Land Clearing Cost per Acre in Texas (2026): Cedar, Mesquite, Pine and Lot Prices from Real Invoices

How Much Does It Cost to Clear Land in Texas? Average Price per Acre

The average cost to clear land in Texas sits between $1,800 and $2,600 per acre for a medium cedar or mesquite tract, mulched in place. Light brush clearing cost runs $900 to $1,400. Dense old-growth cedar runs $3,000 to $4,000. Full clearing to dirt with grubbing and haul-off runs $2,000 to $4,500. Those are the land clearing prices I quote, and the pricing has held since 2024. National averages say nothing about your acre of land. Call (832) 987-3495 with the county and acreage and Teo will have a real figure for you before the end of the business day.

Cost to Clear Half an Acre, 1 Acre, 2 Acres, 5 Acres and 40 Acres

• Half acre: one skid steer day, $2,800, stumps extra. A half-acre wooded lot prices by the day, not the acre.
• One acre: $2,800 to $5,600, one or two days. A 1.2-acre lot in Liberty Hill cleared in one day for $2,800.
• 2 acres: $4,000 to $8,000 mulched, two to three days.
• 5 acres: $6,500 to $13,000 by canopy. The 300-hp mulcher starts to win here.
• 40 acres: $36,000 to $104,000 in cedar country. Our 42-acre Blanco County job ran $27,500 plus transport because EQIP work had thinned part of it.

Clearing one acre costs more per acre than clearing forty. The trailer, the walk and the first hour cost the same either way.

Land Clearing Pricing per Hour vs. per Acre vs. per Day

The dozer runs $160 per hour with operator, the mulchers run by the day, and cedar and pine run by the acre. Cost per hour fits grubbing, pads and stump pulling. Per acre fits pasture, where I can read canopy from the road and know the acres a day. Per day fits lots, where trailer and setup are most of the price. A per acre to clear quote on a half-acre lot means the land clearing contractor has not looked at it.

Cost by Method: Forestry Mulching vs. Dozer Clearing vs. Excavator and Haul-Off

Forestry mulching cost per acre runs $900 to $4,000 and leaves the wood as a 2 to 4 inch layer. Dozer clearing with grubbing runs $160 an hour plus piling or hauling, which lands at $2,000 to $4,500 an acre once the ground is bare. Excavator with haul-off is the most expensive method of clearing: the excavation cost plus $650 to $1,200 per load, and a wooded acre makes 6 to 12 loads. Traditional clearing with burn piles is cheaper only if the county burn ban lifts on your schedule, and TCEQ rules still govern the pile. Of the clearing methods, mulching is the cheapest finished acre on 8 jobs in 10.

Cost by Vegetation: Brush, Cedar, Mesquite, Pine Understory, Mature Timber

Light brush and small trees under 30 percent cover cost $900 to $1,400 an acre anywhere in the state. Cedar and mesquite climb with canopy, up to $4,000. East Texas pine understory and yaupon run $1,200 to $2,000 because the pines stay. Mature timber is different: a loblolly stand with 12-inch trunks has stumpage value, and Texas A&M Forest Service publishes the price reports. Heavily wooded land costs the most to clear and pays back the most in logs. Trees and brush are two line items, not one.

Cost to Clear Cedar and Mesquite per Acre by Canopy Percent

• Under 30 percent canopy: $900 to $1,400 an acre, light. One day covers 3 to 5 acres.
• 30 to 60 percent: $1,800 to $2,600, medium.
• Over 60 percent or old-growth: $3,000 to $4,000, dense.

Cedar is the only crop in Texas nobody planted and everybody harvests. It is ashe juniper, and AgriLife research shows a mature canopy intercepts the first inch of rain before it reaches the grass. I read canopy with a step transect, the same way I did on EQIP plans. 55 percent going in and under 5 coming out is a medium job on paper and a spring running below the stock tank in practice. Mesquite prices in the same bands, but the dense band comes sooner because of the root crown.

