Between about 30 and 50 mm for an ordinary domestic lawn, and higher in summer heat. The setting costs nothing, and it changes more than any purchase on this site.
What each range does
Very low, under 25 mm. A fine-turf height. It suits a lawn sown for it, fed, watered and cut two or three times a week. On an ordinary mixed lawn it removes most of the leaf and scalps every high spot, and the gaps that opens are where the moss goes.
30 to 40 mm. The normal setting for a lawn that is used. Dense enough to look kept, enough leaf left to feed the plant, and forgiving of ground that is not perfectly level.
40 to 60 mm. A lawn under trees, a lawn in drought, a lawn being recovered. Longer leaf shades the soil, holds moisture and out-competes weed seedlings.
Above that and it stops being mowing.
The one rule
Never take more than about a third of the height in a single pass. That rule is why the first cut of the season is done in two or three passes over a fortnight rather than one, and why a lawn that has been left for a month should be reduced gradually.
Taking too much at once removes the leaf the plant photosynthesises with, and the response is yellowing and a check in growth at precisely the time you want it to thicken.
What this means for buying
A mower’s height range and the number of positions in it are a real specification, and they are one of the few on this shelf that are simply true. What matters practically is whether the adjustment is central — one lever — or per-wheel. A machine with four bolts gets left on one setting all year, and that is the wrong setting for at least half of it.
How this site handles it
Every mower page here prints the cutting height range and the number of positions as the maker states them, and says whether the adjustment is central. It prints the range as a dimension of the machine, not as a recommendation: what height suits a lawn is a question about the lawn.
The questions that keep coming in
Is a shorter lawn a neater lawn?
Briefly. A lawn cut very short loses the leaf area it feeds itself with, dries faster, and opens gaps that moss and annual weeds occupy. On a domestic lawn the neatest result over a season comes from a middle setting cut often.
What height is a football pitch cut at?
Far lower than a garden lawn, on species chosen for it, with irrigation, feeding and rolling behind it. Copying the height without the rest of the regime is how a lawn is thinned rather than improved.
Last reviewed 26 September 2026