Best Firewood for a Backyard Fire Pit (By Wood Type)

A bad load of firewood can ruin a Saturday night. Wet rounds hiss and smoke. Pine pops embers onto the patio. Soft maple burns out before the second beer is open. The wood you pick matters more than the pit you bought.

The North American fire pit market is on track to hit $4.30 billion by 2030, growing 5.6% a year (Grand View Research, 2025). More backyards, more confused buyers. This guide ranks 11 common fire pit woods by heat, burn time, smoke, spark risk, and scent — using BTU data from university extension services, not guesswork.

Key Takeaways

• Shagbark hickory tops the chart at 27.7 million BTU per cord, with white and red oak right behind at 24.0M (Utah State Extension; Wilson Forest, 2024).
• The EPA recommends burning only firewood under 20% moisture content; wet wood loses about 45% of its heat (EPA Burn Wise, 2024).
• Skip pine, cedar, and other softwoods for the main fire — resin pockets pop sparks and burn out fast (U Missouri Extension, 2025).
• Expect to pay $250–$400 per cord of seasoned hardwood in 2026, up to $600 for premium oak or hickory (Angi, 2026).
• What Makes a Wood “Best” for a Fire Pit?

Heat, burn time, smoke, sparks, and smell — in that order. A pound of dense hardwood delivers about 8,600 BTU when oven-dry, while resinous softwood actually beats it slightly at 9,050 BTU per pound (U Missouri Extension, 2025). The catch is density: a cord of oak weighs nearly twice as much as a cord of pine, so the hardwood cord delivers far more total heat and lasts much longer.

For an open backyard pit, the priority list looks different than a wood stove or fireplace. You want:

• Long, steady burn so you’re not feeding the fire every 15 minutes.
• Hot coal bed that radiates heat after the flames die down.
• Low spark output so embers don’t land on cedar fences or a neighbor’s roof.
• Tolerable smoke that doesn’t drive guests inside.
• Pleasant aroma if you’re cooking, hosting, or just relaxing.

That short list explains why dense hardwoods — oak, hickory, ash, sugar maple, and the fruitwoods — dominate every “best of” ranking, including this one.

Most BTU charts on the internet were built for indoor wood stoves. Fire pits punish softwoods harder than fireplaces do, because there’s no chimney to channel sparks safely upward. Spark risk should weight your decision more than it does in stove guides.

How Do Different Woods Compare on BTU Output?

Heat output per cord ranges from about 14 million BTU for eastern white pine to nearly 28 million for shagbark hickory — almost double (Wilson Forest, 2024). One full cord of hickory holds roughly the same usable heat as 2,000 pounds of anthracite coal, which is why dense hardwoods have always been the gold standard for outdoor fires.

The table below ranks the most common fire pit species using values compiled from Utah State University Forestry Extension and Wilson Forest Lands BTU data, both of which trace back to the USDA Forest Products Laboratory.

A few things stand out. Apple sits alongside oak and hickory near the top — which surprises most people who think of it as a “cooking wood.” Birch and cherry land mid-pack with under 21M BTU per cord, so they’re better for shoulder-season fires than January cold snaps. And note how lodgepole pine clocks higher than western redcedar despite both being softwoods. Density matters more than the hardwood/softwood label.

Which Hardwood Is Actually the Best Choice?

For most backyards, oak is the right answer — specifically white or red oak. White oak delivers 24.0 million BTU per cord, splits cleanly when properly dried, throws very few sparks, and produces a long-lasting coal bed that keeps radiating heat for hours after the flames die down (Wilson Forest, 2024). It’s also widely available across the eastern U.S. and Southeast, which keeps prices reasonable. If you want it stacked and ready, our Oak Firewood Rack is built around exactly this wood.

Hickory edges oak on raw heat — shagbark hits 27.7M BTU per cord — but it’s harder to source, splits less easily when green, and runs $50 to $150 more per cord in most markets. If you want the absolute hottest, longest fire and don’t mind paying for it, hickory wins. For nine out of ten backyard pits, oak is the better balance of heat, burn time, availability, and price.

Here’s how the top fire pit hardwoods stack up on the qualities that actually matter outdoors:

Across hundreds of deliveries through Greater Atlanta, Charlotte, and the Lake Norman and Lake Keowee communities, oak is what comes back on every reorder. Hickory and cherry are the upgrade picks people add for special occasions. The pattern is consistent enough that we built our standard product lineup around exactly those three woods.

Why Should You Avoid Pine and Other Softwoods?

