# National turf-zone baseline

> Canonical URL: https://www.poaindex.com/ai/turf-zones.md

Methodology: **turf-zone-v2**.

## What turf zones answer

> Which broad turfgrass species groups are generally appropriate for this ZIP code?

They do **not** determine the universally best grass for an individual property. Turf zones are a geographic adaptation baseline, not property-level cultivar recommendations.

## Zones

- `cool-season`
- `transition`
- `warm-season`
- `unclassified` (safety state; never silently remapped)

Compiled coverage vs the 2025 location-data universe is on the order of tens of thousands of ZCTA assignments (cool-season, transition, and warm-season combined). ZIP boundaries do not equal climate boundaries; expect edge cases near coasts, mountains, and arid regions.

## Relationship to NTEP recommendations

| Layer                    | Role                                                                |
| ------------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Turf-zone baseline       | Which species groups to consider initially                          |
| Property fit             | Optional sun/irrigation/traffic/maintenance reorder within the zone |
| rec-v3.1 recommendations | Location-specific cultivar evidence scoring within a species        |

Use the interactive product for a postal-code workflow. Static pages must not invent ZIP-specific rankings.