Scooponomics Index™
Dog waste per home: the number a newsletter can hold
The Scooponomics Index™ is estimated pounds of dog waste per home per year. Same method for every community, so an HOA board can put one figure in the packet without arguing about vendors first.
How the Index is built
A typical dog leaves about 0.5–0.75 lb a day, or about 180–274 lb a year. That is a common industry range, not a scale on your lawn. Annual pounds for the community = dogs × 0.5–0.75 × 365. Divide by homes. That quotient is the Index.
If you do not know the dog count, Scooponomics starts at 0.68 dogs per home — all doors, including homes with no dog. That is the U.S. mix from AVMA 2025 pet ownership statistics: 42.6% of homes have a dog, and those homes average about 1.6 dogs (42.6% × 1.6 ≈ 0.68). Homes that already have a dog run 1.4–1.6. Override the herd anytime. A typed dog count beats the starting point.
What “per home” is for
Per-dog volume is true and still hard to publish. Residents without a dog tune out. Per-home volume includes every door that pays dues, which is how HOA pet waste actually lands on the budget. The U.S. all-household average, same method, is about 120–180 lb per home per year at 0.68 dogs per door.
Trail-heavy neighborhoods often sit higher because visitors add waste the home count never sees. Downtown condos can sit lower. The Index is a snapshot for the numbers you typed — not a lab result and not a city inspection.
Worked example
180 homes and no typed dog count → about 122 dogs (180 × 0.68). Annual waste ≈ 22,300–33,400 lb. Index ≈ 124–186 lb per home. Add a real dog census if the board already counted them — open that sample on the calculator.
What the Index does not price
Station service still uses $15 per station per week. Monthly = $15 × stations × 4.33. The Index does not change that rate. It explains why cans fill, why bags disappear, and why uncollected waste is a stormwater pollutant after the next rain — not free fertilizer.
How to get a clean Index
- Type homes. That is the denominator.
- Type dogs if you have them. Otherwise keep the 0.68 start.
- Read lb per home on the Index panel. Copy the link for the board.
- Add stations if you also want the $15 weekly estimate and a quote request.
Pair this with station layout and bag rolls when the question is “where do we put cans,” not only “how much poop is this.”