What Tree Removal Actually Costs in Jacksonville
Updated July 2026 · Jacksonville, FL
Most tree removals in Jacksonville land between $300 and $600 for a small yard tree, $600 to $1,500 for a medium tree in the 30-to-60-foot range, and $2,500 or more for a mature live oak. The spread is wide because the oak in a Riverside front yard and the volunteer pine behind a Westside fence are barely the same job.
That live oak number surprises people, so it is worth being blunt about it up front: a large, healthy oak with limbs over a roof is a rigging job, sometimes a crane job, and Jacksonville crews price it accordingly. If a quote for that work comes in at $800, the question to ask is what the crew plans to do about the limbs over your house.
Below is what actually moves the number, what the city requires before certain trees come down, and where the honest ranges sit for each kind of removal in Duval County.
Jacksonville tree removal price ranges
These are working ranges for Duval County and the immediate surrounding areas. Every provider quotes on site, because two trees of identical height can differ by a thousand dollars based on nothing but what is standing underneath them.
| Tree | Typical range | What usually drives it |
|---|---|---|
| Small tree, under 30 ft | $300 – $600 | Open yard access, no rigging, single-day job |
| Medium tree, 30–60 ft | $600 – $1,500 | Some rigging, proximity to fences or sheds |
| Mature live oak | $2,500 and up | Canopy spread, limb weight, structures underneath |
| Large oak needing a crane | $4,000 – $10,000+ | Crane day rate, road closure, tight access |
| Storm-damaged or leaning tree | Premium over standard | Tension in the wood, emergency scheduling |
| Palm removal | $300 – $900 | Height and whether the trunk is hauled or sectioned |
| Stump grinding (add-on) | $100 – $400 | Diameter and root flare |
Why live oaks cost more here than almost anywhere else
Jacksonville is live oak country, and a mature specimen is not a tall tree so much as a very wide one. A 60-foot oak can carry a canopy 80 feet across with individual limbs that weigh more than a car. Those limbs cannot simply be cut and dropped — each one is roped, lowered under control, and cut down into pieces small enough to move.
That is why a crew will quote an oak at several times the price of a pine of the same height. The pine comes down in sections along its own trunk line. The oak comes down limb by limb, often over a roof, a pool cage, or a neighbor's fence.
Access decides the rest of it. A crew that can back a chipper up to the trunk works quickly. A crew that has to carry every section through a side gate to the street is spending hours on movement alone, and the quote reflects it.
What changes the quote after the crew looks at it
Providers assess a handful of things during a walkthrough. Knowing what they are looking at makes it easier to understand two quotes that differ by a wide margin.
- What is underneath the tree — a roof, pool enclosure, fence, or power drop turns a felling job into a rigging job.
- Whether equipment can reach the trunk, or every piece has to be hand-carried out.
- Whether the wood leaves with the crew. Ask to keep firewood-length rounds and many providers will cut and stack instead of hauling.
- Stump: grinding is usually priced separately from removal, so confirm whether a quote includes it.
- Condition. A dead or storm-loaded tree carries unpredictable tension and is often priced above a healthy tree of the same size.
- Timing. Emergency and after-hours work during storm season costs more than a scheduled removal in a quiet week.
Permits and protected trees in Duval County
The City of Jacksonville regulates protected and heritage trees, so not every tree on your property is yours to remove at will. Under Florida Statute 163.045, a homeowner may remove a tree that poses a documented risk to people or property without local permitting, but that documentation generally has to come from an ISA-certified arborist or a Florida-licensed landscape architect.
In practice this matters most for large oaks, which are exactly the trees most likely to be protected. Before scheduling a removal of a substantial tree, ask the provider whether a City permit or arborist letter applies to your specific situation — a crew that works in Duval regularly will know, and getting it wrong is the homeowner's exposure, not the crew's.
Getting a quote you can actually compare
The most useful thing a homeowner can do is make sure competing quotes describe the same job. Ask each provider to put in writing whether the price includes stump grinding, hauling all wood and debris, and cleanup of the drop zone.
A flat written price before work starts is the standard to hold out for. Hourly pricing on tree work moves in the provider's favor, not yours, and open-ended quotes on an oak can drift a long way once the crew is already on site.