Data reference

Grass Seed Data: Seeding Rates, Seed Counts, and Tolerance Ratings by Species

By Jon P. — founder of LawnSeedPicker and home-yard DIY enthusiast · Published July 29, 2026 · Updated July 29, 2026

The figures below are compiled from USDA NRCS plant fact sheets and university extension publications, with the source named for every row. Where those sources disagree, the disagreement is shown rather than averaged away.

Seeding rates for common lawn grasses range from about 1–2 pounds per 1,000 square feet for bermudagrass and zoysiagrass to 6–8 pounds for tall fescue and 5–10 pounds for bahiagrass, according to seeding-rate guidance from Rutgers, Cornell, Penn State, UMass, NC State, and USDA NRCS.

Seeding rates and tolerance ratings by species

All rates below are for a new lawn seeded to a single species (a 100% stand) — mixture rates run lower. For the square-footage math and how coated seed or Pure Live Seed changes how much product to buy, see how much grass seed do I need. Missing cells (—) mean no figure exists in the sources consulted — see "What this table does not cover" below.

¹ Manufacturer's figure (Outsidepride, West Coast Seeds), not extension-verified.

Seed quality — purity, germination, and Pure Live Seed

UMass Extension publishes minimum purity, germination, and Pure Live Seed (PLS) standards alongside seeds-per-pound and seeding rate for eight cool-season species. Reproduced exactly as published:

Pure Live Seed, in one line

Amount of seed needed per 1,000 sq ft = recommended seeding rate (lb per 1,000 sq ft) × 100 ÷ %PLS. UMass's own worked example: Kentucky bluegrass seed tested at 76% PLS, at the recommended rate of 2 lb per 1,000 sq ft — 2 × 100 ÷ 76 = 2.6 lb of actual seed needed per 1,000 sq ft to deliver that rate in viable seed.

Actual field germination and survival runs from about 95% under ideal conditions down to roughly 50% at the low end of the range, which is why the seeding rates above are given as ranges rather than single numbers. For the fuller picture — where to aim in that range, and how coated seed changes what you buy — see how much grass seed do I need.

Where sources disagree

• Kentucky bluegrass, seeds per pound. USDA and UMass both give 2,177,000; Cornell gives approximately 1,500,000. The table above uses 2,177,000, the figure two independent sources agree on.
• Perennial ryegrass, seeds per pound. USDA gives 230,000; Cornell gives 250,000. Neither figure has a stronger claim to authority than the other, so the table above shows the full range rather than picking one.
• White clover, seeds per pound. USDA/Iowa State gives approximately 500,000; Penn State gives approximately 800,000. Same treatment: both named, shown as a range.
• White clover, drought tolerance. USDA's Performance Ratings rate it Good; Penn State's Table 1 rates its tolerance to drought as Low. Both are formal graded ratings from extension-adjacent sources reflecting different intended uses (cover crop vs. forage legume); the table above shows the full span rather than resolving it.
• Bermudagrass, cold tolerance. NC State's Table 1b rates it Poor; Clemson's Table 1 rates it Good. The picker database itself stores this as a hedged range rather than a single word, which tells us its authors already saw this disagreement and chose not to resolve it — this page does the same.
• Bahiagrass, shade tolerance. NC State's Table 1b rates it Good; Clemson's Table 1 rates it Poor. Same treatment as bermudagrass cold tolerance above.
• Seeding-rate ranges, cool-season species. UMass's own published table gives tall fescue at 7–9 lb and Kentucky bluegrass at 1–2 lb, both outside the ranges in the master table above (6–8 and 2–3), which reflect Northern extension consensus across Penn State, Rutgers, and Cornell. Published ranges exist to accommodate seedbed and post-planting conditions rather than because one source is wrong — see the seed-quality section above for why.

What this table does not cover

Buffalograss carries no shade, drought, heat, cold, or wear tolerance ratings in the sources consulted. Chewings fescue and strong creeping red fescue have no species-specific seeds-per-pound, mowing-height, or soil pH figures — UMass rates all fine fescues as a single group for tolerances, and no dedicated USDA fact sheet for either species is in our source library; hard fescue's own USDA fact sheet fills in its seeds-per-pound and pH, but not mowing height. Germination timing in days isn't covered here because the extension sources consulted don't report it consistently across species. Microclover's figures are vendor-published (Outsidepride, West Coast Seeds), not extension-verified. And the UMass purity/germination/PLS table above covers cool-season species only — no equivalent table exists in our sources for bermudagrass, zoysiagrass, bahiagrass, or buffalograss.

Find the right seed for your yard

A table gives you the numbers; it doesn't tell you which species fits your yard. If shade or drought tolerance is the deciding factor, our guides to the best grass seed for shade and drought-tolerant grass go past a single rating into which species actually holds up. For everything else — sun, foot traffic, region, maintenance level — LawnSeedPicker's calculator is a free grass seed recommendation tool that matches homeowners to seed types using USDA and university extension data.

Get your seed recommendation →