Land clearing typically costs $800 to $1,500 per acre for light vegetation, $1,500 to $3,500 per acre for moderate brush and small trees, $3,500 to $6,000 per acre for heavy growth, and $6,000 to $12,000 or more per acre for wooded land where mature trees and stumps have to come out completely. Treat every figure on this page as a starting point rather than a quote: these are realistic average ranges across the US and Canada, and they vary by state and province, by season and by what the land is being cleared for.
Most clearing is priced by density because density is what decides how long a machine spends on each acre. Two properties of the same size can differ in cost by a factor of five or more.
The four tiers
Light: open ground with tall grass, scattered shrubs and saplings under a couple of inches. A forestry mulcher moves through it quickly.
Moderate: continuous brush you cannot walk through easily, with saplings and small trees up to about six inches. Slower going, with more passes per acre.
Heavy: dense, overgrown brush and thickets with trees in the six to twelve inch range mixed in. The mulcher works at its limit, and larger stems may need an excavator.
Wooded: established forest with mature trees. This is felling and removal rather than mulching, with stumps pulled or ground and the debris burned, chipped or hauled.
Recommended Equipment
Skid steer with a forestry mulcher, an excavator for heavy growth, large trees and stumps, and a dozer for larger acreage. The mulcher handles the light and moderate tiers in a single pass; the excavator comes in once trunk size or stumps are past what a mulcher can chew or have to come out entirely; a dozer is the efficient choice for pushing, piling and grubbing on big open tracts.
Find operators by machine: Skid Steer operators · Excavator operators · Dozer operators
What actually drives the price
What the land is for decides how clean it has to be. Pasture and trails can be mulched and left. A field that will be tilled needs stumps and roots out of the way. A building site needs everything removed and the ground stripped and graded.
Debris handling changes the total significantly. Mulching in place is usually cheapest. Burning, where it is permitted, is cheap but regulated. Hauling off site adds trucking and disposal fees.
Terrain, rock, wet ground and access slow the work and can dictate smaller, less efficient machines. Acreage matters too: getting equipment to site is a fixed cost, so small jobs carry a higher per-acre rate.
Permits and rules vary widely. Tree removal bylaws, wetland setbacks, burn bans and erosion control requirements are all set locally, so check before work starts.
Which guide fits your project
For brush only, see brush clearing cost per acre. For mulching specifically, see forestry mulching cost per acre. For cedar and juniper, see cedar and juniper clearing cost. For a building site, see lot clearing cost for new construction. For farm fields, see field clearing for farming cost, and for grazing ground, pasture reclamation cost per acre.
A short checklist before you book
Walk the land and sort it into tiers rather than one overall estimate. Decide what the cleared land will be used for. Choose a debris plan and check burn rules. Mark trees and features that must stay. Confirm property lines and any local permits. Ask about minimum charges and the cost of getting equipment to site.
Costs vary by site conditions. Use the ranges here to sanity-check what you're quoted, then get a direct price for your own property.
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