Mississippi timber prices
What your standing timber is worth in Mississippi — 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 Mississippi — what a landowner is paid for timber standing on the stump, before it is cut. The most recent published figure for oak sawtimber is $57.35 per ton, reported by Mississippi State University Extension 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 570 Mississippi 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 Mississippi 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 oak sawtimber in Mississippi is $57.35 per ton, reported by Mississippi State University Extension 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.
Mississippi stumpage prices by species
Mississippi State University Extension, Q2 2026
| Timber | per ton |
|---|---|
| Pine sawtimber | $22.03 |
| Pine chip-n-saw | $12.52 |
| Pine pulpwoodpulp | $4.77 |
| Oak sawtimber | $57.35 |
| Mixed hardwood sawtimber | $39.81 |
| Hardwood pulpwoodpulp | $9.02 |
Source: Mississippi State University Extension, Q2 2026. 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 Mississippi?
At these prices, one mature, normally stocked acre of mostly large trees, sold in one harvest, works out to roughly $1,150 to $2,300 for pine and other softwood and $2,200 to $4,400 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 Mississippi?
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 Mississippi the best sawtimber on this page tops out at $57.35 while pulpwood tops out at $9.02 — 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 Mississippi'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 Mississippi has, and who owns it
Mississippi has 19.2 million acres of forest land. About two-thirds owned by more than 200,000 nonindustrial private landowners.
The wood itself: Loblolly and shortleaf pine, bottomland hardwoods, mixed pine-hardwood. Species is one of the three things that decide what your acre is worth, and it is the one you cannot change.
Mississippi still levies an old-fashioned timber severance tax at harvest, and the statute levies it against the grower of timber products or the owner of the land it came off — so it is the landowner's liability, not the buyer's.
Sources: extension.msstate.edu · law.justia.com
Do I need a permit to cut timber in Mississippi?
Mississippi has no statewide permit and no notification to harvest timber on your own land — the article of the state code that once regulated forest harvesting was repealed in 2017, and the Forestry Commission's own step-by-step harvest guidance has no permit or notice step in it. Best Management Practices are published by the Forestry Commission and the state calls their use voluntary, but voluntary is not the same as unenforceable: Mississippi law makes it unlawful to cause pollution of state waters, the Department of Environmental Quality investigates and enforces against harvests that do, and the federal Clean Water Act exemption for forest roads and site preparation depends on following the mandatory practices. Counties have less room here than in Georgia or Alabama — since 16 March 2018 no Mississippi county or municipality may adopt an ordinance restricting forestry activity on agricultural land — but ordinances already in place before that date still stand, so check with your county before work starts. One more thing worth knowing: if someone cuts your trees without your consent, Mississippi sets the damages at double the fair market value of the timber plus the cost of replanting, and an honest mistake is not a defence.
The exception is water — federal Clean Water Act rules can apply in wetlands, and the Forestry Commission does require BMP compliance from landowners taking state or federal cost-share money.
Source: mfc.ms.gov
Statutory use-value assessment: what Mississippi charges to hold woodland
Timberland is appraised at its use value under a soil-productivity formula rather than market value — automatically. You do not apply for it.
Source: law.justia.com
What the Mississippi Forestry Commission will do for you, free
Free technical assistance and forestry advice — insect, disease, invasive and BMP guidance, plus cost-share compliance checks. Direct services such as site prep or planting are billed for a fee.
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: mfc.ms.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 Mississippi 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 570 Mississippi 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.
570 Mississippi 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 Mississippi
What are timber prices in Mississippi right now?
Mississippi State University Extension reports oak sawtimber at $57.35 per ton for Q2 2026. That is a stumpage price — what the landowner receives for standing timber. Prices for the other products in Mississippi 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 Mississippi?
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 Mississippi'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 Mississippi?
Mississippi has no state permit and no state notification requirement before a private landowner harvests timber. Forestry best management practices are guidance, not law. The exception is water — federal Clean Water Act rules can apply in wetlands, and the Forestry Commission does require BMP compliance from landowners taking state or federal cost-share money.
Is there a property tax break for timberland in Mississippi?
Mississippi runs Statutory use-value assessment. Timberland is appraised at its use value under a soil-productivity formula rather than market value — automatically. You do not apply for it.
Who can help me manage my timber in Mississippi for free?
The Mississippi Forestry Commission. Free technical assistance and forestry advice — insect, disease, invasive and BMP guidance, plus cost-share compliance checks. Direct services such as site prep or planting are billed for a fee.
How do I get the best price for my timber in Mississippi?
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 570 Mississippi businesses, free and complete, and has not vetted or endorsed any of them.