Tree removal in Washington

Tree removal rules across Washington

The state sets the floor and cities set the thresholds. Under RCW 18.27.010, the definition of a contractor expressly covers “performing tree removal services”, and L&I lists tree removal among 63 specialties that must register, with a bond and insurance behind the registration. Before anyone drops a tree in your yard, look the company up through the Washington license lookup guide.

Cutting a tree that is not yours is expensive. RCW 64.12.030 makes timber trespass a civil claim for treble damages, and RCW 64.12.040 cuts that to single damages only when the cut was casual or involuntary or the cutter had probable cause to think the land was theirs. A boundary tree is a survey question first; the neighbor tree law guide covers the rest.

Near wires, WAC 296-45 keeps unqualified people at least 10 feet from overhead lines up to 50 kV, and vegetation inside that distance needs a line-clearance tree trimmer. A removal next to a service drop is a different job, priced and staffed differently (removals near power lines).

What tree removal costs in Washington

The modeled range below starts from wage, not from a quoted price. BLS puts the statewide mean for tree trimmers and pruners at $32.20 an hour, and the model multiplies crew hours by that index, so a Seattle-area job and a Spokane job built from the same tree land in different places on the table.

Size and access move it most. A tall Douglas fir that has to be climbed and lowered in pieces over a roof takes several times the crew hours of the same tree felled into an open lot, and a crane day changes the math again (large tree removal, crane removals). Permit review, arborist reports and replanting rules in the 43 cities with full or partial permit rules add cost that never shows up in the cutting itself. The cost page and the method explain each input.

Modeled estimate, not quotes (method): crew-hours × $210 per crew-hour; ×1.25 within 10 ft of a structure, ×1.3 with no truck access; a crane day adds $1,500–$3,500; stump grinding is separate.

Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, SOC 37-3013. Checked 2026-10-02.

Storm season and timing in Washington

Washington’s storm record is a snow record. NOAA logged 6,231 storm reports across the state’s 39 counties, and in every one of the eight busiest counties heavy snow is the top event type. Spokane County leads with 707 reports, followed by Okanogan at 581 and Chelan at 440.

Most of that list sits east of the Cascades: Stevens (357), Pend Oreille (348), Lincoln (310) and Douglas (291) fill out the top seven, with Skamania (162) rounding out the eight. Reports there peak in January and December, or January and February, which is when snow-loaded limbs and leaning conifers turn planned removals into urgent ones.

If a tree already worries you, schedule it in late summer or fall, before the snow months fill crew calendars. A risk assessment tells you whether it can wait.

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, 2016 to June 2026 · NWS zone-county correlation files (2019 to 2026 versions). Checked 2026-10-02.

Tree removal by city

City pages exist for Seattle, Spokane, Tacoma, Vancouver, Bellevue, Kent, Shoreline, Sammamish, Lacey, Lynnwood and Issaquah, and each one shows that city’s own threshold and process.

Lacey defines a regulated tree at 4 inches DBH measured at 4.5 feet, the lowest threshold we found. Bellevue, Bonney Lake, Burien, Des Moines and Federal Way all start at 6 inches; Bellevue adds a landmark class at 24 inches, Bonney Lake an exceptional class at 30 inches, and Federal Way requires 25 tree units per residential acre. Des Moines measures 6 inches for evergreens and 8 for deciduous trees, and excludes alder, ash, cottonwood and willow.

The 13 cities with no permit rule still sit inside state law, critical-area rules and the trespass statute, so “no permit” is not the same as no rules (Washington permit guide).

• Seattle784,777
• Spokane230,783
• Tacoma229,816
• Vancouver199,698
• Bellevue154,193
• Kent134,871
• Everett113,567
• Spokane Valley108,405
• Renton104,975
• Federal Way99,729
• Yakima97,458
• Kirkland97,410
• Bellingham96,395
• Kennewick88,366
• Auburn86,301
• Pasco82,848
• Redmond82,506
• Marysville77,686
• Shoreline66,542
• Sammamish66,110
• Richland65,258
• Lakewood62,755
• Lacey58,833
• Olympia56,724
• Bothell52,199
• Burien51,859
• Bremerton45,482
• Edmonds42,748
• Puyallup42,682
• Lynnwood42,132
• Lake Stevens42,091
• Issaquah39,423
• Longview38,362
• Wenatchee35,547
• University Place35,479
• Mount Vernon35,193
• SeaTac34,578
• Walla Walla34,058
• Pullman33,756
• Des Moines33,032
• Maple Valley28,482
• Tumwater28,010
• Camas27,749
• Moses Lake27,469
• Mountlake Terrace25,430
• Mercer Island25,422
• Bainbridge Island24,691
• Kenmore24,249
• Oak Harbor24,083
• Battle Ground23,513
• Bonney Lake22,139
• Arlington22,031
• Tukwila22,003
• Covington21,496
• Ellensburg21,308
• Mukilteo21,239
• Mill Creek20,902
• Port Angeles20,146
• Monroe20,025

Other tree services in Washington

Tree trimming in Washington · Stump grinding in Washington · Emergency tree service in Washington · Land clearing in Washington · Arborist services in Washington

What to do next

Start with your city’s page or the permit guide to learn whether your tree is regulated, then measure its diameter at chest height. If the tree is near a line, call the utility before anyone climbs.

Then check the company’s L&I registration through the license lookup guide and ask how the wood and brush will leave the property, since outdoor burning is banned in urban growth areas. When you are ready, the call button connects you with a local tree service (tree removal overview).

Tree removal across Washington and Oregon · cost guide · all of Washington.