Tree Removal Cost 2026: $500–$1,500 for a Medium Tree

Removing one medium tree in a US yard — about 30 to 60 feet, an open fall a truck can reach, the wood cut and hauled away, the stump left — often clusters around $500–$1,500. That is the typical tree removal cost. How much does it cost to remove a tree in that scope? It is the height row below, from $500 up. Large tree removal cost, for a tree about 60 to 80 feet with that same open access, is typically $800–$2,000. Stump grinding cost, when you want the stump gone, is typically $100–$500 for one stump. The cost to remove a tree near the house, when the crew has to take it down in pieces, is typically $1,500–$5,000. The wider national spread, about $150–$10,000, covers a very small easy tree at the low end and a large tree on a power line, or a crane removal over the roof, at the high end. A fence is the line the tree may be on. A wood deck and a new deck are the platform under the canopy. These are typical planning ranges, not a survey and not a quote.

This page is one standing tree at a single-family house, cut and hauled, or the same tree taken down in pieces because something is in the way. A bid may call it tree removal, tree felling, or takedown. It is not a fence. It is not a wood deck or a deck the tree hangs over. It is not an acre of land clearing. Clearing an acre is a different job, often planned around $500–$8,000 an acre, and it is not the medium-tree row times a guess at how many trunks are in the woods. A commercial lot, a right-of-way, and a crane on a city street are a different product.

The price of the tree is the crew, the fall, and the haul. Height is the first cut. Access is the second. A per-foot reading is a way to check a row. It is not a second bill. Price the tree you can see.

The rows below are ways to read one job. They are not added together. The height table is one standing tree in an open yard the truck can reach, cut up, and hauled away, with the stump left. The situation table replaces that height row when the tree cannot fall in the open, or when it is already on the ground. Use an add-on row only for a line the height row does not include. Stump grinding is that kind of line: the height rows leave the stump. A crane day the bid already includes is not a second crane. A permit inside the bid is not a second permit.

Tree	Height	Typical cost
Small	Under 30 ft	$200–$500
Medium	30–60 ft	$450–$1,500
Large	60–80 ft	$800–$2,000
Extra-large	Over 80 ft	$1,000–$2,500

Situation	Typical cost
Pieced down beside the house	$1,500–$5,000
On a power line, or a crane over the roof	$2,500–$10,000
Already on the ground, open yard	$150–$500

Add-on	Typical planning range
Stump grinding, one stump	$100–$500
Crane day, when the bid leaves it out	$250–$600
Permit, when the bid leaves it out	$60–$150

The situation rows replace the height row. Do not add a near-house price on top of a medium tree, and do not add the power-line row on top of an extra-large tree. The add-on rows are lines the height row left out. A grind the proposal already names is not a second grind.

A tree under 30 feet is typically $200–$500. Twenty feet at $10 is $200, the floor. Twenty-five feet at $20 is $500, the top, and that top is the typical floor. Fifteen feet at $10 is $150, the floor of the wider spread, under the row. Twenty feet at $8 is $160, under the row and just above that floor. The whole small row except that $500 top sits under the typical band. The $500 top touches the typical floor and is still a small tree. The crew and the truck do not shrink to a sapling price, which is why a real small-tree visit often does not land under $150. From $200–$500 the job is the small row. Do not add the medium row on top of it.

A tree of 30 to 60 feet is typically $450–$1,500 on the size row, and the typical band of $500–$1,500 is that row from $500 up. Thirty feet at $15 is $450, the floor of the row and $50 under the typical floor. Fifty feet at $10 is $500, the typical floor. Forty-five feet at $20 is $900, inside the row and inside the typical band. Sixty feet at $25 is $1,500, the top of the row and the typical top. Thirty feet at $10 is $300, under the row and inside the wider spread, because a small-tree rate on a tree that has just reached 30 feet is not the crew this row assumes. The overlap of the size row with the typical band is $500–$1,500. From $450–$500 the job sits under the typical band and stays inside the wider spread. This is the tree the typical band describes: one trunk, open access, wood hauled, stump left. Do not add a per-foot rate on top of this row. The per-foot reading is how the row was built.

