Landscape Lighting Cost Calculator
Landscape Lighting costs $1,250 to $1,900 for a typical 8 fixtures job in 2026, against a national benchmark of $1,525. Labor runs 5.5 crew hours at $40.06 an hour. Enter a ZIP code to apply that area's measured wages for this work and its regional price level.
What makes up the price
Cost by size
National averages, before any local adjustment. Computed from the same model as the calculator above, so the two always agree.
| How many fixtures | Fixtures | Typical | Range |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 fixtures | 4 | $975 | $800 to $1,225 |
| 6 fixtures | 6 | $1,250 | $1,025 to $1,550 |
| 8 fixtures | 8 | $1,525 | $1,250 to $1,900 |
| 11 fixtures | 11 | $1,950 | $1,600 to $2,425 |
| 14 fixtures | 14 | $2,375 | $1,950 to $2,950 |
A small system is the expensive way to buy this
| Fixtures | Total | Each |
|---|---|---|
| 4 path lights | $975 | $244 |
| 8 path lights | $1,525 | $191 |
| 16 path lights | $2,650 | $166 |
The transformer is $185 whether it runs four lights or sixteen, the hour and a half of system work at the start is the same, and so is getting a crew to the property. What scales is the fixture, fifteen feet of cable, a connector and about half an hour.
The practical consequence is not "buy more lights". It is that if you know you will want the back garden lit next year, say so now: the transformer gets sized for the whole plan, the cable gets run while the trenches are open, and phase two costs materials and an afternoon rather than starting again. A transformer loaded to its limit on day one is the most common reason a system cannot be extended.
What decides whether it still works in five years
None of this appears on a quote and all three of them are the difference between a system that lasts fifteen years and one that starts going dark in its second season.
The connectors. The pierce-point connectors that come in retail kits puncture the cable insulation and clamp a blade through it. Water gets into the puncture, the copper corrodes, and the light goes out a season or two later — usually one at a time, so you never quite get round to it. Professional work uses silicone-filled direct burial connectors, which cost a couple of dollars each. Ask which is being used.
The cable gauge. Retail kits are 16 gauge. Professional installations run 12 gauge or heavier direct burial cable, because voltage drops along a run and a 12-volt fixture at the far end of a long thin cable gets 9 or 10 volts. On LED the symptom is a visible color shift and a dim last light; on halogen it was worse. 12 gauge is about $0.60 a foot against $0.30, which on 120 feet of cable is $36 — not a reason to accept 16.
A multi-tap transformer. The useful ones have 13, 14 and 15 volt taps as well as 12. A long run goes on a higher tap so the far fixture still receives 12 volts. Without taps the only fix for a dim run is to re-run it in heavier cable. A multi-tap transformer with a timer and photocell is $185; a plastic one with neither is $55, and that $130 is the single best-spent part of this job.
Light the things, not the path
This is where the money actually goes wrong, and it goes wrong on expensive systems as often as cheap ones.
A row of identical path lights spaced evenly along a walk reads as a runway. It lights the ground nobody is looking at and leaves the house, the trees and the planting in the dark. What looks like a designed garden is:
- Two or three uplights on the house, grazing a facade or washing a gable, which is what you actually see from the street.
- Two fixtures per tree from different angles, because one makes a flat cutout and two make a shape. A specimen tree is worth more light than the whole walk.
- Path lights only where there is a real trip hazard — a step, a turn, a change of level — spaced eight to ten feet apart and staggered rather than paired.
- Nothing aimed where anyone will look into it. Every fixture visible from a window, a seat or the street should be shielded or turned. Glare is the one thing that makes a garden look worse lit than unlit.
Ask whoever quotes for a dusk walk-through where everything gets aimed with the lights on. It is in the labor above. A crew that installs in daylight and leaves has not finished the job, because aiming is the job.
Fixture types and what they cost
| 8 installed | Each | |
|---|---|---|
| Path lights | $1,525 | $191 |
| Spotlights and uplights | $1,800 | $225 |
| In-ground well lights | $2,500 | $313 |
Most real systems mix all three; price the one you have most of and read the others as the direction the figure moves.
Well lights cost the most and it is not the fixture. Each one is an excavated hole, a gravel drainage bed, a sleeve set level with the grade and backfill compacted around it — more than twice the labor of a path light. They are the right answer where nothing should be visible by day and the wrong answer in a lawn somebody mows.
