Alabama timber prices
What your standing timber is worth in Alabama — published stumpage values by species, and a free calculator that turns them into a figure for your own land.
Quick answer
These are stumpage prices for Alabama — what a landowner is paid for timber standing on the stump, before it is cut. The most recent published figure for pine sawtimber is $17–$21 per ton, reported by Southern Ag Today (from Timber Mart-South) for Q4 2025. Delivered or mill log prices are a different and much higher number, because they include the cost of cutting and hauling the wood. TimberClear lists 559 Alabama foresters, buyers, loggers and mills who work this timber. What a particular stand brings is settled by a timber cruise, not by a price list.
If you own woodland in Alabama and you are wondering what it is worth, the number you want is the stumpage price — what a buyer pays you for timber while it is still standing. The most recent published figure for pine sawtimber in Alabama is $17–$21 per ton, reported by Southern Ag Today (from Timber Mart-South) for Q4 2025. The full table is below.
Two prices get quoted in this business and they are not the same. Stumpage is what reaches you. Delivered, sometimes called the mill or log price, is what a mill pays once the wood has been cut, limbed and hauled to the yard — and the difference between them is the cost of doing all that work. Delivered prices are easier to find online, they are a good deal higher, and a landowner who mistakes one for the other walks into a sale expecting money that was never on the table. Everything on this page is stumpage.
One thing to know before you read the table. Alabama publishes no free, maintained timber price series of its own, and Timber Mart-South's Alabama report is paid, so there is no Alabama-only figure to quote. The range above is not an Alabama number: it is the range a regional report gave for Tennessee, South Carolina and Alabama together in Q4 2025, and only for pine sawtimber. Treat it as a rough regional marker, not as your county's price.
Alabama stumpage prices by species
Southern Ag Today (from Timber Mart-South), Q4 2025
| Timber | per ton |
|---|---|
| Pine sawtimber | $17–$21 |
Source: Southern Ag Today (from Timber Mart-South), Q4 2025. These are stumpage prices — what a landowner is paid for standing timber.
Compare pine prices per ton across the Southern states
What is an acre of timber worth in Alabama?
At these prices, one mature, normally stocked acre of mostly large trees, sold in one harvest, works out to roughly $1,160 to $2,310 for pine and other softwood. Smaller trees, a thinner stand or a partial cut bring less. It's a ballpark, not an appraisal.
What is your timber worth?
The table above is the price. The calculator turns it into a figure for your land — it asks your acreage, your species, how big the trees are and how thick they stand, then works the estimate from the prices above. About a minute, and no email needed to see it.
What are my trees worth in Alabama?
A price list cannot answer that on its own, and any site that tells you otherwise is guessing. Three things decide what an acre brings, and only you can see them: how big the trees are, how thickly they are growing, and what species they are.
Our free timber value calculator asks those three questions and works an estimate from Alabama's own published prices, the ones in the table on this page. It gives you a range rather than a single figure, because a range is the honest shape of the answer. It takes about a minute and it does not ask for your email to show you the number.
How much forest Alabama has, and who owns it
Alabama has 23.0 million acres of timberland. Private landowners own almost 93% of Alabama's forests.
The wood itself: Loblolly-shortleaf pine (39%, 9.0 million acres) and oak-hickory (7.0 million acres). Species is one of the three things that decide what your acre is worth, and it is the one you cannot change.
One in every two growing-stock trees in Alabama is a loblolly pine, and the state leads the nation in loblolly growing-stock volume at 599.6 million tons.
Sources: srs.fs.usda.gov · forestry.alabama.gov
Do I need a permit to cut timber in Alabama?
Alabama requires no state permit to harvest timber on your own land, but it does require a NOTICE, and the notice is state law rather than a county's own idea. Before timber is hauled out over county roads, the timber owner tells the county commission's regular office: four business days ahead where the harvest needs a new access point onto the road, two where it uses one that already exists. In exchange the statute closes the door on anything further — a county may not demand a second notice, a permit or licence, or a bond or other security as the price of using its roads. Separately, Alabama's forestry Best Management Practices are not a permit programme, but they are not merely advisory either: the Department of Environmental Management inspects forestry operations and will require BMPs where voluntary use falls short, because the water-quality law behind them is enforceable.
Individual county commissions may adopt a logging notice ordinance covering traffic on county roads — two business days' notice for an existing access point, four for a new one. A county cannot demand a bond from a timber owner unless that owner has three violations in 24 months.
To be straight with you about how we know that: we looked and found no statewide requirement, which is not quite the same as confirming there is none. County ordinances and local road rules exist that no search of state law turns up. One call to the Alabama Forestry Commission settles it before you cut.
