What five cities pay you to remove your lawn
Replacing grass with low-water planting is subsidised in much of the dry southwest. The money is real — up to $3,000 in Austin, $3.00 a square foot in Albuquerque — and every programme attaches conditions to it, usually about what you plant and how much of the ground it covers grown.
Every figure below is linked to the agency page it came from and dated. We checked all five on 27 August 2026. Nothing here is quoted from a summary of a summary.
| City | Per ft² | Maximum | Plan needed | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tempe, AZ | $0.50 | $2,000 | No | City of Tempe Water Conservation |
| Mesa, AZ | flat tiers | $2,100 | No | City of Mesa Environmental and Sustainability Department |
| Chandler, AZ | $1.50 | $2,000 | No | City of Chandler Water Conservation |
| Austin, TX | $1 | $3,000 | Unclear | Austin Water |
| Albuquerque, NM | $3 | none published | Yes | Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority |
Two cities have a catch worth knowing before you plan around them: Mesa pays flat amounts by area band, not per square foot, so the effective rate falls the bigger your yard; and Austin only allows planting in its spring and fall windows, not summer.
What they all want
The conditions rhyme. Every one of the five sets a minimum plant coverage at maturity — 30% in Tempe, 50% in the other four — and most name a plant list you have to choose from. Albuquerque goes furthest and asks for a drawn plan listing every plant by its scientific name.
That is the actual work: choosing plants that suit the climate, and knowing how wide they will be in five years. Our plant library gives you 2,500 plants with hardiness zone, sun, water need and mature size, free to browse — and if you would rather see the yard before you dig it up, start from a photo.