early 2026 than a year earlier, according to the BLS Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages. Fuel, equipment, insurance and steady demand from homeowners all play a part as well.
What this means if you run a landscaping business
Rising prices give you room to raise your own rates, but your costs are rising too. Check your prices against your labor, fuel and insurance costs at least once a year. If you’re in Pennsylvania, see what landscaping insurance in Pennsylvania typically costs, or compare landscaping insurance in New Jersey.
How we got these numbers
Price changes come from the Consumer Price Index for gardening and lawn care services (series CUUR0000SEHP02) and for all items (CUUR0000SA0), U.S. city average, not seasonally adjusted. BLS publishes the lawn care index every other month and didn’t publish it for 2022. The index tracks what consumers pay for these services, not what any one company charges. Pay comes from QCEW private-sector average weekly wages for landscaping services (industry code 561730), January to March 2026 compared with January to March 2025; 2026 figures are preliminary. Data pulled October 18, 2026.