When To Apply Pre-Emergent To A Lawn By City (USA)

Pre-Emergent Timing Table

Below you’ll find a sortable list of the 100 most populous cities in the United States of America as reported by World Population Review (2024).

Using the rolling average 10-year soil temperatures of these cities (via Greencast) I’ve included the average date that pre-emergent is best applied to lawns to prevent weeds after smoothing out the annual curve.

The dates provided below are “best guesses” based on averages so perfect precision should never be assumed.

Please note – that for locations that cross 55 degrees late in the Spring I tend to think early application is better than being on time. Also, these locations tend to have short warm seasons so using certain types of pre-emergent may make Fall overseeding difficult. You can learn more about which pre-emergents are better to use in a variety of different scenarios on this page.

The 100 Biggest Cities In The USA

Click on the headers of this table to sort.
City State Population Estimated App Date
Miami Florida 0,464,544 *Never Drops To 55
Tampa Florida 0,408,733 *Never Drops To 55
Chula Vista California 0,283,494 *Never Drops To 55
Honolulu Hawaii 0,337,075 *Never Drops To 55
Port St. Lucie Florida 0,259,564 *Never Drops To 55
Laredo Texas 0,256,771 *Never Drops To 55
Cape Coral Florida 0,243,026 *Never Drops To 55
Corpus Christi Texas 0,313,061 *Never Drops To 55
St. Petersburg Florida 0,265,602 *Never Drops To 55
Orlando Florida 0,328,535 01-19
San Diego California 1,394,518 01-23
Irvine California 0,330,863 01-24
Los Angeles California 3,790,742 01-26
Santa Ana California 0,307,025 01-26
Anaheim California 0,341,035 01-27
New Orleans Louisiana 0,355,121 01-29
Glendale Arizona 0,256,662 01-29
Jacksonville Florida 1,000,135 01-31
Long Beach California 0,445,253 01-31
San Antonio Texas 1,510,687 02-04
Phoenix Arizona 1,682,515 02-05
Riverside California 0,334,468 02-06
Gilbert Arizona 0,279,268 02-07
Houston Texas 2,325,324 02-08
Scottsdale Arizona 0,243,590 02-08
Chandler Arizona 0,283,175 02-08
Bakersfield California 0,413,783 02-08
Mesa Arizona 0,518,816 02-10
Austin Texas 0,984,655 02-18
El Paso Texas 0,675,418 02-20
Fresno California 0,548,881 02-25
Tucson Arizona 0,557,254 02-27
Arlington Texas 0,397,250 02-27
Irving Texas 0,255,023 02-27
Garland Texas 0,238,184 02-28
Fort Worth Texas 0,995,049 03-01
San Jose California 0,950,767 03-01
Henderson Nevada 0,349,403 03-02
North Las Vegas Nevada 0,299,381 03-02
San Francisco California 0,802,805 03-01
Stockton California 0,320,243 03-01
Las Vegas Nevada 0,667,282 03-02
Oakland California 0,419,077 03-03
Lubbock Texas 0,269,392 03-07
Dallas Texas 1,317,210 03-08
Frisco Texas 0,236,599 03-08
Atlanta Georgia 0,512,047 03-08
Plano Texas 0,291,249 03-08
Sacramento California 0,532,101 03-09
Tulsa Oklahoma 0,410,061 03-15
Durham North Carolina 0,297,430 03-15
Raleigh North Carolina 0,489,977 03-17
Charlotte North Carolina 0,928,154 03-17
Oklahoma City Oklahoma 0,707,678 03-21
Albuquerque New Mexico 0,556,808 03-21
Wichita Kansas 0,395,218 03-21
Greensboro North Carolina 0,304,895 03-21
Winston-Salem North Carolina 0,252,206 03-21
Memphis Tennessee 0,611,204 03-22
Nashville Tennessee 0,694,598 03-23
Virginia Beach Virginia 0,449,494 03-23
Richmond Virginia 0,232,981 03-24
Chesapeake Virginia 0,253,986 03-24
Louisville Kentucky 0,617,914 03-27
Baltimore Maryland 0,555,831 03-28
Washington DC 0,677,827 03-30
Arlington Virginia 0,235,845 03-30
St. Louis Missouri 0,272,610 03-31
Lexington Kentucky 0,320,095 04-03
Newark New Jersey 0,301,408 04-03
Cincinatti Ohio 0,311,169 04-03
New York City New York 8,089,689 04-06
Portland Oregon 0,618,451 04-06
Indianapolis Indiana 0,877,023 04-08
Seattle Washington 0,784,754 04-09
Kansas City Missouri 0,509,993 04-09
Philadelphia Pennsylvania 1,522,814 04-10
Toledo Ohio 0,621,415 04-10
Chicago Illinois 2,599,059 04-11
Pittsburg Pennsylvania 0,297,812 04-11
Jersey City New Jersey 0,290,726 04-11
Columbus Ohio 0,917,811 04-11
Fort Wayne Indiana 0,271,037 04-14
Reno Nevada 0,280,294 04-16
Spokane Washington 0,231,132 04-17
Boston Massachusetts 0,643,044 04-18
Cleveland Ohio 0,354,043 04-18
Denver Colorado 0,717,110 04-20
Omaha Nebraska 0,478,443 04-21
Detroit Michigan 0,604,794 04-21
Lincoln Nebraska 0,294,929 04-21
Colorado Springs Colorado 0,492,088 04-22
Minneapolis Minnesota 0,426,018 04-22
St Paul Minnesota 0,295,228 04-24
Milwaukee Wisconsin 0,558,235 04-25
Madison Wisconsin 0,282,967 04-25
Buffalo New York 0,273,768 04-25
Aurora Colorado 0,399,871 04-26
Boise Idaho 0,233,860 04-28
Anchorage Alaska 0,284,031 05-10

* If your location never experiences soil temperatures below 55-degrees then the general rule of thumb for “Spring” pre-emergent application is mid-January unless you applied a pre-emergent in late Fall within the preceding three months.

Which Preemergent should I use? – It’s not the same for everybody everywhere. For more info see this post.

Extra Weed Pre-Emergent Info

Videos From My YouTube Channel

How To Prevent Weeds In The Lawn

When Is It OK To Put Pre-Emergent Down?

Fall Pre-Emergent Application

Pre-Emergent Mistakes

Pre-Emergents Vs Soil Temperatures

This info was curated by Brian Mounts (Turf Mechanic) using data from Greencast and World Population Review. If you’d like to comment or pose any questions to me you may reach me by email – brian@turfmechanic.com.