A tree of 60 to 80 feet is typically $800–$2,000. Large tree removal cost in an open yard is that row. Sixty feet at $13 is $780, just under the floor. Sixty feet at $14 is $840, just over the floor. Seventy feet at $20 is $1,400, inside the row and inside the typical band. Eighty feet at $18.75 is $1,500, the typical top, inside the row. Eighty feet at $25 is $2,000, the top of the row. The overlap with the typical band is $800–$1,500. From $1,500–$2,000 the job has left the typical band and stays inside the wider spread. Eighty feet at $30 is $2,400, which has left the row and stays inside the extra-large row. Nothing in this row is a medium tree someone stretched. A trunk wider than about 24 inches at chest height pushes toward the top and can leave the row without becoming a different height. Do not add the medium row to this one.

A tree over 80 feet, still in an open yard, is typically $1,000–$2,500. One hundred feet at $10 is $1,000, the floor. Ninety feet at $20 is $1,800, inside the row. One hundred feet at $25 is $2,500, the top. The overlap with the typical band is $1,000–$1,500. From $1,500–$2,500 the job has left the typical band and stays inside the wider spread. The overlap with the large row is $1,000–$2,000. A tree just over 80 feet and a tree of 70 feet can land on the same dollars. Ask the height. One hundred twenty feet at $25 is $3,000, which has left the row, stays inside the wider spread, and sits inside the near-house band without being a near-house job. Ordinary access at that height can leave the row on its own. Do not add the large row to this one.

Large tree removal

Large tree removal cost is the open-yard row for the height you measured, not a surcharge with its own percent. A tree of 60 to 80 feet is $800–$2,000. A tree over 80 feet in that same open yard is $1,000–$2,500. Both include the haul. Both leave the stump.

Take a 70-foot tree, which sits in the large row. Seventy times $20 is $1,400. That dollar is inside $800–$2,000 and inside the typical band. The same 70 feet at $25 is $1,750, which has left the typical band by $250 and stays inside the large row. A bid at $1,400 and a bid at $1,750 can both be that tree. The gap is the trunk, the wood, and the market, not a missing stump, unless the bid says the stump is in.

Species is not a second table. An oak, a pine, and a palm of the same height and the same access are the same height row. Dense wood, a wide crown, and a trunk over about 24 inches at chest height sit toward the top of the row and can leave it. A palm is often lighter, and it can sit toward the floor of the same row. Adding an oak price on top of a height price double-counts the tree. Ask which trunk the bid is.

A second tree on the same visit is its own height row. The truck is already there. Do not multiply the first tree by the count and then add a second mobilization. Do not invent a discount the bid did not write. Two medium trees at the typical floor are $500 and $500, which is $1,000, inside the typical band only if you are reading one of them. The job is two trees. Two medium trees at the typical top are $1,500 and $1,500, which is $3,000, inside the wider spread and above one tree. Price each trunk.

Stump grinding

Stump grinding cost is typically $100–$500 for one stump. Stump removal cost, when the method is a grinder that takes the stump below grade and the crew hauls the chips, is that same row. The height rows leave the stump on purpose. Add this row when the proposal includes the grind, or when you are comparing a fell-and-leave price with a price that takes the stump. On a medium tree, the typical band plus a grind is $600–$2,000. Five hundred plus $100 is $600. Fifteen hundred plus $500 is $2,000. That sum has left the typical band. It is a tree plus a stump, not a taller tree. Do not add the grind to a bid that already says the stump is included.

A very wide root flare can leave $500 and stays inside the wider spread. Digging the root ball out, instead of grinding it, is more truck and more fill, and it can leave the row. A grind and a root-ball excavation are two ways to buy one stump. Price one of them. Chips you keep are not a second haul. A second stump on the same visit is another stump, and the trip is already paid. Ask the rate. A bid that prices the second stump as a full second visit is charging the mobilization twice.

