2022’s Cities Where Lawns Go to Die

Temperatures across the country have been hot, hot, hot. That’s nice if you enjoy warm weather, but it hasn’t been so good for our lawns.

Amid a brutal summer, where in the U.S. are lawns likely dying or staying green and thriving?

To find out, Lawn Love ranked nearly 200 of the biggest U.S. cities to determine 2022’s Cities Where Lawns Go to Die. 

We looked for cities with high risk of drought, wildfire, and heatwaves, in addition to forced water cuts and extreme weather. We also weighed the water requirement for each city’s most common grass types against the average yard size.

Check out the 10 cities with the dreariest lawns (and the 10 with the greenest) below, followed by key insights from our report. (Click hereto see where your city ranks.)

Key insights:

• Heat until golden brown: Lawns are longing for a cooldown in California, where many cities are dealing with drought, heatwaves, and wildfires. In response, the Golden State has implemented some emergency water restrictions on top of federally imposed cutbacks in the Southwest. 
  
  High scores (meaning worse conditions) across the Water Restrictions and Climate Disaster Risk categories placed 36 (of 42 total) Cali cities among our worst 50. At No. 1 overall, Bakersfield lawns are most at risk of getting baked, followed by Fresno (No. 2), Palmdale (No. 3), and Santa Clarita (No. 4).

• Wishing for water: You can hear the grass crunch underneath you in Southwestern cities — that is, if there’s any grass left in your neighborhood. It’s no surprise that cities in Arizona, Nevada, and Colorado took up some of the worst spots of our ranking. The Southwest has been dealing with a megadrought for the past two decades — it’s drier now than it’s been in 1,200 years.
  
  Scottsdale, Arizona (No. 6), Reno, Nevada (No. 8), and Peoria, Arizona (No. 9) were among the 10 most scorched. With extremely hot, sunny days and little rain, Arizona is facing the most Extreme Weather (No. 1 in this category), but each of these three cities is dealing with heatwaves and water use limitations.

• Sweaty and singed in the Southeast: Swampy Southeastern cities aren’t known for frequently battling wildfires, but some cities pose a higher risk of blistering after a hot summer. 
  
  In Florida, it’s been a record season for wildfires. With such dry conditions, a lightning strike or a casual bonfire could quickly go out of hand in cities like Fort Lauderdale (No. 81), Miramar (No. 89), and Hollywood (No. 90). Outside of the Sunshine State, cities like Mobile, Alabama (No. 87), and Savannah, Georgia (No. 84), are at higher risk of wildfires, too.

Our full ranking and analysis are available here: https://lawnlove.com/blog/cities-where-lawns-go-to-die/