Which city has the lowest tree removal permit fee in California?

Sacramento, California has the lowest verified tree removal permit fee in California at $200. The highest is San Francisco, California at $575. Median across 5 verified cities is $310.

What's the typical replacement obligation when a permit is issued?

Most cities in California require tree replacement under a stated ratio (typically 1:1) but don't publish a flat in-lieu fee per tree — replacement is satisfied by replanting. Check each city's row for its replacement_ratio.

Do tree removal permit fees vary by tree size or DBH?

Permit fees in California are flat per application across the verified corpus — they don't scale with DBH or canopy area. Replacement obligations DO scale: most cities apply ratios to each protected tree removed, and heritage-designated trees typically carry higher ratios (2:1 or 3:1) than standard protected trees.

Tree removal permit fees in California

Ranked across 5 verified California cities, ascending by permit fee. Numbers come directly from each city's published ordinance — replacement fees and ratios shown separately because mitigation cost scales by tree count, not application fee.

Lowest fee

$200

Sacramento

Median fee

$310

across 5 verified cities

Highest fee

$575

San Francisco

Fee comparison

Sorted ascending by permit fee. Click a city for the full ordinance page or the ordinance link for the underlying municipal code.

Tree removal permit fees by city, sorted ascending. Includes replacement fee per tree, replacement ratio, processing time, and a link to the municipal code.
City	Permit fee	Replacement fee/tree	Replacement ratio	Processing	Code
Sacramento	$200	—	1:1 based on DBH of tree removed	3-6 weeks	Ordinance
Palo Alto	$250	—	Per Table 3-1 in Technical Manual Section 3.02	4-8 weeks	Ordinance
San Jose	$310	—	1:1 (one 15-gallon tree per permitted tree removed)	4-6 weeks	Ordinance
Los Angeles	$356	—	2:1 for protected trees (varies by size)	6-8 weeks	Ordinance
San Francisco	$575	—	1:1 minimum for street trees	4-6 weeks	Ordinance

How California permit fees work

Which city has the lowest tree removal permit fee in California?: Sacramento, California has the lowest verified tree removal permit fee in California at $200. The highest is San Francisco, California at $575. Median across 5 verified cities is $310.
What's the typical replacement obligation when a permit is issued?: Most cities in California require tree replacement under a stated ratio (typically 1:1) but don't publish a flat in-lieu fee per tree — replacement is satisfied by replanting. Check each city's row for its replacement_ratio.
Do tree removal permit fees vary by tree size or DBH?: Permit fees in California are flat per application across the verified corpus — they don't scale with DBH or canopy area. Replacement obligations DO scale: most cities apply ratios to each protected tree removed, and heritage-designated trees typically carry higher ratios (2:1 or 3:1) than standard protected trees.

Next steps

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