The grind is not a place to plant the next day. Chips and sawdust come out, and the ground settles. That is yard work. It is not a fence post, and it is not a deck footing. If the stump is where a post or a footing has to go, say so. The hole and the fill may be more than the grind row.

A tree near the house

The cost to remove a tree near the house is a different reading of the same trunk. Use it when the tree has to come down in pieces so it does not hit the roof, the fence, or a deck. That work is typically $1,500–$5,000. It replaces the height row. A medium tree with a clear fall into the yard stays at $450–$1,500 even when the house is on the lot. The $1,500 floor of the near-house row is the top of that open-yard medium tree. The $5,000 top is a tree taken apart over the roof. A quote of $1,500 on a tree beside the house should say whether the crew can fell it in the open or has to piece it down. Those are not the same job at the same dollar.

A tree on a power line, or a crane removal over the roof, is typically $2,500–$10,000. That also replaces the height row. The $2,500 floor is the top of an ordinary extra-large tree. The $10,000 top is the top of the wider spread. Do not add the $1,500–$5,000 row under this one. A line and a roof in the same job are one reading, not two.

A crane day, when the bid leaves it out of an otherwise ordinary felling, is typically $250–$600. Add it only when the written price is the height row and the crane is named as extra. An extra-large tree at the floor plus that crane day is $1,250–$1,600. One thousand plus $250 is $1,250. One thousand plus $600 is $1,600. Both sit inside the extra-large row. An extra-large tree at the top plus that crane day is $2,750–$3,100. Twenty-five hundred plus $250 is $2,750. Twenty-five hundred plus $600 is $3,100. Both have left the extra-large row and stay inside the wider spread, and $3,100 sits inside the near-house band. A crane the bid already includes is not this row on top. A tree on a power line is the $2,500–$10,000 reading, not a crane day stacked on that reading.

A tree already on the ground in an open yard, cut and hauled, is typically $150–$500. The climbing is gone. One hundred fifty dollars is the floor. Five hundred is the top. A small trunk already down can sit at the floor. A full trunk already down sits toward the top. A tree on the house is not this row. That is the near-house reading, or the power-line reading if a line is in it, and the roof under the tree is a separate bid. Do not fold the roof into the felling price. If a claim is open, leave the tree until the adjuster has seen it. The removal and the roof are still two scopes.

Emergency work is the same tree on a short clock. A hazardous tree the crew can still fell in the open can stay on its height row. A tree that is moving, or that is already on the house, is the near-house row, up to $5,000, or the power-line row when a line or a crane over the roof is the job. The rush is why that reading exists. It is not a percent you add to a calm Tuesday price, and it is not a second row under a price that already says emergency.

A permit, when the bid leaves it out, is typically $60–$150. Many small trees need no permit. Where the city requires one, an ordinary fee is this row only if the proposal says the permit is extra. A protected tree, a heritage tree, or a hearing is not this fee. The permit is not a license to drop the tree on the fence.

What the range includes

The typical band assumes one medium tree at a single-family house. The yard is open. A truck can reach the tree. The crew cuts it, hauls the wood, and leaves the stump. An open 30-foot tree at $15 a foot is the $450 floor of the size row, just under the band. A straightforward medium tree from $500 to the $1,500 top of sixty feet at $25 a foot is the band. Where the city requires a permit, ask who pulls it. The $60–$150 fee is extra only when the bid left it out.

Haul-away is inside the height rows and inside the situation rows. Keeping the firewood is a reason to ask what the bid still includes. It is not a second credit you invent. Brush chipped and left as mulch, when the bid says the chips stay, is still that haul. A dumpster the bid never mentioned is a question, not a row on this page.

