New Hampshire timber prices
What your standing timber is worth in New Hampshire — 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 New Hampshire — what a landowner is paid for timber standing on the stump, before it is cut. The most recent published figure for oak is $200–$400 per thousand board feet, reported by New Hampshire Department of Revenue Administration for April–September 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 70 New Hampshire 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 New Hampshire 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 in New Hampshire is $200–$400 per thousand board feet, reported by New Hampshire Department of Revenue Administration for April–September 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.
New Hampshire stumpage prices by species
New Hampshire Department of Revenue Administration, April–September 2026 · not stated on the list scale
| Timber | per thousand board feet |
|---|---|
| Oak | $200–$400 |
| Hard maple | $200–$400 |
| Ash | $165–$325 |
| Yellow birch | $145–$275 |
| White birch | $110–$210 |
| Soft maple | $95–$195 |
| Beech, pallet and tie logs | $25–$75 |
| White pine | $150–$210 |
| Spruce and fir | $135–$170 |
| Hemlock | $40–$65 |
| Red pine | $35–$60 |
| Pine box | $20–$40 |
| Timber | per ton |
|---|---|
| Hardwood and aspen pulpwoodpulp | $4–$8 |
| Spruce and fir pulpwoodpulp | $1–$3 |
| Hemlock pulpwoodpulp | $0.5–$2.5 |
| High-grade spruce | $24–$34 |
| Timber | per cord |
|---|---|
| Cordwood | $15–$25 |
Source: New Hampshire Department of Revenue Administration, April–September 2026. These are stumpage prices — what a landowner is paid for standing timber.
What is an acre of timber worth in New Hampshire?
At these prices, one mature, normally stocked acre of mostly large trees, sold in one harvest, works out to roughly $870 to $1,750 for pine and other softwood and $1,450 to $2,900 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 New Hampshire?
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 New Hampshire the best sawtimber on this page tops out at $400 while pulpwood tops out at $8 — 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 New Hampshire'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 New Hampshire timber is measured
New Hampshire uses more than one unit, which trips people up. Sawtimber is priced by the thousand board feet, written MBF, and other products are priced by the ton, green weight, straight off the scales at the mill, and by the cord. Never compare a figure in one unit against a figure in another — they are not the same measurement of wood.
The figures here are measured on the not stated on the list scale. A board-foot price means nothing without knowing which scale it was written on, so it is worth asking of any bid you receive.
Worth knowing about the New Hampshire market
New Hampshire publishes its own stumpage values twice a year, and uses them to assess the state's 10% timber yield tax. The figures here are the Northern district's. The state publishes separate lists for the Northern, Central and Southern districts, so check which one covers your town. Note how low the pulpwood numbers are — New Hampshire's pulp market is weak, and the value is in sawtimber.
How much forest New Hampshire has, and who owns it
New Hampshire has 4.46 million acres of timberland. 2.4 million acres nonindustrial private, across 33,523 owners.
The wood itself: Maple/beech/birch (51.9%), then white, red and jack pine, oak/hickory and spruce/fir. Species is one of the three things that decide what your acre is worth, and it is the one you cannot change.
New Hampshire caps how hard you can cut near water and roads — no more than 50% of basal area in a 12-month period within 150 feet of great ponds, larger streams and public highways, and within 50 feet of other year-round waters.
Sources: fs.usda.gov · extension.unh.edu
Do I need a permit to cut timber in New Hampshire?
New Hampshire requires a filing, but it is a tax filing rather than a permit. Before cutting you file a Notice of Intent to Cut with your town's assessing officials, who sign it and forward it to the state. You then pay a 10% timber yield tax on the stumpage value of what you cut.
The signed Intent must be posted on the job site before cutting starts, the town has 15 days to sign it, and a Report of Cut is due within 60 days of finishing or by May 15, whichever comes first. Personal-use cutting is exempt up to a stated volume.
Source: nhdfl.dncr.nh.gov
Property tax on New Hampshire timberland
Your land is assessed at its present use rather than development value, with an extra discount for documented stewardship. The trade-off is a one-time 10% land use change tax on full market value if you ever develop it, and a 10% yield tax on every harvest.
Two things to check before you apply: it takes 10 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: extension.unh.edu
Free help from New Hampshire's state forestry agency
The New Hampshire Division of Forests and Lands, with UNH Cooperative Extension county foresters. A free property visit from your county forester for properties of roughly ten acres or more, helping you achieve your goals for forestry, recreation, wildlife habitat, water resources and scenic beauty.
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: extension.unh.edu
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 New Hampshire 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 70 New Hampshire 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.
70 New Hampshire 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 New Hampshire
What are timber prices in New Hampshire right now?
New Hampshire Department of Revenue Administration reports oak at $200–$400 per thousand board feet for April–September 2026. That is a stumpage price — what the landowner receives for standing timber. Prices for the other products in New Hampshire 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 New Hampshire?
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 New Hampshire'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 New Hampshire?
New Hampshire requires a filing, but it is a tax filing rather than a permit. Before cutting you file a Notice of Intent to Cut with your town's assessing officials, who sign it and forward it to the state. You then pay a 10% timber yield tax on the stumpage value of what you cut. The signed Intent must be posted on the job site before cutting starts, the town has 15 days to sign it, and a Report of Cut is due within 60 days of finishing or by May 15, whichever comes first. Personal-use cutting is exempt up to a stated volume.
Is there a property tax break for timberland in New Hampshire?
New Hampshire runs New Hampshire Current Use, plus the 10% Timber Yield Tax. Your land is assessed at its present use rather than development value, with an extra discount for documented stewardship. The trade-off is a one-time 10% land use change tax on full market value if you ever develop it, and a 10% yield tax on every harvest. It takes 10 acres.
Who can help me manage my timber in New Hampshire for free?
The New Hampshire Division of Forests and Lands, with UNH Cooperative Extension county foresters. A free property visit from your county forester for properties of roughly ten acres or more, helping you achieve your goals for forestry, recreation, wildlife habitat, water resources and scenic beauty.
How do I get the best price for my timber in New Hampshire?
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 70 New Hampshire businesses, free and complete, and has not vetted or endorsed any of them.