Whether you’re starting a lawn care business, looking to expand, knowing how much competition you have can be incredibly valuable information. It can guide you in fundamental questions such as where you choose to start your business.
You need to know things like:
- How much competition is near me?
- Which states are most conducive to lawn care businesses?
- Which cities and states have the most lawn care businesses?
Of course, this isn’t easy information to come by. How can you possibly know how much competition you have in your state? How can you know which cities are best for lawn care businesses and which you should stay away from?
That’s where we come in.
We scraped data from hundreds of thousands of lawn care businesses on Yelp to determine which states had the most lawn care businesses overall, which have the most relative to the populations of the top 5 cities, and which particular cities have a significant number of lawn care businesses.
For each state and city, we assigned a concentration score that looks at the population versus the number of businesses. This allows us to compare states to each other.
We sorted and analyzed this data and now present it to you for your consideration.
States With The Most Lawn Care Businesses
First, let’s take a look at the states with the overall most lawn care businesses. This will give us a sense of where the lawn care industry is thriving and where it may be slacking a bit.
The state with the most lawn care businesses is Colorado, with 191.
The state with the least lawn care businesses is North Dakota, with 6.
In some ways, this data is a bit surprising. It’s not immediately clear why Colorado, followed by Illinois, have the most lawn care businesses. Texas, which ranks third, makes a bit more sense as it has a large population and thus a large amount of lawn care needs.
North Dakota, on the other hand, makes much more sense given that it has an extremely low population related to the other states. A lower population implies fewer lawns to maintain, which then means fewer lawn care businesses.
We can make interpret this data in several different ways. First, a higher number of lawn care businesses can mean that the industry demand for the home service is higher. You may have success starting a lawn care business in Colorado or Illinois for this reason.
However, a higher number of lawn care businesses also means more competition, which could make it harder to gain traction in these states. You may be better off starting with a state that falls somewhere in the middle, such as Pennsylvania or Georgia. The low competition in states like North Dakota suggests that the demand for lawn care is low there. On the flip side, however, low competition also means a lower bar to entry. You may find it easier to start a lawn care business in a state with such a low number of businesses.
States With The Highest Concentration Of Lawn Care Businesses
It’s not enough to look only at the overall number of businesses in a particular state. We need to look at the number of businesses relative to the overall population of that state. This gives us a sense of the “concentration” of lawn care businesses.
The state with the highest concentration of lawn care businesses is Delaware, with a concentration score of 9.41.
The state with the lowest concentration of businesses is New York, with a score of 0.17.
This data is surprising and a bit more difficult to interpret. We can make a few educated guesses, however. Though Delaware does have a smaller overall population relative to other states, it does have some relatively large cities, such as Wilmington. These large cities will obviously require a higher number of lawn care businesses, thus raising the overall concentration levels.
West Virginia also has a relatively low population but has a few large cities, such as Morgantown. Again, these larger cities will require more lawn care and thus could raise the overall concentration levels.
In terms of New York having the smallest concentration of lawn care businesses, we may be able to attribute this to New York City itself. The city has an enormous population and yet most of the city is paved with concrete, lowering the amount of overall lawn care needed. Thus the overall concentration score is extremely skewed on the low end.
When it comes to starting or expanding a lawn care business, you may want to consider a state with a relatively high population and a relatively low concentration score. With these conditions, you will have more lawn care opportunities with significantly less competition.
However, before you start a lawn care business, you also need to look at the cities with the highest concentration of lawn care businesses. This can give you a sense of where competition is the greatest and which cities present the most opportunities.
Cities With The Highest Concentration of Lawn Care Businesses
Looking at the top 10 cities with the highest concentration of lawn care businesses gives us yet another picture of the lawn care industry. The same goes for the bottom 10 cities.
The city with the highest concentration of businesses is Middletown, Delaware, with a concentration score of 131.66.
The city with the lowest concentration of businesses is New York City, with a concentration score of 0.24.
Again, this data is a bit surprising, and in some ways it is difficult to interpret why some cities have such a high concentration of businesses. Middletown, Delaware, for example, isn’t located near any particularly large cities. Nor is Smyrna, Delaware.
Wheeling, West Virginia makes more sense as it’s a slightly larger town and also serves as a destination of sorts for tourists. With more tourism comes a greater need for lawn care. Rockville, Maryland makes much more sense given that it sits relatively close to Washington, D.C. and is located in an area that is more populated in general.
At the bottom of the scale are many large cities, such as New York and Houston. Given that large cities tend to have dense populations and much more pavement, this data makes a bit more sense. The density of the population compared to the overall amount of lawn care needed skews the concentration score lower.
When thinking about starting your own lawn care business, you may want to consider a state that sits right in the middle in terms of a concentration score. That way you can be sure that there is sufficient business to sustain your lawn care business without there being too much competition.
Conclusion
While some of the above data may be a bit difficult to interpret, several things are clear. First, the lawn care industry as a whole appears to be thriving. There will always be a need for lawn care.
Second, you probably will have the most success starting a lawn care business in a city where the concentration score falls somewhere in the middle. If the concentration score is too high, you’ll find yourself fighting with other businesses to land jobs. If the concentration score is too low, on the other hand, it may indicate that the demand for lawn care is low.
Methodology
A quick note about our methodology for calculating the above numbers. First, we scraped data from thousands of businesses listed on Yelp. Then we totaled the population of the top five cities in each state and divided the number of businesses by the population total. This gave us a “concentration” score which represents the density of lawn care businesses in a state. Finally, we multiplied that concentration score by 100,000 to give us a number that is more easily comparable between states.
