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Forecasts say growth. Toro's reported sales say it depends on the year.

Lawn Mower Market Size and Growth: Data, Rules, and Safety

No agency tracks mowers alone. 2025 global estimates run $29B to $37B. What Census, EPA, CARB and CPSC data mean when you buy and use a mower.

9 min read

There is no official statistic for the size of the lawn mower market. Private research firms put the global market at about $29 billion to $37 billion for 2025: Research and Markets says $29.18 billion, Custom Market Insights says $36.4 billion, and Precedence Research says $36.96 billion, with forecast growth of about 6% to 7.3% a year. Those are estimates with undisclosed methods. The government data are narrower but firmer: the 2022 Economic Census counted 94 US firms making home lawn and garden equipment, including mowers, with $9.6 billion in shipments, and 4,093 outdoor power equipment stores with $13.6 billion in sales. Company results are more sobering than the forecasts. Toro reported that its residential segment sales fell 14.0% in fiscal 2025.

The earlier version of this article said the global market was "USD $32.31 billion in 2023, up 9.8% since 2021" and would grow 6% a year through 2030, citing Grand View Research and SkyQuest. We could not open the Grand View report (the page returned an access error), and SkyQuest's public page currently shows a 6% growth rate but zero-dollar placeholder values for market size. Neither figure could be verified, so both were removed, along with unsourced claims about augmented-reality manuals and design trends.

What Government Data Can and Cannot Show

Federal surveys count factories and stores, not mowers sold. That leaves gaps, but the parts they cover are reliable.

  • Manufacturing. The category NAICS 333112 covers powered lawnmowers, lawn and garden tractors, and other home lawn and garden equipment such as tillers, yard vacuums, and leaf blowers. Commercial mowing and turf equipment is classified elsewhere (NAICS 333111). The 2022 Economic Census shows 94 firms with $9.64 billion in sales or shipments, $3.11 billion in value added, and 18,367 employees. Because this measures shipments from US plants, it excludes imported units.
  • Employment trend. County Business Patterns counted 16,570 employees in this category in 2019 and 21,160 in 2023, an increase of about 28%. Payroll rose from $658 million to $1.22 billion.
  • Retail. The Economic Census retail sector data counts 3,584 firms and 4,093 establishments in outdoor power equipment retail (NAICS 444230), with $13.57 billion in sales and 31,822 employees in 2022. That includes everything those stores sell, including parts and other equipment.

None of these sources report units sold, battery share, or the split between walk-behind, riding, and robotic mowers. Anything that quotes those splits is a private estimate.

What the 2025 Private Estimates Say

  • Research and Markets: $29.18 billion in 2025, $41.5 billion in 2030, a 7.3% CAGR from 2026 to 2030.
  • Custom Market Insights: $36.4 billion in 2025, $61.1 billion in 2034, a 6.2% CAGR.
  • Precedence Research: $36.96 billion in 2025, $67.07 billion in 2035, a 6.14% CAGR from 2026. It reports that electric mowers were the leading segment in 2025, that robotic mowers are the fastest-growing at a projected 10.3% CAGR, and that North America held about 36% of revenue.

The 2025 spread is about 27%, much narrower than the fivefold spread in the landscaping estimates covered in our landscaping market guide. That is consistent with broadly similar scopes: riding, walk-behind, and robotic mowers sold to residential and commercial buyers. Still, we could not confirm from the public summaries whether each firm counts manufacturer or retail prices. Treat the figures as a range for scale, not a measurement.

What Company Results Show

Forecasts assume smooth growth; companies report the actual year. Toro, a US maker of residential and professional mowers and turf equipment, said in its fiscal 2025 results that residential segment net sales fell 14.0% to $858.4 million, citing lower shipments broadly across the segment and a prior-year divestiture. Its professional segment grew 1.9% to $3.62 billion, and total company sales were $4.51 billion, down about 2%. In its 10-Q for the period ended July 31, 2026, residential sales for the nine months were $725.7 million versus $711.2 million a year earlier, up 2.0%, with the third quarter up 8.6%.

That is one company, and its segments include irrigation and other products, so it is not the whole market. But it shows why a 6% to 7% CAGR should not be read as a promise of higher sales every year.

The Rules Shaping What You Can Buy

Two sets of rules matter for buyers, and one is currently unsettled.

Federal emissions standards. EPA's 2008 final rule set hydrocarbon and nitrogen oxide requirements for nonroad small spark-ignition engines below 19 kilowatts, the class that includes most gas mower engines, and added evaporative standards for fuel tanks and lines. These apply to new engines, so a mower you already own is not affected.