How long the work takes depends on the height, the pieces, and the weather, and the bid’s schedule is the one that counts. A small tree is often a couple of hours. A medium tree in the open is often half a day to a day. A tree pieced down over a roof is often a day or two. These are typical planning spans, not a warranty.

The floor of the wider spread, near $150, is a very small tree in an open yard. Fifteen feet at $10 is $150. It is not a medium tree someone discounted. The top, $10,000, is a large tree on a power line or a crane removal over the roof. It is not the extra-large row plus every add-on. An extra-large tree at $2,500, a stump at $500, a crane day at $600, and a permit at $150 is $3,750. That sum sits inside the near-house band and under the top of the wider spread. Stacking those lines does not build the $10,000 job. The $10,000 job is the power-line row, used instead of the height row.

None of the bands include a new fence, a new wood deck, a deck you are rebuilding, or a roof the tree damaged. A limb over a deck and a soft ledger are two projects. A tree on the shingles and the shingles under it are two projects. Do not fold the fence, the deck, or the roof into the felling price.

Warranties are part of the contract, and this page is not a reading of one company’s form. A tree-service warranty, when there is one, is often about damage the crew causes during the work, and the term is short. A tree that fails next winter, a stump that sprouts, and a fence the bid said it would stay off of are questions for that form. Read it. The warranty is not a dollar line in the planning range.

Homeowners insurance and a home warranty are contracts too. A standard homeowners policy is built around sudden and accidental damage. A tree that falls on a covered structure in a covered storm is the kind of loss those policies commonly respond to. Removal is included only as far as the form says. A tree you scheduled, a dead tree you left, and a tree that fell in the yard and hit nothing are the kind of loss those policies commonly treat as maintenance. If the tree is on the house, removing it before an adjuster sees it can be the thing the claim needed. Read the form before you treat the policy as the budget. A home warranty may name the house and still exclude a tree. Neither contract is inside the planning range. Whose tree it was, and why it fell, are questions for the policy. This page does not decide them.

As a cross-check, not a bid: a 50-foot tree at $10–$30 a foot is $500–$1,500, the typical band. Fifty times $10 is $500. Fifty times $30 is $1,500. A 70-foot tree at $20 is $1,400, inside the large row and inside the typical band. A 100-foot tree at $25 is $2,500, the top of the extra-large row. A tree pieced over the roof at $5,000, which is the top of the near-house row, has left every open-yard height row. If a bid and that reading are far apart, the bid is a stump, a crane, a second tree, a power line, or a yard the truck cannot reach.

What moves the price

Driver	How it changes the bid
Height	Under 30 feet is $200–$500. A medium tree of 30–60 feet is $450–$1,500, and the typical band is that row from $500 up. A large tree of 60–80 feet is $800–$2,000. Over 80 feet, in the open, is $1,000–$2,500.
Access	An open fall is the height row. A tree pieced down beside the house is $1,500–$5,000. A power line, or a crane over the roof, is $2,500–$10,000. Those readings replace the height row.
Trunk and wood	A trunk over about 24 inches at chest height, dense wood, and a wide crown sit toward the top of the height row and can leave it. The species is not a second price on top of the height.
Stump, crane, permit	Stump grinding is $100–$500 and is not in the height row. A crane day the bid left out is $250–$600. A permit the bid left out is $60–$150. A crane already in a power-line price is not a second crane day.
Count	Each additional tree is its own height row. The trip is already paid. Two medium trees are two trees, not one tree inside $500–$1,500.
Season and market	A calm week in a lower-cost area sits toward the floor of the row. A high-cost metro, or a week when every crew is on storm work, can clear the top of the typical band on a medium tree that would otherwise sit inside it.

Height is the first cut, and it is not a rate times a hope. Measure the tree. A 30-foot tree at $15 is $450. A 60-foot tree is not twice that, because sixty times $15 is $900, inside the medium row, while the top of that row is sixty times $25, which is $1,500. The crew does not scale in a straight line, and neither does the haul.

