Cost
Land Clearing Cost Calculator
Price clearing a parcel by the acre, by the square foot or by the hour — plus trees, stumps and debris.
Area to clear
acres
Waiting on you
Quantities are ready. Enter your clearing rate per acre to price the job — we deliberately do not assume a market rate.
- Square feet
- 87,120ft²
- Square metres
- 8,094m²
- Hectares
- 0.809ha
The working
Acres = Square feet ÷ 43,560
= 87,120 ÷ 43,560
= 2 acres
One acre is 43,560 square feet, by definition.
Clearing is priced on area, but the money is usually in what is standing on it. Enter the parcel, choose how you are pricing, then add the tree removals, stump grinding, debris hauling and grubbing that make up the rest of the bill. Every rate is yours — nothing is assumed.
How this calculator works
- Formula version
- 1.0.0
- Last reviewed
- 2026-08-14
- External data
- None
This tool uses only your inputs and exact unit conversions. No benchmark, average or market figure is built into it. How we calculate
What this calculates
The cost of clearing a parcel: the area-based clearing rate you supply, plus the itemised work that sits on top of it — felling, stump grinding, debris removal and grubbing — then overhead and profit.
Area first
Everything starts from the area. Enter it directly in acres, square feet, square metres or hectares, or give the calculator a length and width and it will work it out. One acre is 43,560 square feet by definition, so the conversion is exact.
The diagram draws your parcel with a one-acre reference square laid over it, because almost nobody can picture an acre accurately, and misjudging the area by a factor of two is the most common way these estimates go wrong.
Why the extras are separate lines
A per-acre clearing rate typically covers taking the growth down and off. It does not usually cover removing individual mature trees, grinding stumps below grade, carting debris to a tip, or grubbing the roots out and levelling afterwards.
Pricing those separately means the total moves when the scope moves, and it means you can see which part of a quote you are actually negotiating.
Worked example
The rates below are illustrative inputs, not market figures.
2 acres at $3,000 per acre, plus 12 trees and stumps
- Area
- 2 acres
- Clearing rate entered
- $3,000 / acre
- Trees
- 12 at $400 each
- Stumps
- 12 at $150 each
- Clearing= 2 × $3,000= $6,000
- Tree removal= 12 × $400= $4,800
- Stump grinding= 12 × $150= $1,800
- Total= $6,000 + $4,800 + $1,800= $12,600
- Per acre= $12,600 ÷ 2= $6,300 / acre
- The clearing rate you enter applies uniformly across the whole area.
- Tree and stump costs are averages across the quantity you enter.
- Grubbing, when priced, applies over the full area.
- Every rate comes from you. No market pricing is used.
- It does not model terrain, slope, access or wetland constraints, all of which move real quotes substantially.
- It does not cover permits, environmental surveys, erosion control, burn permits or protected-species work.
- It has no view on whether material can be chipped and left on site, which can remove the debris line entirely.
Common questions
- How much does it cost to clear an acre of land?
- There is no single answer, and any calculator that gives you one without asking what is growing on the land is guessing. Light brush and mature hardwood on a slope are different jobs by an order of magnitude. Get a local quote for your parcel, enter it as your rate, and use this tool to add the trees, stumps, debris and grubbing on top.
- How big is an acre?
- 43,560 square feet — a square about 209 feet on each side, or roughly 90% of an American football field without the end zones. The diagram in this calculator draws that square over your parcel so you can check your area is realistic.
- Is stump grinding included in a clearing rate?
- Usually not below grade, and it is worth confirming in writing. This calculator keeps it as its own line so the scope is explicit.
Where people go next
All cost tools →Ordered by what usually comes next in the same job, not by keyword.