Ohio timber prices
What your standing timber is worth in Ohio — 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 Ohio — what a landowner is paid for timber standing on the stump, before it is cut. The most recent published figure for white oak is $700–$1,200 per thousand board feet, reported by Ohio State University Extension, with the Ohio Division of Forestry for March–May 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 260 Ohio 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 Ohio 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 in Ohio is $700–$1,200 per thousand board feet, reported by Ohio State University Extension, with the Ohio Division of Forestry for March–May 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.
Ohio stumpage prices by species
Ohio State University Extension, with the Ohio Division of Forestry, March–May 2026 · Doyle scale
| Timber | per thousand board feet |
|---|---|
| Black walnut | $1,500–$3,000 |
| White oak | $700–$1,200 |
| Red oak | $300–$750 |
| Black cherry | $230–$500 |
| Hard maple | $400–$600 |
| Soft maple | $275–$450 |
| Ash | $100–$400 |
| Yellow poplar | $200–$450 |
| Hickory | $150–$400 |
| Basswood | $150–$350 |
| Other hardwoods | $100–$300 |
| Pine | $100–$200 |
Source: Ohio State University Extension, with the Ohio Division of Forestry, March–May 2026. These are stumpage prices — what a landowner is paid for standing timber.
What is an acre of timber worth in Ohio?
At these prices, one mature, normally stocked acre of mostly large trees, sold in one harvest, works out to roughly $810 to $1,620 for pine and other softwood and $2,460 to $5,100 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 Ohio?
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 Ohio'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 Ohio timber is measured
Ohio 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.
Worth knowing about the Ohio market
Ohio has run this survey since 1960 and publishes it twice a year, broken out for the west, northeast and southeast of the state. Prices are on the Doyle scale, which counts fewer board feet in a small log than other rules do.
How much forest Ohio has, and who owns it
Ohio has 7.9 million acres of timberland. Seven million acres — 86% — is privately owned, including 5.8 million acres held by about 336,000 family forest owners.
The wood itself: Oak/hickory covers over half of Ohio's forests at 5.1 million acres; northern hardwood and maple-beech about a third. Species is one of the three things that decide what your acre is worth, and it is the one you cannot change.
Ohio has two competing woodland tax programs with the same 10-acre floor but opposite trade-offs — one gives a 50% value cut and no withdrawal penalty but demands a state-approved plan, marked boundaries and a stocking minimum; the other needs no plan but claws back three years of tax if the use changes.
Sources: fs.usda.gov · srs.fs.usda.gov
Do I need a permit to cut timber in Ohio?
Ohio requires no state permit and no advance notice to harvest timber on your own land.
The catch comes after the fact — if a harvest causes or threatens forestry pollution, meaning soil erosion or water degradation, the state can order the operation to continue only under an approved timber harvest plan.
Source: codes.ohio.gov
Property tax on Ohio timberland
The Forest Tax Law cuts the taxable value of qualifying woodland in half in exchange for a state-approved management plan, marked boundaries and a minimum stocking level. Current Agricultural Use Value needs no plan but must be reapplied for annually.
Two things to check before you apply: it takes 10 acres for either, and a written forest management plan is required. 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: srs.fs.usda.gov
What the Ohio DNR, Division of Forestry will do for you, free
Service foresters advise private woodland owners on management and on best management practices for timber harvests, and the Division administers Forest Tax Law enrolment.
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: ohiodnr.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 Ohio 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 260 Ohio 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.
260 Ohio 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 Ohio
What are timber prices in Ohio right now?
Ohio State University Extension, with the Ohio Division of Forestry reports white oak at $700–$1,200 per thousand board feet for March–May 2026. That is a stumpage price — what the landowner receives for standing timber. Prices for the other products in Ohio 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 Ohio?
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 Ohio'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 Ohio?
Ohio requires no state permit and no advance notice to harvest timber on your own land. The catch comes after the fact — if a harvest causes or threatens forestry pollution, meaning soil erosion or water degradation, the state can order the operation to continue only under an approved timber harvest plan.
Is there a property tax break for timberland in Ohio?
Ohio runs Ohio Forest Tax Law, or Current Agricultural Use Value. The Forest Tax Law cuts the taxable value of qualifying woodland in half in exchange for a state-approved management plan, marked boundaries and a minimum stocking level. Current Agricultural Use Value needs no plan but must be reapplied for annually. It takes 10 acres for either. A written forest management plan is required.
Who can help me manage my timber in Ohio for free?
The Ohio DNR, Division of Forestry. Service foresters advise private woodland owners on management and on best management practices for timber harvests, and the Division administers Forest Tax Law enrolment.
How do I get the best price for my timber in Ohio?
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 260 Ohio businesses, free and complete, and has not vetted or endorsed any of them.