Source: alabamacounties.org
Current Use Valuation: what Alabama charges to hold woodland
Timberland is assessed on what it is worth for growing timber rather than what a developer would pay. Apply to the county assessing official between October 1 and January 1.
Source: revenue.alabama.gov
What the Alabama Forestry Commission will do for you, free
Commission foresters will meet you, work out your objectives and write either a short stand management recommendation or a full stewardship plan. All recommended forest management plans and advice are offered at no cost.
Worth taking. A state service forester does not bid on your timber and does not take a commission, so the advice comes without a stake in the outcome. They will not run your sale for you — that is a consulting forester's job — but they will tell you what you have before anybody makes you an offer.
Source: forestry.alabama.gov
Getting the best price for your timber
The single biggest lever is competition. One buyer who turns up and makes an offer has no reason to bid against himself. A sealed-bid sale, run by a consulting forester who invites several buyers to price the same marked timber, routinely moves the final number by a wide margin — and it costs you a share of the sale rather than money up front.
Before any of that, have the timber cruised. A cruise is a forester walking your land and measuring what is actually standing, so you are selling a known quantity instead of taking somebody's word for it.
Because Alabama timber is sold by weight, the load tickets are your receipt. Every truck that leaves is weighed at the mill, and those tickets are what your payment is calculated from. Ask to receive copies as the job runs rather than a single figure at the end — a sale you cannot check is a sale you have to take on trust.
And put the terms in writing before anybody starts: what gets cut, what stays, what the land looks like when they leave, and when you get paid.
TimberClear lists 559 Alabama foresters, buyers, loggers and mills. Every listing is free and complete, including the phone number the business already publishes. We have not vetted, verified or endorsed any of them — the listing tells you who they are and what counties they cover, and the choosing is yours.
559 Alabama timber businesses
Foresters, buyers, loggers and mills, with the counties each one covers. Free and complete.
Compare states side by side
Pick any states and see their prices next to each other.
Timber price questions in Alabama
What are timber prices in Alabama right now?
Southern Ag Today (from Timber Mart-South) reports pine sawtimber at $17–$21 per ton for Q4 2025. That is a stumpage price — what the landowner receives for standing timber. Prices for the other products in Alabama are listed on this page, and they move every quarter.
What is stumpage value?
Stumpage is the price paid for timber while it is still standing — the money that reaches the landowner. It is not the same as a delivered or mill log price, which is what a mill pays once the wood has been cut, limbed and hauled to the yard. The gap between the two is the cost of doing that work, and it is large. A delivered price quoted as though it were stumpage will make timber look worth far more than it is.
How much is an acre of timber worth in Alabama?
It depends on three things the price list cannot tell you: how big the trees are, how thickly they are growing, and whether they are sawtimber or pulpwood size. Sawtimber is worth several times what pulpwood is worth per ton. TimberClear's free timber value calculator asks those questions and works the estimate from Alabama's own published prices. It gives a range, never a single figure, because only a cruise settles what a stand is really worth.
Does Alabama publish its own timber prices?
Alabama publishes no free, maintained timber price series of its own, and Timber Mart-South's Alabama report is paid, so there is no Alabama-only figure to quote. The range above is not an Alabama number: it is the range a regional report gave for Tennessee, South Carolina and Alabama together in Q4 2025, and only for pine sawtimber. Treat it as a rough regional marker, not as your county's price.
Do I need a permit to cut timber in Alabama?
Alabama requires no state permit and no statewide notice before you harvest timber on your own land. Individual county commissions may adopt a logging notice ordinance covering traffic on county roads — two business days' notice for an existing access point, four for a new one. A county cannot demand a bond from a timber owner unless that owner has three violations in 24 months. We found no statewide requirement, which is not the same as confirming there is none — county ordinances exist that a search of state law does not turn up, so check locally before you cut.
Is there a property tax break for timberland in Alabama?
Alabama runs Current Use Valuation. Timberland is assessed on what it is worth for growing timber rather than what a developer would pay. Apply to the county assessing official between October 1 and January 1.
Who can help me manage my timber in Alabama for free?
The Alabama Forestry Commission. Commission foresters will meet you, work out your objectives and write either a short stand management recommendation or a full stewardship plan. All recommended forest management plans and advice are offered at no cost.
How do I get the best price for my timber in Alabama?
Get more than one offer. A sealed-bid sale run by a consulting forester puts buyers in competition with each other, and that is the single biggest lever a landowner has. Have the timber cruised first so you know what you are selling, and put the terms in writing before anybody starts cutting. TimberClear lists 559 Alabama businesses, free and complete, and has not vetted or endorsed any of them.