Land development practices result in compacted soils that filter less water, increase surface runoff and decrease groundwater infiltration. However, until now, there has been relatively little study of how hydrologic properties of lawns differ according to residential character such as year built or percent canopy cover. This study examines how soil infiltration rates and water retention properties of residential lawns differ according to social and physical factors that are readily attainable from national data sources. Saturated infiltration rates in residential lawn soils are significantly lower than forest soils. These differences cause increases in overland flow under wet conditions or large storm events from residential catchments and subsequently greater runoff than accounted for in many hydrologic models. Intra-parcel differences in bulk density and soil depth indicate that runoff from residential lawns is more likely from the near-house and near-curb areas due to greater soil disturbance an compaction while the middle of the front yard and backyards will be less likely to saturate. Variation in residential lawn soil properties, such as mean pore size, can be explained by social factors including house value, year of development, parcel size and physical factors including catenary effects and coarse vegetation per parcel. We find that older residences have higher infiltration rates, but the low infiltration rates of new lawns appear to be mediated by the preservation of forest cover. These results hold implications for obtaining more accurate hydrologic parameters for urban storm water modeling, the types of neighborhoods (newer and with low-tree cover) that should be targeted for best management practices, and the effectiveness of tree preservation as low impact development.