Softwoods belong in the kindling pile, not the main load. Conifers like pine, cedar, fir, and spruce hold resin pockets that pop and throw glowing sparks several feet from the pit — a real fire risk on patios with cedar furniture, dry mulch, or wood fences nearby (U Missouri Extension, 2025). They also burn through fast, leaving little coal bed and forcing you to feed the fire constantly.

There’s a heat penalty too. A cord of eastern white pine delivers just 14.3 million BTU — barely half a cord of hickory (Wilson Forest, 2024). You’d need almost two cords of pine to match one cord of oak in total heat. By the time you’ve stacked, hauled, and burned all that extra wood, the “cheap” pine isn’t cheap anymore.

According to EPA Burn Wise guidance, softwoods are also disproportionate creosote producers when burned indoors, and the same volatile compounds that make them spark outdoors also stink up your clothes (EPA Burn Wise, 2024). The Chimney Safety Institute of America notes that just 1/8 inch of creosote buildup is enough to ignite a chimney fire — relevant if your pit has a chimney attachment or is near a chimenea.

Use small splits of pine or cedar to start the fire, then switch to oak or hickory once you’ve got a flame. That’s all softwood is good for in a backyard pit.

How Important Is Moisture Content?

Wet wood is the single biggest reason a fire pit underperforms. Freshly cut hardwood at 75% moisture content delivers only 4,900 BTU per pound. Properly air-dried wood at 20% moisture delivers 7,100 BTU per pound — a 45% gain just from seasoning (U Missouri Extension, 2025). The EPA’s Burn Wise program officially recommends keeping firewood under 20% moisture and seasoning it for at least six months before burning (EPA Burn Wise, 2024).

The numbers below show how dramatically moisture content affects usable heat:

How long does seasoning take? It depends on the species. Ash and birch can be ready in 6 to 12 months. Cherry and maple need a full year. Oak and hickory — the densest and best fire pit woods — often need 18 to 24 months of air drying after splitting to hit the 20% target (U Missouri Extension, 2025). That’s a long time to wait, which is why kiln-dried firewood has become the standard for buyers who don’t want to plan two years ahead.

Kiln drying compresses that 18-month wait into about 48 hours at 250°F, and it kills any pests and fungi hiding in the wood. Every Retro Firewood order leaves the kiln under 20% moisture, which is why customers report it lights on the first try with a single piece of newspaper.

You can verify moisture yourself with a $20 pin-style moisture meter from any hardware store. Split a piece, press the pins into the freshly exposed face, and read. Anything above 25% will hiss, smoke, and frustrate you for the entire evening.

What About the Aroma Woods — Apple, Cherry, Hickory, Mesquite?

Aroma woods turn a fire pit from “warm” into “memorable.” Apple and cherry produce mild, sweet smoke that pairs well with hosting; hickory and pecan deliver a stronger, bacon-like scent that smells like a backyard barbecue; mesquite is bold and slightly sweet, dominant enough that it carries across a yard. All of them double as cooking wood for grilling steaks, smoking ribs, or roasting marshmallows over coals.

The trade-off is heat. Cherry sits at just 20.4 million BTU per cord and apple at 27.0M, so a pure aroma wood fire either runs cooler (cherry) or pricier (apple, hickory) than a straight oak fire (Utah State Extension). The smart move is mixing: load the pit with oak as your base wood, then drop in two or three pieces of cherry or hickory for the scent. You get the heat, burn time, and coal bed of oak with the aroma profile of the fruitwood.

A few aroma pairings that work well in a fire pit:

• Apple + oak — light, sweet, family-friendly, great with kids around
• Cherry + oak — distinctive sweet smoke, popular for date nights and small gatherings
• Hickory + oak — strong barbecue scent, ideal when you’re cooking over the coals
• Pecan alone — nutty, mild, hard to find but worth grabbing if you see it locally

Avoid burning aromatic landscaping woods like eucalyptus, oleander, or anything you can’t identify — some species produce toxic smoke or popping resin. When in doubt, stick to the seven hardwoods in the comparison table above.

What Does Firewood Cost in 2026?

A full cord of seasoned mixed hardwood runs about $300 nationally in 2026, with a typical range of $250 to $400 (HomeAdvisor; Angi, 2026). Premium species — oak, hickory, cherry, almond — push $400 to $600 or higher. Softwood mixes are cheaper at $150 to $300, but as we covered, you’ll burn through almost twice as much for the same heat.

Regional pricing varies wildly. Idaho and North Dakota cordwood averages around $150, while Arizona and Vermont can hit $575 (HomeAdvisor, 2025). Urban delivery within metros like Atlanta, Nashville, or Charlotte typically lands in the $300–$500 range for quality kiln-dried hardwood with stacking included.