Brass or aluminum. A cast brass fixture is $100 to $250 and outlives the house; cast aluminum at $50 to $90 lasts ten or fifteen years; stamped aluminum and plastic at $20 to $40 lasts two or three, and the lenses go cloudy before that. This is the main reason two quotes for the same eight lights differ by half, and the figures here assume cast aluminum — the floor for something a contractor will warrant.
What the ground does to the price
| 8 path lights | ||
|---|---|---|
| Through planting beds | $1,525 | Pushed under the mulch |
| Across lawn | $1,725 | Cut, lift, lay back |
| Under a walk or drive | $2,000 | Bored underneath |
| Plus a new outdoor receptacle | $1,825 | GFCI in a weatherproof box |
Good layouts follow the beds, because cable goes under mulch with a spade and there is nothing to repair. Turf means an edger cut, the cable pushed into the slot and the sod laid back so it knits — straightforward in spring, slow in August. Hardscape crossings get bored or rodded under with a sleeve, roughly half an hour each, which is why a designer will route the long way round rather than cross a driveway twice.
The transformer plugs into an exterior GFCI receptacle and draws under three amps, so this is almost never a new circuit. Where the receptacle goes matters more than it sounds: central to the runs, out of sight, and not on the far corner of the house, which you pay for twice over in cable and in voltage drop.
What you are paying for
Eight path lights through planting beds, at $1,525:
| Labor, about 5.5 hours | around $308 |
| Eight cast aluminum LED path lights | $480 |
| 120 ft of 12 gauge direct burial cable | $72 |
| Silicone-filled connectors and stakes | $48 |
| Multi-tap transformer with timer | $185 |
| The call-out | $45 |
| Overhead and margin | the balance |
The hour and a half before any fixture goes in is the transformer, the timer and the photocell, planning the runs, and the aiming at dusk. Half an hour a fixture after that is the cable run to it, the stake, the connector and setting it plumb.
Running costs, and the one upgrade worth asking about
Eight LED fixtures draw about 40 watts between them. Running five hours a night, that is 73 kWh a year, or roughly $12 at the average US residential price of 17 cents a kWh.
An existing halogen system draws 20 watts a fixture rather than 5, which is about $50 a year on the same eight lights — and the 35 and 50 watt lamps common in older systems put it at $85 to $125, plus a bulb or two a season. Retrofitting LED lamps into existing halogen fixtures is cheap, often works, and is the first thing to do before replacing anything. The catch is that an old magnetic transformer sized for halogen may not regulate well on a tiny LED load; if the lights buzz or flicker after a retrofit, the transformer is why.
Either way, ask for a timer with a photocell rather than a plain timer. A photocell follows sunset through the year; a plain timer has the lights coming on at five o'clock in June.
Questions worth asking
- Are the connectors silicone-filled direct burial, or pierce-point?
- What gauge is the cable? 12 or heavier.
- Is the transformer multi-tap, and what size relative to the load?
- Will there be a dusk walk-through to aim everything?
- Brass, cast aluminum, or stamped?
- What is the warranty on the fixtures, and on the labor?
- How is the cable crossing the lawn and anything paved?
- Is there capacity left for a second phase?
- Timer with a photocell?
- Who re-aims it after a few years of growth, and what does that visit cost?
Common questions
How much does landscape lighting cost?
About $1,525 for eight low-voltage path lights installed on a new multi-tap transformer, which is $191 a fixture. Four fixtures cost $244 each and sixteen cost $166, because the transformer and the first visit are the same whatever hangs off them. Uplights run about $225 a fixture and in-ground well lights $313, and most real systems mix all three.
How much does landscape lighting cost per fixture?
Between about $166 and $244 for path lights, depending almost entirely on how many you install at once rather than on the fixture. The transformer, the timer and the hour and a half of system work at the start do not scale; a fixture, fifteen feet of cable, a connector and half an hour do. Uplights are about $225 each and well lights $313, the latter because each one is an excavated hole with a drainage bed rather than a stake pushed into a border.
Is it cheaper to install landscape lighting all at once?
Considerably, and the saving is bigger than it looks. Sixteen fixtures cost $166 each against $244 for four. More important than the per-fixture price: if you tell the installer the whole plan, the transformer is sized for it and cable is run while the trenches are open, so a later phase costs materials and an afternoon. A transformer loaded to its limit on day one is the usual reason a system cannot be extended without replacing the heart of it.
What kind of connectors should landscape lighting use?
