Mowing Time Chart

How long a lawn takes, by size and by machine, with the acres-per-hour rate behind it. Read it off rather than working it out.

Reviewed for 2026. These figures come from a unit conversion rather than a survey, so they do not move year to year — the date records when the sources behind them were last checked.

How long does it take to mow a lawn?

Deck-down mowing time at 80% efficiency. Each column is a machine at a ground speed it can realistically hold while cutting.

Lawn size sq ft	21" push 3 mph	36" walk-behind 4 mph	48" zero-turn 6 mph	60" zero-turn 7 mph
2,000	5.4 min	2.4 min	1.2 min	0.8 min
4,000	11 min	4.7 min	2.4 min	1.6 min
6,000	16 min	7.1 min	3.6 min	2.4 min
8,000	22 min	9.5 min	4.7 min	3.2 min
10,000	27 min	12 min	5.9 min	4.1 min
10,890 1/4 acre	29 min	13 min	6.4 min	4.4 min
15,000	41 min	18 min	8.9 min	6.1 min
20,000	54 min	24 min	12 min	8.1 min
21,780 1/2 acre	59 min	26 min	13 min	8.8 min
30,000	1 hr 21 min	36 min	18 min	12 min
43,560 1 acre	1 hr 58 min	52 min	26 min	18 min
87,120 2 acres	3 hr 56 min	1 hr 43 min	52 min	35 min
217,800 5 acres	9 hr 49 min	4 hr 18 min	2 hr 9 min	1 hr 28 min

Computed, not surveyed: acres/hour = (mph × deck inches) / 99, derated to 80% efficiency, then lawn area divided by that rate. The derivation is below. Mowing only — trimming, edging and blowing are extra. On a narrow screen the table scrolls sideways to reach the 60-inch column.

Acres per hour by deck width and speed

The rate behind the table above, across every common deck width. This is the same calculation the mower manufacturers publish, at 80% efficiency.

Deck width	3 mph	4 mph	5 mph	6 mph	7 mph
21"	0.51	0.68	0.85	1.02	1.19
30"	0.73	0.97	1.21	1.45	1.70
36"	0.87	1.16	1.45	1.75	2.04
42"	1.02	1.36	1.70	2.04	2.38
48"	1.16	1.55	1.94	2.33	2.72
54"	1.31	1.75	2.18	2.62	3.05
60"	1.45	1.94	2.42	2.91	3.39
72"	1.75	2.33	2.91	3.49	4.07

Not every cell is a machine that exists. Walking pace is roughly 2.5 to 3.5 mph, so a 21-inch walk-behind belongs in the 3 mph column no matter what the 7 mph column says is arithmetically possible. Deck width and ground speed are independent inputs, so the table is a full matrix — pick the row for your deck and a speed your machine can actually hold with the deck down.

Why the spread is so wide

A 60-inch zero-turn at 7 mph covers ground about 6.7 times faster than a 21-inch push mower at walking pace. On a single acre that is the difference between 18 min and 1 hr 58 min. Nothing else in this business moves the economics that much, which is why the equipment decision dominates the first year — and what the mower payback calculator weighs it against, because an hour saved is only worth something if you re-sell it.

Route density matters for the same reason. The chart prices the mowing, but the drive between stops is dead time that no deck width improves.

What this chart does not include

Trimming, edging and blowing. Often a third or more of total time on a residential property, and on small lots regularly more than the mowing. A 2,000 sq ft lawn that mows in 5.4 min can still be a 25-minute stop.

Obstacles beyond the efficiency factor. Steep slopes, gates too narrow for the deck, heavy leaf load and long carries from the truck all cost time that square footage does not show. The 80% figure covers normal overlap and turning, not a difficult property.

To go from these times to a price, feed the total through the hourly rate calculator and then the pricing chart. For a single lawn with your own deck, speed and efficiency, the mowing time calculator does this arithmetic on your numbers instead of the chart's.

Where these numbers come from Show the arithmetic

1 mph                  = 5,280 ft travelled per hour
deck width W inches    = W / 12 feet
swept area per hour    = 5,280 x (W / 12)  = 440 x W sq ft
1 acre                 = 43,560 sq ft
                       ---------------------------------
acres per hour         = 440W / 43,560     = W / 99

  acres/hour = (mph x deck width in inches) / 99

Then apply efficiency for overlap, turns and obstacles:

  real acres/hour = (mph x W / 99) x efficiency

At 80% efficiency that is equivalent to dividing by 124,
which is the constant Exmark publish (99 / 0.8 = 123.75).

Worked example, one cell

1 acre, 21in push mower at 3 mph, 80% efficiency

acres/hour  = (3 x 21) / 99 x 0.80
            = 0.63636 x 0.80
            = 0.50909 acres/hour

time        = 1 / 0.50909
            = 1.9643 hours
            = 1 hr 58 min

That is the 1 acre row, 21-inch column of the first table, and the same figure the mowing time calculator publishes in its own equipment comparison. The two pages share the machine profiles deliberately, so they cannot drift apart.

Common questions

How long does it take to mow a lawn?

For the quarter-acre lot that most suburban mowing routes are built on, roughly 21 minutes behind a 21-inch push mower, or about 5 minutes on a 60-inch zero-turn. A full acre runs from 1 hr 58 min down to 18 min.

That is mowing time only, at 80% efficiency, and it is the number equipment changes most. Trimming, edging and blowing are added separately — on a small lot they can exceed the mowing itself.

How many acres per hour can one mower cut?

Multiply ground speed in mph by deck width in inches and divide by 99, then derate for efficiency. A 60-inch deck at 7 mph is 4.24 acres per hour in theory and about 3.39 in practice at 80%.

The second table on this page is that calculation run across every common deck width and speed, so you can read it off rather than work it out.

Where does the number 99 come from?

It is a unit conversion, not a fudge factor. One mph is 5,280 feet per hour. A deck W inches wide is W/12 feet. So the swept area is 5,280 x W/12 = 440W square feet per hour, and dividing by 43,560 square feet per acre gives W/99 acres per hour per mph.

Exmark publish the same constant, and their charts divide by 124 instead because that folds in 80% efficiency: 99 divided by 0.8 is 123.75.

Why 80% efficiency rather than 100%?

Because no mower cuts new grass for every foot it travels. Efficiency accounts for overlapping each pass, turning at the ends of rows, and manoeuvring around trees, beds and play equipment.

Exmark treat 80% as representative. An open, square, obstacle-free lawn can beat it; a tight residential lot with many obstacles can fall to 60% or below, which adds a third to every figure on this page.

Can a push mower really go 7 mph?

No, and that is why the fast columns of the rate table only apply to riding machines. Walking pace is roughly 2.5 to 3.5 mph, so a 21-inch walk-behind lives in the 3 mph column whatever the table says is arithmetically possible.

The table is a full matrix because deck width and speed are independent inputs. Pick the row for your deck and the column for a speed that machine can actually hold while cutting.

Does this include trimming, edging and blowing?

No. These are deck-down mowing times only.

Trimming, edging and blowing are frequently a third or more of total time on a residential property, and on small lots they routinely exceed the mowing time. Add them before pricing, or small properties will be underpriced systematically.

Related tools

Sources

Exmark mower productivity charts - publishes mph x width / 99 for theoretical output and treats 80% efficiency as representative, which is the /124 constant in their own charts
NIST - US customary to metric conversions - 1 acre = 43,560 sq ft; 1 mile = 5,280 ft. Both exact by definition.
Mowing Time Calculator - the same formula on your own deck width, speed and efficiency