Tennessee timber prices
What your standing timber is worth in Tennessee — 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 Tennessee — what a landowner is paid for timber standing on the stump, before it is cut. The most recent published figure for pine sawtimber is $17–$21 per ton, reported by Southern Ag Today (from Timber Mart-South) for Q4 2025. 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 414 Tennessee 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 Tennessee 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 pine sawtimber in Tennessee is $17–$21 per ton, reported by Southern Ag Today (from Timber Mart-South) for Q4 2025. 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. Tennessee has no free maintained price series. These are the ranges reported for Tennessee in a regional article.
Tennessee stumpage prices by species
Southern Ag Today (from Timber Mart-South), Q4 2025
| Timber | per ton |
|---|---|
| Pine sawtimber | $17–$21 |
| Pine pulpwoodpulp | $0–$4 |
Source: Southern Ag Today (from Timber Mart-South), Q4 2025. 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 Tennessee?
At these prices, one mature, normally stocked acre of mostly large trees, sold in one harvest, works out to roughly $810 to $1,610 for pine and other softwood. 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 Tennessee?
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 Tennessee the best sawtimber on this page tops out at $21 while pulpwood tops out at $4 — 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 Tennessee'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 Tennessee has, and who owns it
Tennessee has 13.2 million acres of timberland. 83% of forest land is in private ownership, across 197,040 nonindustrial owners.
The wood itself: Oak/hickory (69.7%), yellow-poplar, white oak. Species is one of the three things that decide what your acre is worth, and it is the one you cannot change.
Tennessee has no harvest law at all, but it has built a liability mechanism instead — hiring a certified master logger who issues written certification puts the duty to install, maintain and adhere to best management practices on the logger, which is the real reason to insist on a master logger in the contract.
Sources: srs.fs.usda.gov · law.justia.com
Do I need a permit to cut timber in Tennessee?
There is no state permit or notification required to harvest timber on your own land in Tennessee. Best Management Practices for water quality are voluntary, though state environmental regulators can step in if a harvest actually causes a water-quality problem. Check with your county before work starts.
If the landowner contracts with a certified master logger, the logger must give written certification that he has designed a plan to comply with water pollution control laws and must install and maintain those controls — which is how a landowner shifts water-quality exposure onto the logger.
Source: tn.gov
Property tax on Tennessee timberland
Qualifying forest land is assessed on its current use value instead of market or development value, with rollback taxes owed if it converts.
Two things to check before you apply: it takes 15 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: ctas.tennessee.edu
Free help from Tennessee's state forestry agency
The Tennessee Department of Agriculture, Division of Forestry. Technical assistance, forest planning help, financial assistance, forest health assessments and forestry information for private landowners, plus a Find A Forester referral tool.
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: tn.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 Tennessee 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 414 Tennessee 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.
414 Tennessee 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 Tennessee
What are timber prices in Tennessee right now?
Southern Ag Today (from Timber Mart-South) reports pine sawtimber at $17–$21 per ton for Q4 2025. That is a stumpage price — what the landowner receives for standing timber. Prices for the other products in Tennessee 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 Tennessee?
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 Tennessee's own published prices. It gives a range, never a single figure, because only a cruise settles what a stand is really worth.
Does Tennessee publish its own timber prices?
Tennessee has no free maintained price series. These are the ranges reported for Tennessee in a regional article.
Do I need a permit to cut timber in Tennessee?
Tennessee requires no state permit and no notification to harvest timber on private land. Water-quality law still applies to the operation. If the landowner contracts with a certified master logger, the logger must give written certification that he has designed a plan to comply with water pollution control laws and must install and maintain those controls — which is how a landowner shifts water-quality exposure onto the logger.
Is there a property tax break for timberland in Tennessee?
Tennessee runs Greenbelt — forest land classification. Qualifying forest land is assessed on its current use value instead of market or development value, with rollback taxes owed if it converts. It takes 15 acres.
Who can help me manage my timber in Tennessee for free?
The Tennessee Department of Agriculture, Division of Forestry. Technical assistance, forest planning help, financial assistance, forest health assessments and forestry information for private landowners, plus a Find A Forester referral tool.
How do I get the best price for my timber in Tennessee?
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 414 Tennessee businesses, free and complete, and has not vetted or endorsed any of them.