Firewood Cost Calculator
Find the cheapest firewood to burn. Compare cost per million BTU across 70 species using your local cord prices.
| Species | Type | BTU/Cord | Price/Cord | Cost/M BTU | Cords/Season | Rating | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Osage Orange | HW | 30.0 | -- | N/A | excellent | ||
| Gambel Oak | HW | 28.0 | -- | N/A | excellent | ||
| Olive | HW | 26.7 | -- | N/A | excellent | ||
| Hop Hornbeam | HW | 26.4 | -- | N/A | excellent | ||
| Shagbark Hickory | HW | 25.3 | -- | N/A | excellent | ||
| Pacific Dogwood | HW | 24.8 | -- | N/A | good | ||
| Pinyon Pine | SW | 24.7 | -- | N/A | good | ||
| Black Birch | HW | 24.2 | -- | N/A | good | ||
| White Oak | HW | 24.2 | -- | N/A | excellent | ||
| Bitternut Hickory | HW | 23.7 | -- | N/A | excellent | ||
| Honey Locust | HW | 23.7 | -- | N/A | excellent | ||
| Post Oak | HW | 23.7 | -- | N/A | excellent | ||
| Blue Beech | HW | 23.7 | -- | N/A | excellent | ||
| Pacific Madrone | HW | 23.7 | -- | N/A | excellent | ||
| Mulberry | HW | 23.2 | -- | N/A | excellent | ||
| Black Locust | HW | 23.2 | -- | N/A | excellent | ||
| Sugar Maple | HW | 23.2 | -- | N/A | excellent | ||
| American Beech | HW | 22.7 | -- | N/A | excellent | ||
| Bur Oak | HW | 22.7 | -- | N/A | excellent | ||
| Red Oak | HW | 22.1 | -- | N/A | excellent | ||
| Yellow Birch | HW | 22.1 | -- | N/A | good | ||
| Apple | HW | 21.6 | -- | N/A | excellent | ||
| White Ash | HW | 21.6 | -- | N/A | excellent | ||
| Green Ash | HW | 21.1 | -- | N/A | excellent | ||
| Pecan | HW | 21.1 | -- | N/A | excellent | ||
| Black Maple | HW | 21.1 | -- | N/A | excellent | ||
| Black Walnut | HW | 20.0 | -- | N/A | excellent | ||
| Red Maple | HW | 20.0 | -- | N/A | good | ||
| White Birch | HW | 20.0 | -- | N/A | fair | ||
| Black Cherry | HW | 19.5 | -- | N/A | good | ||
| Hackberry | HW | 19.5 | -- | N/A | good | ||
| Tamarack | SW | 19.5 | -- | N/A | fair | ||
| Rocky Mountain Juniper | SW | 19.5 | -- | N/A | fair | ||
| Siberian Elm | HW | 19.2 | -- | N/A | fair | ||
| Kentucky Coffeetree | HW | 19.0 | -- | N/A | good | ||
| Red Elm | HW | 19.0 | -- | N/A | fair | ||
| American Elm | HW | 18.4 | -- | N/A | fair | ||
| Quaking Aspen | HW | 13.7 | -- | N/A | fair | ||
| American Sycamore | HW | 17.9 | -- | N/A | good | ||
| Boxelder | HW | 17.9 | -- | N/A | fair | ||
| Black Ash | HW | 17.9 | -- | N/A | fair | ||
| Norway Pine | SW | 17.9 | -- | N/A | fair | ||
| Silver Maple | HW | 17.4 | -- | N/A | fair | ||
| Douglas Fir | SW | 17.4 | -- | N/A | good | ||
| Pitch Pine | SW | 17.0 | -- | N/A | fair | ||
| Ponderosa Pine | SW | 14.8 | -- | N/A | fair | ||
| Lodgepole Pine | SW | 15.3 | -- | N/A | fair | ||
| Hemlock | SW | 15.3 | -- | N/A | fair | ||
| Black Spruce | SW | 15.3 | -- | N/A | fair | ||
| Redwood | SW | 15.0 | -- | N/A | fair | ||
| Catalpa | HW | 14.8 | -- | N/A | fair | ||
| Red Alder | HW | 14.8 | -- | N/A | fair | ||
| Eastern White Pine | SW | 13.2 | -- | N/A | fair | ||
| Willow | HW | 14.2 | -- | N/A | poor | ||
| White Fir | SW | 14.2 | -- | N/A | fair | ||
| Basswood | HW | 13.7 | -- | N/A | fair | ||
| Balsam Fir | SW | 13.2 | -- | N/A | fair | ||
| Butternut | HW | 13.2 | -- | N/A | fair | ||
| Cottonwood | HW | 12.6 | -- | N/A | fair | ||
| Engelmann Spruce | SW | 12.1 | -- | N/A | fair | ||
| Eastern Redcedar | SW | 12.1 | -- | N/A | fair | ||
| Ohio Buckeye | HW | 12.1 | -- | N/A | fair | ||
| White Cedar | SW | 11.6 | -- | N/A | poor | ||
| Mesquite | HW | 25.5 | -- | N/A | excellent | ||
| Eucalyptus | HW | 18.4 | -- | N/A | fair | ||
| American Persimmon | HW | 25.8 | -- | N/A | good | ||
| Almond | HW | 26.7 | -- | N/A | excellent | ||
| Western Redcedar | SW | 18.2 | -- | N/A | fair | ||
| Chestnut | HW | 18.0 | -- | N/A | good | ||
| Bigleaf Maple | HW | 17.9 | -- | N/A | good |
Cost per million BTU is calculated as your price per cord divided by the species BTU rating. Click any sortable column header to re-sort. Override individual prices to match your local market.
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Calculate My Firewood NeedsWhy Cost Per Million BTU Matters
Price per cord alone is one of the most misleading numbers in firewood shopping. A cord of Pine at $200 sounds like a bargain next to a cord of White Oak at $300, but the math tells a completely different story. That Pine cord delivers about 15 million BTU of heat, which works out to roughly $13.33 per million BTU. The White Oak cord packs around 24 million BTU, bringing its true heating cost down to just $12.50 per million BTU. Oak is actually cheaper to burn despite the higher sticker price.
Cost per million BTU is the great equalizer. It normalizes the wildly different energy densities across species into a single apples-to-apples number. When you compare firewood this way, you stop overpaying for light, fast-burning species and start recognizing the genuine value in denser hardwoods. The calculator above makes this comparison instant for every species in our database.
Of course, cost is only one piece of the puzzle. You also need to know how much total heat your home requires. Start by finding your total BTU requirement with our BTU calculator, check the BTU chart to compare raw heat output across all 70 species, then use the heating calculator to turn those numbers into a personalized cord estimate for your home, climate, and stove type.
How to Get the Best Deal on Firewood
The simplest way to save money on firewood is to buy in spring or early summer when demand is at its lowest. Suppliers are eager to move inventory before the off-season and will often discount prices by 20% or more compared to peak fall and winter rates. Buying early also gives you access to a wider selection of species before the best wood sells out.
Consider buying green wood and seasoning it yourself. Green (unseasoned) firewood is typically 30 to 40 percent cheaper than wood that has already been dried. If you have the yard space for stacking, purchasing green wood in spring and letting it air-dry through summer means it will be ready to burn by October. Our seasoning guide will help you time the process correctly for your species.
Finally, buy in bulk. Most firewood sellers offer volume discounts starting at three cords. Ask about “mixed hardwood” loads as well. These blended deliveries are often priced below single-species orders and still deliver solid BTU value when the mix leans toward Oak, Maple, or Ash.
Frequently Asked Questions
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