Silicone-filled direct burial connectors, which cost a couple of dollars each. The pierce-point connectors supplied with retail kits clamp a blade through the cable insulation, water gets into the puncture, the copper corrodes and the fixture goes dark a season or two later — one at a time, which is why people never quite get round to fixing them. It is the single most common failure in a landscape system and the cheapest one to avoid, so ask which is being used.
What gauge wire is used for landscape lighting?
12 gauge direct burial cable or heavier for professional work. Voltage drops along a run, so a 12-volt fixture at the end of a long thin cable receives 9 or 10 volts — on LED that shows up as a dim last light and a visible color shift. Retail kits ship 16 gauge, which is the usual reason the far end of a run looks wrong. The difference is about $0.30 a foot, or $36 across a typical system, which is not a reason to accept thinner cable.
What is a multi-tap transformer and do I need one?
It is a transformer with 13, 14 and 15 volt taps as well as 12, so a long run can be put on a higher tap and still deliver 12 volts at the far fixture. Without taps, the only cure for a dim run is re-running it in heavier cable. A multi-tap stainless unit with a timer and photocell is about $185 against $55 for a plastic one with neither, and that $130 is the best-spent part of the job.
How should landscape lighting be laid out?
Light the things, not the path. A row of evenly spaced path lights reads as a runway: it lights ground nobody looks at and leaves the house and the planting dark. What looks designed is two or three uplights grazing the facade, two fixtures per specimen tree from different angles so it has shape rather than being a flat cutout, path lights only where there is a real trip hazard, and nothing aimed where anybody will look into it. Glare is the one thing that makes a garden look worse lit than unlit.
Why do landscape lights need to be aimed at dusk?
Because aiming is the job and it cannot be done in daylight. Where a beam lands, whether the source is visible from a window or the street, and whether a tree reads as a shape or a silhouette are all things you can only judge with the lights on and the sky dark. A crew that installs during the day and leaves has not finished. Ask for the dusk walk-through specifically — it is included in a proper quote and is the difference between a system that looks considered and one that looks installed.
Brass or aluminum landscape lighting fixtures?
Cast brass at $100 to $250 a fixture will outlive the house. Cast aluminum at $50 to $90 lasts ten to fifteen years and is what the figures here assume — the floor for something a contractor will warrant. Stamped aluminum and plastic at $20 to $40 last two or three years and the lenses go cloudy before that. This is the main reason two quotes for the same eight lights can differ by half, so compare the fixture and not just the number.
How much does landscape lighting cost to run?
About $12 a year for eight LED fixtures running five hours a night: 40 watts between them is 73 kWh a year at the average US residential price of 17 cents a kWh. An older halogen system draws 20 watts a fixture instead of 5, which is roughly $50 a year on the same eight lights, and $85 to $125 where the lamps are 35 or 50 watts, plus bulbs. Retrofitting LED lamps into existing halogen fixtures is cheap and usually works, and is the first thing to try before replacing anything. If the lights buzz or flicker afterwards, an old magnetic transformer is struggling with the tiny new load.
Does landscape lighting need a new circuit?
Almost never. The transformer plugs into an exterior GFCI receptacle and draws under three amps. If there is no outdoor receptacle, adding one in a weatherproof box costs about 18% more on the job rather than the price of a new circuit. Where it goes matters: central to the runs and out of sight. A transformer on the far corner of the house gets paid for twice, once in cable and again in voltage drop at the last fixture.
Can landscape lighting cable be run under a driveway?
Yes, bored or rodded under with a sleeve, which takes about half an hour per crossing and adds roughly 30% where the layout depends on it. Running through planting beds is the cheap case — the cable goes under mulch with a spade and there is nothing to repair. Lawn is in between: an edger cut, the cable pushed into the slot, and the sod laid back so it knits. A good layout follows the beds and crosses hard surfaces as few times as possible.
Where these numbers come from
Nothing here is copied from a contractor directory. Labor is priced from what the trades are actually paid, materials from published producer prices, and both are adjusted to your area using federal cost-of-living data.
- All other specialty trade contractors, United States: $40.06/hour, August 2026 (BLS CES CES2023899003)
- LED path light: $60.00 per fixture (price recorded October 2026, not index-adjusted)
- Direct burial low-voltage cable: $0.60 per linear foot (price recorded October 2026, not index-adjusted)
- Waterproof connectors and stakes: $6.00 per fixture (price recorded October 2026, not index-adjusted)
- Multi-tap transformer with timer: $185.00 per transformer (price recorded October 2026, not index-adjusted)