The Chart: Firewood Species Ranked by BTU per Cord
These are approximate million BTUs per full cord of properly seasoned wood, compiled from published USDA Forest Service-based comparison charts. Every value assumes moisture below 20 percent. Sources disagree on exact figures, so treat these as reliable rankings rather than laboratory measurements.
Top tier, the heavy hitters: Osage orange (hedge) 32.9, hickory (shagbark) 27.7, black locust 26.8, apple 26.5, white oak 25.7.
Excellent everyday heating woods: red oak 24.0 to 24.6, sugar maple 24.0, white ash 23.6, yellow birch 23.6, beech 24.0.
Good, with trade-offs: walnut 22.2, cherry 20.4, elm around 20, sycamore 19.5.
Fast burners, best for kindling and shoulder season: Douglas fir 18 to 20, pine 15 to 17, aspen around 15, poplar around 14, cottonwood 13.5, cedar 12.6 to 15.
The spread is what matters: a cord of osage orange holds roughly two and a half times the heat of a cord of cottonwood. Burn the wrong species all winter and you are buying, stacking, and feeding more than twice the wood for the same heat.
My Honest Ranking, Beyond the Numbers
BTU is only half the story. Splitting effort, seasoning time, coal quality, and availability decide what is actually worth burning.
Hickory: the king, with a price. Highest heat of any commonly available firewood in the country, fantastic long-lasting coals, and it smells good doing it. The price is splitting: hickory is famously miserable to split by hand. If you process your own wood, budget your back.
White oak: the gold standard. Outstanding coals, long steady burns, widely available. The catch is patience: oak needs 18 to 24 months to season properly, longer than almost anything else. Burn it green and you get smoke and creosote instead of heat.
White ash: the friendly one. Slightly less heat than oak or hickory, but ash splits easier than almost anything, seasons faster than most hardwoods, and has low moisture even when green. For someone who heats with wood and values their weekends, ash is the best all-around choice in the chart.
Pine and softwoods: misunderstood, not useless. Pine at 15 to 17 million BTU is a poor primary heating wood but excellent kindling and fine for fall and spring fires. The old claim that pine causes chimney fires is mostly about moisture, not species: any wet wood builds creosote. Dry pine in a modern stove is perfectly safe.
If you are buying rather than cutting, the practical advice from the cord-buying guide applies double here: compare prices in dollars per million BTU, not dollars per cord, because a cheap cord of softwood can be the expensive heat. And whatever species you choose, seasoning time by species decides whether the chart numbers apply to your wood at all.
The Chart Means Nothing If the Wood Is Wet
Here is the caveat that outranks everything above. Every BTU figure on every chart assumes seasoned wood under 20 percent moisture. Burn the same species green and you can lose up to half the usable heat to boiling off water, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. A cord of green hickory heats worse than a cord of dry pine.
Wet wood also burns dirty: more smoke, more creosote in the chimney, more time tending a sulky fire. A $30 moisture meter is the highest-return purchase in wood heating. Split a piece, press the pins into the fresh face, and do not burn anything reading above 20 percent.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which firewood burns the hottest?
Osage orange tops most published charts at around 32.9 million BTU per cord, followed by hickory at 27.7 and black locust at 26.8. Among widely available species, hickory and white oak are the hottest practical choices.
Is oak or hickory better firewood?
Hickory produces more heat per cord and better coals, but it is much harder to split. Oak is easier to find, splits more willingly, and burns long and steady. If you split by hand, oak usually wins on total effort. If you buy pre-split, hickory wins on heat.
Does pine really cause more chimney creosote?
Moisture causes creosote far more than species does. Dry pine burned hot in a modern stove is safe; wet hardwood of any species builds creosote fast. Keep all firewood under 20 percent moisture and the species question mostly disappears.
How many cords will I burn in a winter?
It depends on your climate, house size, insulation, stove efficiency, and species. A moderately insulated home in a cold climate might burn 3 to 5 cords of hardwood. Higher-BTU species directly reduce the number of cords you need.
How Much Wood Do You Actually Need?
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