The tree crew took the trunk, chipped the limbs and drove off. The stump stayed, because a standard tree removal quote usually does not include it, as both Angi and HomeGuide point out. Grinding it out typically costs $120 to $400 for the first stump, and LawnStarter’s October 2026 update puts the average job at about $272. Each extra stump ground on the same visit usually adds only $30 to $75.
Those national figures hide a wide spread, and the spread follows the situation in your yard more than your ZIP code. A lone 10-inch maple stump and a 40-inch oak behind a narrow gate are two different jobs. So start with the stump you actually have, find it below and jump to the price that fits.
Find your stump in this table
| Your situation | Usually the right fix | Typical price |
|---|---|---|
| One stump under about 12 inches across | Grind it, or bundle with other stumps | $80 to $160 minimum fee |
| Several stumps from a storm or lot clearing | Grind them in one visit | $180 to $400 for 3 to 5 stumps |
| One big stump, 30 inches or wider | Grind, priced by the inch | $200 to $800 |
| Tight backyard, gate, slope or fence | Compact grinder, access surcharge | Up to $200 extra |
| You plan to sod, plant or build there | Deep grind plus root work, or full extraction | $175 to $700+ |
| You have a free weekend and a truck | Rent a grinder | $60 to $400 for 4 hours to a day |
One small stump, and the minimum fee that swallows it
Most grinding companies charge by the inch of diameter: $2 to $5 per inch at LawnStarter, Lawn Love, Fixr and Angi, and up to $6 in HomeGuide’s data. By that math a 12-inch stump is a $24 to $72 job. You will almost never see that number, because nearly every crew has a minimum. Lawn Love, LawnStarter and Angi all put the typical minimum around $100, and HomeGuide reports minimums of $80 to $160. The minimum covers the trailer, the fuel and the hour of driving, and for a small stump it is the whole bill.
That makes a small stump the one situation where patience pays. If you suspect a second tree is coming down next year, or a neighbor has a stump of their own, wait and book together. The crew already on site will often grind a second small stump for a fraction of a new visit.
Three, five or ten stumps after a storm
This is where stump grinding gets cheap per stump. The first stump carries the setup cost, and each one after it is mostly machine time. Angi’s breakdown of minimum costs by stump count shows how quickly the per-stump price falls:
| Stumps ground in one visit | Typical total | Works out per stump |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | $100 to $150 | $100 to $150 |
| 2 | $140 to $175 | $70 to $88 |
| 3 | $180 to $250 | $60 to $83 |
| 4 | $220 to $325 | $55 to $81 |
| 5 | $260 to $400 | $52 to $80 |
Past five or six stumps, ask for an hourly or day rate instead. HomeGuide lists grinding service at $100 to $200 an hour and $800 to $1,600 for a full day, which is how cleared lots and storm cleanups are usually priced.
A hypothetical example shows the difference. Say you have three stumps measuring 10, 18 and 26 inches, 54 inches in all. At $3 an inch, ground in one visit, that is about $162, which most crews would round up to somewhere near Angi’s $180 to $250 three-stump range. Booked as three separate visits, each one hits a $100-plus minimum, and you pay $300 or more for the same work.
The 40-inch oak: how per-inch pricing scales
Big stumps are where per-inch pricing earns its keep, and where quotes vary most. Lawn Love’s diameter table runs from $71 to $200 for a 36-inch stump and $98 to $265 at 48 inches, up to $147 to $395 for a 72-inch giant. LawnStarter puts anything over 30 inches at $200 to $417, and HomeGuide says extra-large stumps can run $300 to $800 each.
Three things push a big stump toward the top of those ranges:
- Hardwood. Oak, hickory and other dense species grind slower. LawnStarter reports $50 to $150 extra per stump for hardwoods.
- Where the tape goes. Some crews measure across the cut face; others measure at ground level, where the root flare can add several inches. Ask which, because at $4 an inch a 6-inch difference is $24.