Access is the second cut, and it is a substitute, not a stack. Open yard, pieced down beside the house, and a power line or a crane over the roof are three ways to price one trunk. Adding the medium row, then the near-house row, then a crane day the bid already named, is how one tree becomes a number nobody can compare.

The same medium tree in a lower-cost area and in a high-labor city can sit at opposite ends of $500–$1,500 without either bid being wrong. Ask how the wood leaves the property, and ask whether the stump is in. A fence the tree is growing through, a wood deck under the crown, and a deck you are rebuilding in the same season are the projects that show up beside this one. Price them on their own pages. Two bids that disagree about the stump, the haul, and whether the tree is pieced down are not the same tree.

DIY or hire

Hire the tree when it can hit a house, a power line, or a fence you cannot spare. Hire any tree you would have to climb. Hire a crane, a tree over a deck, and any trunk that is already dead and unpredictable. The disposal is a real line even when the felling looks short. A weekend crew is most likely to rush the fall direction and the cleanup, and those are the parts that hit the house.

A small tree, under about 30 feet, with a clear fall into an open yard and no line in reach, can be a careful DIY if you have felled a tree before and you will not stand in the fall path. That is the $200–$500 labor you are not hiring. The haul can still be real, and the stump row is still $100–$500 if you want it ground. A tree you have not felled, a tree you cannot see a clear fall for, and any tree near a structure are a hire. Renting a lift does not make a first felling a small-tree job.

Do not climb a tree to save a service call. A dead limb over a roof can be seen from the ground. If you are pricing a crane, a climber, and a dumpster, you are pricing a contractor’s job without the crew.

Repair or replace

Prune a healthy tree when the problem is a limb over the roof, the fence, or the deck, and the trunk is sound. Pruning or trimming, instead of removal, is typically $75–$1,500. The low end is a small tree. The high end is a large shade tree. That span replaces the removal. It is not added to a height row. A medium shade tree often sits inside it. If a pruning quote is a large fraction of a removal quote, price both in writing. A prune that leaves a hollow trunk is still a tree that needs a decision.

Remove the tree when the trunk is hollow or split, the lean showed up recently, more of the canopy is dead than alive, or the tree is already on the house. A dead tree in the open is still a removal. It is often the top of its height row, or past it, because the wood fails while the crew is in it. Leaving it up to save the $500–$1,500 is how the near-house row starts.

Leave a sound tree that is only in the way of a view. A removal does not fix a rotten fence, a soft deck, or a worn roof. Price those on their own guides. Cut the limb that is the actual problem before you price the whole trunk.

How long a remaining tree lasts is not a number on this page. A prune is not a warranty that the trunk will stand. A removal is not a warranty that the next storm will miss the house. The bid’s scope is the work you bought.

How to use this number

Ask two or three tree services for a written price that names the height, the trunk, whether the wood is hauled, whether the stump is ground, whether the tree is felled in the open or pieced down, who pulls the permit, and whether a crane is included. Compare one medium tree in an open yard, wood hauled and stump left, with $500–$1,500. Compare the height with $200–$500 under 30 feet, $450–$1,500 for 30 to 60 feet, $800–$2,000 for 60 to 80 feet, and $1,000–$2,500 over 80 feet in the open. Compare a tree pieced down beside the house with $1,500–$5,000, and a tree on a power line or a crane over the roof with $2,500–$10,000. Keep the haul inside those rows. Put stump grinding at $100–$500, a left-out crane day at $250–$600, and a left-out permit at $60–$150 on their own lines.

A very low bid on a tree beside the house is a reason to ask whether the price is an open fall, not a reason to celebrate. A quote near $150 should say a very small tree, not a medium trunk. A high bid should point at height, a wide trunk, pieces over the roof, a crane, a power line, a stump, or the labor market. Two or three local bids on the same tree, the same haul, and the same stump are the number that matters. How this site sets the band is explained on the methodology page.