Pennsylvania timber prices
What your standing timber is worth in Pennsylvania — 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 Pennsylvania — what a landowner is paid for timber standing on the stump, before it is cut. The most recent published figure for black cherry is $255–$848 per thousand board feet, reported by Penn State Extension for Q1 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 338 Pennsylvania 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 Pennsylvania 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 black cherry in Pennsylvania is $255–$848 per thousand board feet, reported by Penn State Extension for Q1 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.
Pennsylvania stumpage prices by species
Penn State Extension, Q1 2026 · International 1/4" scale
| Timber | per thousand board feet |
|---|---|
| Red oak | $456–$609 |
| White oak | $677–$750 |
| Black cherry | $255–$848 |
| Hard maple | $356–$500 |
| White pine | $49–$287 |
| Hemlock | $24–$86 |
Source: Penn State Extension, Q1 2026. These are stumpage prices — what a landowner is paid for standing timber.
What is an acre of timber worth in Pennsylvania?
At these prices, one mature, normally stocked acre of mostly large trees, sold in one harvest, works out to roughly $490 to $2,520 for pine and other softwood and $4,210 to $8,410 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 Pennsylvania?
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 Pennsylvania'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 Pennsylvania timber is measured
Pennsylvania timber is sold by the thousand board feet, written MBF.
The International quarter-inch rule tracks what a log actually yields more closely than the older rules do. It reads higher than Doyle for the same tree, so never compare a price on one rule against a price on the other.
How much forest Pennsylvania has, and who owns it
Pennsylvania has 16.6 million acres of forest land — 57% of the state. 68.6% private.
The wood itself: Oak forests dominate the southern two-thirds — red, white and black oak, hickories, tuliptree, red maple. Northern hardwoods in the northern third, where black cherry reaches its best development. Species is one of the three things that decide what your acre is worth, and it is the one you cannot change.
Pennsylvania municipalities cannot zone forestry out — state law directs every municipality to permit forestry as a use by right in all zoning districts, which is why townships that made timbering a special exception have lost challenges.
Sources: fs.usda.gov · extension.psu.edu
Do I need a permit to cut timber in Pennsylvania?
No state permit is required to harvest timber on private land in Pennsylvania. Every operation does need a written erosion and sedimentation control plan kept on site, and permits are needed for stream and wetland crossings.
Municipalities can regulate timber harvesting, but state law requires them to allow forestry as a use by right in every zoning district — so a township ordinance can set conditions, not a ban.
Source: extension.psu.edu
Property tax on Pennsylvania timberland
Enrolled forest reserve land is taxed on its use value instead of fair market value. Over 12 million acres statewide are enrolled.
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: pa.gov
What the Pennsylvania DCNR, Bureau of Forestry will do for you, free
Service foresters give information and advice to owners of rural and community forests — sustainable management technical assistance, cost-share assistance, guidance on hiring a professional forester, and help reviewing stewardship plans.
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: pa.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 Pennsylvania 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 International 1/4". 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 338 Pennsylvania 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.
338 Pennsylvania 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 Pennsylvania
What are timber prices in Pennsylvania right now?
Penn State Extension reports black cherry at $255–$848 per thousand board feet for Q1 2026. That is a stumpage price — what the landowner receives for standing timber. Prices for the other products in Pennsylvania 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 Pennsylvania?
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 Pennsylvania'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 Pennsylvania?
No state permit is required to harvest timber on private land in Pennsylvania. Every operation does need a written erosion and sedimentation control plan kept on site, and permits are needed for stream and wetland crossings. Municipalities can regulate timber harvesting, but state law requires them to allow forestry as a use by right in every zoning district — so a township ordinance can set conditions, not a ban.
Is there a property tax break for timberland in Pennsylvania?
Pennsylvania runs Clean and Green — Forest Reserve category. Enrolled forest reserve land is taxed on its use value instead of fair market value. Over 12 million acres statewide are enrolled. It takes 10 acres.
Who can help me manage my timber in Pennsylvania for free?
The Pennsylvania DCNR, Bureau of Forestry. Service foresters give information and advice to owners of rural and community forests — sustainable management technical assistance, cost-share assistance, guidance on hiring a professional forester, and help reviewing stewardship plans.
How do I get the best price for my timber in Pennsylvania?
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 338 Pennsylvania businesses, free and complete, and has not vetted or endorsed any of them.