- Surface roots. Big trees leave thick roots snaking across the lawn. Grinding the stump does not include them; HomeGuide prices root removal separately at $75 to $150 an hour.
Waiting for a big stump to soften on its own rarely pays. HomeGuide estimates that a stump takes 3 to 10 years to rot completely, and it sits in your lawn the whole time.
Behind a 36-inch gate, on a slope or against a fence
A towed grinder on a trailer is fast but wide. Home Depot’s listing for its towable Barreto rental shows a 65-inch width, which is not getting through a backyard gate. For tight spots, crews bring a walk-behind or compact machine instead; the Toro compact grinder Home Depot rents is 22 inches wide and 103 pounds, light enough to load in an SUV. Smaller machines work slower, so access shows up on the bill. Angi reports access surcharges of about $50 an hour or a flat fee of up to $200.
You can trim that surcharge with a little prep. Measure your narrowest gate opening and give the number when you ask for a quote, take down a fence panel if it is easy to remove, and clear lawn furniture, hoses and toys from the path. Stumps tight against a fence, a shed wall or a retaining wall may need hand work around the edges, so mention them up front rather than letting the crew discover them.
You want grass, a garden bed or a patio where the stump was
What you plan to put on the spot decides how deep the job needs to go, and that is the biggest swing in this whole guide. HomeGuide says a standard grind goes 4 to 6 inches below ground, enough for mulch or new sod. A full grind of the stump and roots to as deep as 18 inches costs more, and pulling the whole root ball costs more still.
Grind in place
- $120 to $400 for most single stumps
- Leaves roots in the ground to decay slowly
- Fine for lawn, mulch beds and most shrubs
- Gentler near foundations, walks and driveways
- Leaves a pile of chips and a shallow hole to fill
Pull the whole stump
- $175 to $516 at LawnStarter; $200 to $700 at Fixr
- Removes the root ball, often with a backhoe
- Worth it before a slab, shed, addition or new tree in that spot
- Can disturb nearby pipes, wires and paving
- Leaves a large hole that needs fill and compaction
For a lawn, the cheap middle path usually works: a standard grind, then the add-ons quoted line by line. Chip haul-away runs $2 to $4 per inch of diameter in HomeGuide and Angi data, and root grinding is billed by the hour at roughly $75 to $200 depending on the source. Topsoil and seed or sod come last. Fixr lists sod at $0.30 to $0.83 per square foot for materials, and our guide to sod prices covers why the soil prep matters more than the grass.
Building on the spot changes the math. Rotting roots leave voids that can settle under a concrete slab or a shed floor, so ask the contractor pouring the slab what they want done with the stump before you pay anyone to grind it.
Renting a grinder for a Saturday
HomeGuide’s rental data puts a walk-behind grinder at $60 to $100 for four hours and a self-propelled model at $100 to $200, with full-day rates of $100 to $275 and $175 to $400. Its survey of Home Depot stores found daily rates around $85 to $160, with Lowe’s at $115 to $145 and the equipment chains Sunbelt and Herc higher. Expect a refundable deposit of $150 to $300. Home Depot’s own rental pages ask you to check the local store for the price.
Renting makes sense for two or three small-to-medium stumps you can reach easily and a vehicle that can carry or tow the machine. It makes less sense for one stump, because the rental costs about the same as a pro’s minimum, or for one big hardwood stump, where a compact rental cutting 10 inches below grade at most will spend hours on what a pro’s machine finishes in minutes.
Before you start the rental machine
- Call 811 a few business days ahead so buried utility lines are marked. The service is free, and a grinder working below grade is digging as far as buried lines are concerned.
- Dig out rocks around the stump. A carbide tooth hitting a buried stone is a common way to dull or chip a rental wheel, and damage fees come out of your deposit.
- Wear eye and ear protection, long pants and boots, and keep pets and kids well back. Grinders throw chips hard and far.
- Ask the rental counter how deep the machine cuts and how wide it is. The Toro compact model Home Depot lists reaches 10 inches below grade; towed models go deeper.
