Short answer
459 city, utility, and water district programs across 44 states and DC pay homeowners to replace lawn with native or water-wise plants: up to $25,000 in Los Angeles and up to $3,000 in Austin. Search by state or ZIP in the Pollinator Patch app, and get approval before you remove any grass.
"Cash for grass" is the name many California and Southwest cities use for a per-square-foot payment to remove turf. Los Angeles pays $5 per square foot through LADWP and the Metropolitan Water District, up to $25,000. Austin Water pays $100 for every 100 square feet converted to planted beds, up to $3,000. Both figures were last verified against the program pages on October 6, 2026.
Turf replacement rebate is the term water utilities tend to use. The program is the same idea: you replace grass with native, drought-tolerant, or water-wise landscaping and the utility pays part of the cost. Amounts, minimum areas, and plant lists differ by program, so read the terms on the program page before you plan the bed. Every listing in the directory links its official source and shows the date it was last verified.
In our September 2026 dataset, 421 of 458 programs required approval before work starts. Removing the lawn first is the most common reason an application is turned down. How pre-approval works.
Last updated: October 2026
The Pollinator Patch app matches rebates to your ZIP and builds the native plant list your program asks for.