Georgia timber prices
What your standing timber is worth in Georgia — 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 Georgia — what a landowner is paid for timber standing on the stump, before it is cut. The most recent published figure for mixed hardwood sawtimber is $26–$32 per ton, reported by University of Georgia Extension for Q3 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 1363 Georgia 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 Georgia 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 mixed hardwood sawtimber in Georgia is $26–$32 per ton, reported by University of Georgia Extension for Q3 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.
Georgia stumpage prices by species
University of Georgia Extension, Q3 2025
| Timber | per ton |
|---|---|
| Pine sawtimber | $22–$28 |
| Pine chip-n-saw | $17–$23.5 |
| Pine pulpwoodpulp | $6–$9.5 |
| Mixed hardwood sawtimber | $26–$32 |
| Hardwood pulpwoodpulp | $6–$8 |
Source: University of Georgia Extension, Q3 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 Georgia?
At these prices, one mature, normally stocked acre of mostly large trees, sold in one harvest, works out to roughly $1,370 to $2,750 for pine and other softwood and $1,610 to $3,210 for hardwood. 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 Georgia?
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.
Size matters more than anything else on that list. In Georgia the best sawtimber on this page tops out at $32 while pulpwood tops out at $9.5 — the same tree, grown on, is worth several times more. That is the whole argument for knowing what you have before anybody makes you an offer.
Our free timber value calculator asks those three questions and works an estimate from Georgia'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.
Worth knowing about the Georgia market
Georgia's figures are reported separately for North and South Georgia, and the range above spans both: South Georgia pine runs ahead of North Georgia pine, while North Georgia hardwood sawtimber runs ahead of South Georgia's. Georgia also publishes an official annual cross-check that no other state does: the Department of Revenue's Owner Harvest Timber Values, a per-ton standing-timber table set county by county for the ad valorem tax on a harvest. It is a tax assessment value rather than a market quote, so it lags what a mill is actually bidding, but it is free, official and specific to your county.
How much forest Georgia has, and who owns it
Georgia has 24.4 million acres of forest land. Family forest landowners own 57% of the state's forestland.
Georgia's timberlands grow 53% more wood each year than is used, and the state's forest industry put out $42 billion in direct revenue and nearly 141,000 jobs in 2022 — ranking forestry first among Georgia's economic sectors.
Sources: gatrees.org · apps.fs.usda.gov
Do I need a permit to cut timber in Georgia?
Georgia has no statewide permit for cutting timber on your own land, and state law forbids a county to require one or to charge a fee for a timber harvest notification. What a county may require is the notification itself: where its ordinance calls for one, the harvester files it before entering the property if possible and no later than 24 hours after entering, and the county may ask for a bond of up to $5,000 against damage to its roads. Not every county has an ordinance, so check with yours before work starts. Georgia's Best Management Practices are not a permit programme, but following them is how a harvest stays clear of the water-quality law that is enforceable.
State law tightly caps what a county may demand: notice before entering if possible but no later than 24 hours after, notice of completion within 24 hours, and a surety bond of up to $5,000 — but no permits, no driveway permits and no fee for receiving the notice.
Source: gatrees.org
Forest Land Protection Act: what Georgia charges to hold woodland
A 10-year covenant with the county board of assessors gives an ad valorem tax exemption on land primarily used for good faith commercial or subsistence production of timber, with the value of any residence carved out.
Two things to check before you apply: it takes 200 acres in aggregate, with at least 100 in any one county. Programmes like this usually carry a claw-back — take the land out of forest use early and the state wants the deferred tax back — so read the terms before you sign rather than after you have cut.
Source: dor.georgia.gov
What the Georgia Forestry Commission will do for you, free
Creating a forest management plan is free. More than 40 field foresters advise on timber harvesting, forest health and reforestation, help with prescribed burning including burn plan development, and will produce a full Forest Stewardship Plan.
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: gatrees.org
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 Georgia 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 1363 Georgia 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.
1363 Georgia 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 Georgia
What are timber prices in Georgia right now?
University of Georgia Extension reports mixed hardwood sawtimber at $26–$32 per ton for Q3 2025. That is a stumpage price — what the landowner receives for standing timber. Prices for the other products in Georgia 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 Georgia?
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 Georgia's own published prices. It gives a range, never a single figure, because only a cruise settles what a stand is really worth.
Do I need a permit to cut timber in Georgia?
Georgia requires no state harvest permit. Notification is required only in counties that have adopted a timber-harvest notification ordinance, and since July 2023 those notices are filed through one statewide online system rather than county by county. State law tightly caps what a county may demand: notice before entering if possible but no later than 24 hours after, notice of completion within 24 hours, and a surety bond of up to $5,000 — but no permits, no driveway permits and no fee for receiving the notice.
Is there a property tax break for timberland in Georgia?
Georgia runs Forest Land Protection Act. A 10-year covenant with the county board of assessors gives an ad valorem tax exemption on land primarily used for good faith commercial or subsistence production of timber, with the value of any residence carved out. It takes 200 acres in aggregate, with at least 100 in any one county.
Who can help me manage my timber in Georgia for free?
The Georgia Forestry Commission. Creating a forest management plan is free. More than 40 field foresters advise on timber harvesting, forest health and reforestation, help with prescribed burning including burn plan development, and will produce a full Forest Stewardship Plan.
How do I get the best price for my timber in Georgia?
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 1363 Georgia businesses, free and complete, and has not vetted or endorsed any of them.