Chemical stump removers are the slow, cheap alternative. HomeGuide prices chemical rotting at $100 to $200 if a pro does it, and Angi notes that even with help, it usually takes months for the stump to start breaking down. It works if the stump is out of the way and you are in no hurry.
Your city matters less than your calendar
Regional differences are real but modest. LawnStarter’s price check for one medium stump shows about a $25 to $60 spread between its cheapest and most expensive cities:
| City | One medium stump |
|---|---|
| New York, NY | $135 to $252 |
| Seattle, WA | $126 to $227 |
| Minneapolis, MN | $119 to $214 |
| Cincinnati, OH | $118 to $210 |
| Baltimore, MD | $113 to $200 |
| Houston, TX | $110 to $193 |
| Atlanta, GA | $109 to $192 |
Timing can save more. LawnStarter and Angi both say booking in winter can cut the price by as much as 20%, when tree crews are slower and the ground is bare of plants you would otherwise trample. No national price changes for 2027 have been announced, and pricing here is local, set crew by crew, so treat the late-2026 figures above as your planning numbers for next year.
If the tree is still standing, the cheapest moment of all is now: ask your tree removal company to quote the stump grinding with the removal. Fixr puts a medium tree removed and its stump ground together at about $400 to $1,100, and the crew saves a second trip. Our tree removal price guide breaks down the rest of that bill.
Stump questions people ask after the crew leaves
Does homeowners insurance pay for stump grinding?
Usually not on its own. Many policies help pay to remove a tree that falls on a covered structure, such as the house or a detached garage, but grinding the stump left behind is often treated as yard cleanup. Read your policy’s tree and debris coverage and ask your agent before assuming it is included.
Can a ground-out stump grow back?
Some species can. Willows, poplars, locusts and other trees that sucker from their roots may send up shoots after the stump is gone. Clipping sprouts as they appear usually exhausts the roots within a season or two; a deeper grind or root chasing reduces the odds.
How long does a stump grinding visit take?
Less time than most people expect. Fixr puts a 20-inch stump at roughly 15 minutes to two hours, depending on wood hardness, roots and access. A yard with several stumps may still be finished in a morning.
Is it safe to grind a stump close to my house or sidewalk?
Grinding is generally the gentler option near foundations, driveways and walks, because it chips the wood down in place instead of levering the root ball out of the ground. Tell the crew about irrigation lines, buried cable and septic parts beforehand, and have utilities marked through 811 first.
What should I do with the wood chips?
Keep them if the stump is in a bed: aged chips make serviceable mulch. If you plan to seed or sod the spot, rake the chips out and replace them with topsoil, since fresh wood chips tie up nitrogen as they break down and grass struggles in them. Hauling the chips away typically adds $2 to $4 per inch of stump diameter.
Other yard jobs that tend to follow a stump
- What tree removal costs, by size and what is underneath
- Sod prices per square foot, installed
- Sprinkler system installation and upkeep costs
- Dumpster rental prices for yard and storm debris
- Chain link fence costs, spec by spec
For the whole house and yard: Home Improvement Costs in 2027: A Complete Price Guide
Six lines a fair stump quote spells out
| Line on the quote | What a fair version looks like |
|---|---|
| Stump size | Diameter in inches, and where it was measured |
| Rate | Per inch, per stump or per hour, plus the minimum |
| Depth | Inches below grade, typically 4 to 6 for lawn |
| Roots | Included, excluded or priced by the hour |
| Chips | Left on site, raked into the hole or hauled away for a stated price |
| Access | Any gate, slope or hand-work surcharge, named in advance |
Two quotes that fill in all six lines can be compared in a minute. One that just says “grind stump, $250” leaves the chips, the roots and the depth for an argument later.
Pricing method: prices were researched in November 2026 for 2027 planning and may change. Ranges come from published cost data at LawnStarter (updated October 2026), HomeGuide, Angi, Fixr and Lawn Love, and machine specifications from Home Depot rental listings. Local quotes will vary with stump size, wood, access and region. See our disclaimer.
