Virginia timber prices
What your standing timber is worth in Virginia — 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 Virginia — what a landowner is paid for timber standing on the stump, before it is cut. The most recent published figure for hardwood sawtimber is $224 per thousand board feet, reported by Virginia Tech's Forest Landowner Education Program 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 508 Virginia 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 Virginia 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 hardwood sawtimber in Virginia is $224 per thousand board feet, reported by Virginia Tech's Forest Landowner Education Program 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.
Virginia stumpage prices by species
Virginia Tech's Forest Landowner Education Program, Q2 2026 · pine International 1/4", hardwood Doyle scale
| Timber | per thousand board feet |
|---|---|
| Pine sawtimber | $114 |
| Hardwood sawtimber | $224 |
| Timber | per ton |
|---|---|
| Pine chip-n-saw | $18.54 |
| Pine pulpwoodpulp | $8.27 |
| Oak sawtimber | $43.97 |
| Hardwood pulpwoodpulp | $7.23 |
Source: Virginia Tech's Forest Landowner Education Program, 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 Virginia?
At these prices, one mature, normally stocked acre of mostly large trees, sold in one harvest, works out to roughly $650 to $1,300 for pine and other softwood and $2,410 to $4,830 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 Virginia?
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 Virginia the best sawtimber on this page tops out at $224 while pulpwood tops out at $8.27 — 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 Virginia'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 Virginia timber is measured
Virginia 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. 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 pine International 1/4", hardwood Doyle 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.
How much forest Virginia has, and who owns it
Virginia has about 16 million acres of forestland, of which 15.4 million is timberland. 60% of the forestland is held by more than 500,000 individuals or families.
The wood itself: Oak-hickory (over 60% of all forests), loblolly-shortleaf pine second, yellow-poplar largest by volume. Species is one of the three things that decide what your acre is worth, and it is the one you cannot change.
Virginia bars its own counties and towns from charging you to log — local ordinances may not require a permit or impose a fee for silvicultural activity, and silviculture may not be prohibited or unreasonably limited through local planning and zoning powers.
Sources: dof.virginia.gov · law.lis.virginia.gov
Do I need a permit to cut timber in Virginia?
Unlike some neighbouring states, Virginia does require you to notify the Department of Forestry before you start a commercial timber harvest — or within three working days after you begin — even on your own land. There is no approval to wait for, but failing to notify can bring a civil penalty. Water quality rules also apply, and following Best Management Practices is effectively required to stay protected under them.
Failure to notify carries a civil penalty of $250 for the first violation and up to $1,000 for any subsequent violation within 24 months. The logger needs a timber harvester notification ID number to file.
Source: dof.virginia.gov
Property tax on Virginia timberland
If your locality has adopted the ordinance, 20 or more acres in forest use is assessed at use value instead of market value. It is a local option, so it does not exist in every county or city.
Two things to check before you apply: it takes 20 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: law.lis.virginia.gov
What the Virginia Department of Forestry will do for you, free
Field staff provide technical assistance and develop management plans at no charge, and the agency runs cost-share programs including Reforestation of Timberlands and the Hardwood Initiative, plus two state seedling nurseries.
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: dof.virginia.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 Virginia 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 508 Virginia 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.
508 Virginia 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 Virginia
What are timber prices in Virginia right now?
Virginia Tech's Forest Landowner Education Program reports hardwood sawtimber at $224 per thousand board feet for Q2 2026. That is a stumpage price — what the landowner receives for standing timber. Prices for the other products in Virginia 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 Virginia?
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 Virginia'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 Virginia?
Virginia requires notification. The operator must notify the State Forester of a commercial timber harvest before the job is finished and no later than three working days after it starts. Failure to notify carries a civil penalty of $250 for the first violation and up to $1,000 for any subsequent violation within 24 months. The logger needs a timber harvester notification ID number to file.
Is there a property tax break for timberland in Virginia?
Virginia runs Special Assessment for Land Preservation — forest use. If your locality has adopted the ordinance, 20 or more acres in forest use is assessed at use value instead of market value. It is a local option, so it does not exist in every county or city. It takes 20 acres.
Who can help me manage my timber in Virginia for free?
The Virginia Department of Forestry. Field staff provide technical assistance and develop management plans at no charge, and the agency runs cost-share programs including Reforestation of Timberlands and the Hardwood Initiative, plus two state seedling nurseries.
How do I get the best price for my timber in Virginia?
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 508 Virginia businesses, free and complete, and has not vetted or endorsed any of them.