Cost by Region: Hill Country vs. North Texas vs. East Texas vs. Gulf Coast

Hill Country cedar is the widest range, $900 to $4,000, and rock or caliche adds a day on most tracts. North Texas mesquite and post oak pasture runs $1,800 to $3,000, and wet blackland adds a day from November to April. East Texas pine understory is the narrowest band, $1,200 to $2,000 from the Lindale yard. Gulf Coast tallow and yaupon on gumbo clay price like East Texas plus transport from Johnson City, and the mulcher floats where a dozer sinks. Our Houston sister site covers land clearing services in Houston and the ring counties. Per acre depending on region really means soil and canopy.

Lot Clearing Cost for a New Home in Texas

Lot clearing for a new home runs $2,800 for a half acre to about $5,600 for a full acre, plus stump removal at $4 per inch. A heavily wooded lot with 10 or more stumps prices by the day for the grinder. The 0.6-acre lot we cleared in Celina had hackberry and bois d'arc: one day, $2,800, plus 11 stumps at $420. A residential lot quote should list grubbing of the footprint plus 10 feet. The Census Building Permits Survey counted 11,136 single-family permits in Collin County for 2025.

Real Texas Jobs and What They Cost

• 42 acres, Blanco County, 55 percent cedar canopy. 6 days, 300-hp mulcher. $27,500 plus transport. The spring below the stock tank ran again the next wet season.
• 1.2-acre lot, Liberty Hill. 1 day, skid steer. $2,800.
• 15 acres, Smith County, pine understory and yaupon. 3 days. $11,400.
• 8 acres, Parker County, mesquite and post oak pasture reclaim. 2 days. $8,400. Bush hog follow-up each June.
• 3 acres, Dripping Springs hillside, selective clearing of cedar for the oaks and the view. 2 days, skid steer. $5,600.
• 0.6-acre lot, Celina, hackberry and bois d'arc. 1 day. $2,800 plus 11 stumps, $420.

Six clearing projects, six invoices, no rounding. Dripping Springs cost more per acre than Blanco because selective work around oaks is slow. That is the cost factor nobody puts on a price sheet.

Why Rock, Caliche and Wet Blackland Add a Day

Rock or caliche adds one day on Hill Country tracts; wet blackland adds one day in North Texas from November to April. Surface limestone eats $1,200 sets of carbide teeth and slows the crew. Wet blackland stops the machine at the gate: tracks sink, mulch smears, ruts hold water until June. Last winter on a tract off I-20 west of Weatherford we waited 11 days for the clay to firm, and the quote did not move.

What Drives the Price Up: Slope, Access, Haul-Off, Stumps and Transport

Five things affect land clearing prices beyond canopy: slope over 20 percent, a gate the trailer cannot clear, haul-off instead of mulch, stumps, and distance past 60 miles from a yard. Haul-off adds $650 to $1,200 a load. Stumps add $4 per inch, $175 per stump minimum. Transport past 60 miles adds mileage; the minimum trip is $1,100. Time and cost track each other on all land clearing tasks and every clearing job, so anything that slows the machine shows up in the total project cost.

EQIP Cost-Share: 50 to 75 Percent of the NRCS Payment Schedule for Brush Management

EQIP pays 50 to 75 percent of the NRCS payment-schedule rate for Brush Management, practice code 314, once your plan is approved. The schedule is a flat rate per acre by brush density, set by the state office each year. Example: 40 acres of medium cedar at my $2,200 an acre is $88,000. If the schedule rate is $600 and your contract pays 75 percent, NRCS sends $18,000 after the work is certified. You pay the contractor first. I wrote those plans for 12 years, so I can read yours and tell you what it pays and what it requires, usually a grazing deferment and a canopy target.

Are Land Clearing Costs Tax Deductible? Ag Exemption and Property Value

Clearing brush on agricultural land is normally a deductible farm expense; clearing for a homesite is normally added to the basis of the house. The bigger money is ag valuation: a reclaimed pasture carrying one animal unit per 15 acres instead of none keeps the 1-d-1 appraisal at the county appraisal district. Clear cedar to grass and you raise grazing capacity, spring flow and what a buyer pays for wooded land turned usable. I treat a land clearing project as a land clearing investment with a payback, and the EQIP plans I wrote were approved on that math.