Florin Birgu · Updated Aug 27, 2026

Mesa pays you to replace your lawn

up to $2,100 — Residential Grass-to-Xeriscape and Tree Bonus Incentive Program, City of Mesa Environmental and Sustainability Department.

Mesa does not pay by the square foot. It pays a flat amount by how much lawn you remove, so the effective rate per square foot falls as the area grows. Read the tiers on the agency page before you assume a rate.

Worth knowing first. Mesa pays flat amounts by area band rather than per square foot: $1,000 for 500-999 ft², $1,500 for 1,000-1,499, $2,000 for 1,500+, plus $50 a tree for up to two trees.

What the programme asks for

A landscape plan? Not required as a separate document, but the coverage rule below has to be met and shown.
In the agency's words: The converted grass area must be replaced with low-water-use plants that, when fully mature, will provide a plant canopy coverage of at least 50 percent (50%) of the area.
Plants must come from: Arizona Department of Water Resources Low-Water-Use/Drought-Tolerant Plant List (Phoenix AMA)

Every figure on this page comes from City of Mesa Environmental and Sustainability Department, read on 2026-08-27.

These programmes are first-come and funded annually. Being listed here means the agency was accepting applications on that date — not that money is still available today. Denver's 2026 allocation was gone by mid-year. Check the agency page before you count on it.

Planning the new yard

Every one of these programmes turns on the same thing: what you plant, and how much of the ground it covers when it is grown. That is a design question, and getting it wrong is what a rejected application looks like.

Our plant library lists 2,500 plants with hardiness zone, sun and water need — free to browse. Sign in and it checks each one against your own zone. If you would rather see the finished yard before you commit, upload a photo of it.

Other cities in the pilot: Tempe, Chandler, Austin, Albuquerque · see all five