For context on the emissions side, a paper by Jamie Banks (affiliated with Quiet Communities, Inc.) and an EPA Region 1 engineer, using EPA's modeling data, estimated about 121 million pieces of gasoline lawn and garden equipment in use and that this equipment produced nearly 4% of all US volatile organic compound emissions in 2011. It is a modeled estimate from 2011, so treat it as background, not a precise current figure.

California's small off-road engine rule. The California Air Resources Board approved amendments in December 2021 that set exhaust standards for smog-forming pollutants at zero for new small engines. CARB's current fact sheet says the amendments took effect January 1, 2023, that implementation begins with model year 2026, and that standards reach zero by model year 2028. The original announcement said 2024, which is why you may still see that year cited.

Some of the popular summaries overstate it. According to CARB, the rules apply to new engines and manufacturers, not to owners: California residents may keep using and repairing compliant equipment, and stores may sell equipment made under valid certifications. We did not verify the rules in other states, so check local requirements before assuming a gas mower is available or unavailable.

Where it stands now. EPA granted its authorization for the California rules on January 6, 2025. Industry groups challenged that decision in the Ninth Circuit in Outdoor Power Equipment Institute v. EPA. Trade press reports that EPA sent the authorization to Congress on June 12, 2026, and that Congressional Review Act resolutions were introduced in August with a vote possible as early as September. As of September 20, 2026, we could not confirm an outcome, so treat the California timeline as subject to change.

Mower Safety: The Homeowner Angle

A bigger market means more machines in more yards, and the Consumer Product Safety Commission's data on injuries from mowers has not gone away. CPSC's walk-behind mower fact sheet says about 35,000 people a year were treated in emergency rooms for walk-behind mower injuries from 2013 through 2015. Its riding mower fact sheet estimates 35,000 riding mower injuries a year from 2012 to 2014 and about 90 deaths a year from 2008 to 2010. Those are the latest numbers in those documents, so they are dated, but the hazard patterns have not changed: blade contact, thrown objects, tip-overs, and children run over.

Walk-behind mowers made since 1982 must meet a federal standard that includes a blade brake that stops the blade within three seconds of releasing the handle control, foot shields, and warning labels. Look for the "Meets CPSC blade safety requirements" label. The safe-use guidance CPSC lists includes:

  • Never refuel a mower while it is running or hot.
  • Clear sticks, rocks, and toys before you mow, since thrown objects have caused severe injuries and deaths.
  • Do not mow wet grass, and stop the blade before clearing the discharge chute.
  • Wear sturdy shoes with good grip, never sneakers or sandals, and keep children off the lawn while mowing. Never let young children operate a mower.
  • On slopes, mow across with a walk-behind mower and up and down with a riding mower.

For riding mowers, CPSC's guidance includes never carrying passengers, not mowing in reverse unless necessary, looking down and behind before backing up, and not mowing wet slopes. It notes that the voluntary ANSI/OPEI B71.1 standard added operator presence controls and a no-mow-in-reverse feature in its 2003 edition, with exceptions for zero-turn and front-mount machines, so check the current edition for the machine you are buying.

Battery mowers still have spinning blades. Follow your manual for disabling the mower before clearing the deck. When a battery wears out, EPA says lithium-ion batteries should not go in household garbage or recycling bins because damaged cells can start fires. They belong at a battery recycler or household hazardous waste site, with terminals taped. Our guide to cleaning electronics after roach droppings covers the same battery-handling rule.

Using the Market Data When You Shop

Use the market data as context, not a buying guide. If the industry is shifting toward battery and robotic products, choose by your lawn: size, slope, and whether you will bag clippings. Confirm safety labels, read the runtime and charging specifications, and buy from a dealer that services what it sells. If you hire out mowing instead, our lawn care market guide covers the service side and what to ask before you hire.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the lawn mower market size?

There is no official figure. Private global estimates for 2025 range from $29.18 billion to $36.96 billion. Census data show $9.64 billion in US factory shipments of home lawn and garden equipment in 2022 and $13.57 billion in sales at outdoor power equipment stores.

What is the CAGR of the lawn mower market?

The three reports we opened forecast 6.14% to 7.3% a year, over different periods. They are projections, and Toro's residential sales fell in fiscal 2025 before recovering modestly in fiscal 2026.

Are gas lawn mowers banned in California?

No. CARB says its rules apply to new engines beginning with model year 2026 and do not require owners to stop using or repairing existing equipment. The rules are under legal and congressional challenge, so the timeline may change.

Are electric mowers safer?

We found no CPSC data that compares battery and gas mowers. A battery mower still has a spinning blade, and the CPSC standard and safe-use guidance we found focus on the blade, controls, and shields. Fuel handling is a separate risk that battery mowers avoid.

Why did the earlier $32.31 billion figure disappear?

We could not verify it from either cited source, so we replaced it with figures we could open.

Sources

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