Tree removal cost calculator

What the inputs mean

State. Sets the crew-hour rate: a three-person crew at the BLS May 2025 mean wage for tree trimmers and pruners, $35.40 in Oregon and $32.20 in Washington, times 1.6 for burden and overhead, plus equipment, gives $225 per crew-hour in Oregon and $210 in Washington [1]. Portland and Seattle sit within 5 percent of their state wage, so there is no metro setting.

Height band. Sets the crew-hours, which are most of the price. Stand across the street and compare the tree with the house.

• Under 25 ft, 2–4 crew-hours. An ornamental: a Japanese maple, a dogwood, a flowering cherry, an arborvitae that got away. The top is around a one-storey roof ridge.
• 25–50 ft, 4–8 crew-hours. Two-storey height: a red alder or bigleaf maple at roof height, a mature apple or plum, a fir planted in the 1990s. The top is at or above a two-storey roofline.
• 50–80 ft, 8–16 crew-hours. A mature fir: the Douglas fir or western redcedar on most Portland and Seattle lots, a trunk you cannot reach around, a crown above every roof on the street.
• Over 80 ft, 14–30 crew-hours. A big Douglas fir that was there before the subdivision, or a black cottonwood along a creek. Often a crane job; see crane tree removal.

Trunk within 10 ft of a structure. Multiplies the range by 1.25. The tree is dismantled in pieces and lowered on ropes instead of felled.

No truck or chipper access. Multiplies the range by 1.3. A fenced backyard with no gate wide enough for the chipper, no side yard, a slope: every round and armload of brush is carried out. When both apply, the model multiplies both.

Crane. Adds $1,500–$3,500 for the operator and mobilization. A crane shortens the climbing hours, so the net increase is smaller than the line item.

Stump grinding. Adds $4–$6 per inch of stump diameter at the ground, $150 minimum, so most stumps add $150–$450. The stump grinding cost page explains the measurement and the add-ons the model does not price.

What the output is

A modeled range, rounded to $50, with the words “Modeled estimate, not quotes” and a link to the method. It covers felling or dismantling, chipping, hauling and raking up. It is not a quote, not an average of real bids, and nobody who answers the phone is bound by it.

It leaves things out on purpose. It does not add a permit fee, because that depends on the city: Portland charges nothing for a removal application filed on or after July 1, 2025 [2]; Kirkland charges $600 plus a 3.5 percent surcharge for a Tree Removal Permit beyond the annual allowance [3]. It does not take off the discount for leaving the wood on your lot or add storm-week rates. It does not know whether the tree is dead, leaning, or in a power line, so the range is a starting point for reading bids, not a replacement.

What to do next

1. Check the permit before the bids. Whether your city needs one, and what it costs, is in tree removal permits in Oregon and tree removal permits in Washington. In Kirkland a healthy tree inside the allowance needs only a notification; a landmark tree needs a $300 permit plus surcharge [3].
2. Get two or three written bids with the same lines. Scope, method, debris, stump, cleanup, permit, utility disconnect, license number. The tree removal cost page has the list and why honest bids differ by thousands.
3. Compare each bid to the range. A bid far above it should come with a visible reason: a crane, wires, a rotten trunk. A bid far below it should come with a license number you have looked up.
4. Then call. The tree removal hub covers the day itself.

Other tools: the tools page.