Kentucky timber prices
What your standing timber is worth in Kentucky — 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 Kentucky — what a landowner is paid for timber standing on the stump, before it is cut. The most recent published figure for white oak sawlogs is $425 per thousand board feet, reported by Missouri Department of Conservation for Q2 2026. 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 499 Kentucky 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 Kentucky 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 white oak sawlogs in Kentucky is $425 per thousand board feet, reported by Missouri Department of Conservation for Q2 2026. 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. Kentucky's own state report covers delivered log prices at the mill, not standing timber, and warns landowners they receive far less than those figures. These are Missouri's published standing-timber prices for the same Central Hardwood species.
Kentucky stumpage prices by species
Missouri Department of Conservation, Q2 2026 · Doyle scale
| Timber | per thousand board feet |
|---|---|
| Black walnut sawlogs | $2,701 |
| White oak sawlogs | $425 |
| Red oak sawlogs | $132 |
| Hickory sawlogs | $164 |
| Hard maple sawlogs | $120 |
| Mixed hardwood sawlogs | $172 |
Source: Missouri Department of Conservation, Q2 2026. These are stumpage prices — what a landowner is paid for standing timber.
What is an acre of timber worth in Kentucky?
At these prices, one mature, normally stocked acre of mostly large trees, sold in one harvest, works out to roughly $1,460 to $2,920 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 Kentucky?
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 Kentucky'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 Kentucky timber is measured
Kentucky timber is sold by the thousand board feet, written MBF.
The Doyle rule counts fewer board feet in a small log than the other rules do, and the gap closes as trees get bigger. That is why two honest buyers can quote what looks like the same price and mean different money. Ask which rule a bid is written on.
How much forest Kentucky has, and who owns it
Kentucky has 12.2 million acres of timberland. 89% private, with 8.9 million acres held by 137,654 nonindustrial owners.
The wood itself: Oak/hickory (75.4%), maple/beech/birch (9.5%). Species is one of the three things that decide what your acre is worth, and it is the one you cannot change.
Kentucky is one of very few states where the law puts a named, trained individual on your job site — a certified Master Logger must be physically present and in charge of a commercial harvest, and one who ignores correction orders can be given a formal bad-actor designation and fined.
Sources: srs.fs.usda.gov · eec.ky.gov
Do I need a permit to cut timber in Kentucky?
Kentucky requires no permit and no notice of intent to harvest. What it does require is that a Kentucky Master Logger be on site and in charge of every commercial timber harvest, and that best management practices be used to protect water quality.
A landowner cutting timber on their own land is exempt, as are firewood cutting, Christmas trees and farm-purpose clearing.
Source: eec.ky.gov
Agricultural value assessment: what Kentucky charges to hold woodland
Timber is named in statute as an agricultural crop, so ten or more contiguous acres grown for timber is assessed at agricultural value rather than market value — a difference that can be tens of thousands of dollars an acre in developing counties.
Two things to check before you apply: it takes 10 contiguous acres. 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: apps.legislature.ky.gov
What the Kentucky Division of Forestry will do for you, free
A free Forest Stewardship visit in which a state forester — and where useful a wildlife biologist — meets you on the property and helps prepare a customised stewardship plan covering timber management.
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: eec.ky.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 Kentucky sells by the board foot, ask which log rule any bid is written on before you compare it to another. The figures on this page are Doyle. The same trees scaled under a different rule produce a different board-foot count, and two honest offers can look further apart, or closer together, than they really are.
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 499 Kentucky 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.
499 Kentucky 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 Kentucky
What are timber prices in Kentucky right now?
Missouri Department of Conservation reports white oak sawlogs at $425 per thousand board feet for Q2 2026. That is a stumpage price — what the landowner receives for standing timber. Prices for the other products in Kentucky 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 Kentucky?
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 Kentucky's own published prices. It gives a range, never a single figure, because only a cruise settles what a stand is really worth.
Does Kentucky publish its own timber prices?
Kentucky's own state report covers delivered log prices at the mill, not standing timber, and warns landowners they receive far less than those figures. These are Missouri's published standing-timber prices for the same Central Hardwood species.
Do I need a permit to cut timber in Kentucky?
Kentucky requires no permit and no notice of intent to harvest. What it does require is that a Kentucky Master Logger be on site and in charge of every commercial timber harvest, and that best management practices be used to protect water quality. A landowner cutting timber on their own land is exempt, as are firewood cutting, Christmas trees and farm-purpose clearing.
Is there a property tax break for timberland in Kentucky?
Kentucky runs Agricultural value assessment. Timber is named in statute as an agricultural crop, so ten or more contiguous acres grown for timber is assessed at agricultural value rather than market value — a difference that can be tens of thousands of dollars an acre in developing counties. It takes 10 contiguous acres.
Who can help me manage my timber in Kentucky for free?
The Kentucky Division of Forestry. A free Forest Stewardship visit in which a state forester — and where useful a wildlife biologist — meets you on the property and helps prepare a customised stewardship plan covering timber management.
How do I get the best price for my timber in Kentucky?
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 499 Kentucky businesses, free and complete, and has not vetted or endorsed any of them.