A few cost-saving notes for fire pit users specifically:

• A full cord (4’ × 4’ × 8’ = 128 cubic feet) is overkill for occasional weekend fires. Many fire pit owners burn one quarter-cord per season.
• “Face cord” or “rick” pricing is usually one-third of a full cord — useful shorthand for casual users.
• Kiln-dried wood costs 20–40% more than air-dried, but you skip the 12–24 month seasoning wait and avoid the “wet wood” gamble.
• Free Craigslist or curbside wood often arrives green, full of bugs, mixed with junk species, and requires another year of seasoning. The math rarely works once you factor in your time and storage space.

Are There Safety Rules About What You Can Burn?

Yes, and they’re stricter than most people realize. The EPA Burn Wise program explicitly prohibits burning treated, painted, or pressure-treated wood, plywood, particle board, pallets with adhesives, or any wood containing chemicals — these release toxic emissions when burned (EPA Burn Wise, 2024). Open burning of CCA-treated lumber emits 11% to 14% of its arsenic content directly into the air, which is a known carcinogen (EPA, 2024).

Two more rules every fire pit owner should know:

• Don’t move firewood long distances. USDA APHIS and the Don’t Move Firewood campaign recommend transporting firewood under 50 miles, ideally under 10. Invasive forest pests like emerald ash borer travel inside firewood and now cause $4.2 to $14.4 billion in damage every year across North America (Don’t Move Firewood, 2024). If you’re heading to a campsite or lake house, buy local or use USDA-sealed heat-treated firewood.
• Check local burn bans. Drought conditions trigger county or state burn bans across the Southeast every year. A fire pit is technically an “open fire” in most jurisdictions and gets restricted alongside campfires.

Stick to seasoned natural firewood from a reputable local source, and you avoid every one of these problems by default.

Get the Right Wood Delivered, Stacked, and Ready to Light

The best wood for your fire pit isn’t the cheapest one on Craigslist or whatever Costco had in stock last weekend. It’s seasoned hardwood — oak, hickory, or cherry — under 20% moisture, sourced locally, stacked where you want it. If you’re in Greater Atlanta, Nashville, Chattanooga, Charlotte, Greenville, or any of the surrounding lake communities, Retro Firewood delivers kiln-dried oak, hickory, and cherry racks, pre-stacked, with no effort on your part. Have questions about delivery or seasoning? Our FAQs page covers the most common ones, or you can contact us directly to match a rack to how you actually use your pit.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I burn pine in a backyard fire pit?

You can, but you shouldn’t make it your main wood. Pine contains resin pockets that pop sparks several feet from the pit, and a cord of pine delivers only 14–21 million BTU versus 24M+ for oak (Wilson Forest, 2024). Use small pine splits as kindling to start the fire, then switch to seasoned hardwood once you’ve got flames going.

How long do oak and hickory take to season?

Oak and hickory are the densest common firewoods, which makes them the best for fire pits but also the slowest to dry. Plan on 18 to 24 months of air drying after splitting to reach the EPA’s recommended 20% moisture content (U Missouri Extension, 2025). Kiln drying achieves the same result in about 48 hours.

What’s the difference between a cord, face cord, and rick?

A full cord measures 4 feet × 4 feet × 8 feet, or 128 cubic feet of stacked wood. A face cord (also called a rick) is 4’ × 8’ but only one log deep, which works out to roughly one-third of a full cord. For occasional fire pit use, a quarter or face cord is usually plenty for a season (Angi, 2026).

Is kiln-dried firewood worth the extra cost?

For fire pit users, yes. Kiln drying brings moisture under 20% in two days instead of 12–24 months, kills any pests or fungi, and guarantees the wood lights on the first try. You typically pay 20–40% more than air-dried, but you skip the seasoning wait and the gamble that the wood you bought is actually dry.

What woods should I never burn in a fire pit?

Skip anything treated, painted, stained, or glued — pressure-treated lumber, plywood, particle board, old pallets, painted scrap. Burning treated wood releases arsenic and other toxins (EPA, 2024). Also avoid unknown landscaping species like oleander or eucalyptus, which can produce toxic smoke or excessive popping.

The Bottom Line

For a backyard fire pit, the ranking is simple: oak for everyday use, hickory when you want maximum heat and a barbecue scent, cherry or apple for ambiance and cooking, ash or maple as solid mid-tier alternatives. Skip pine and softwoods except as kindling. Insist on under 20% moisture content, whether that’s 18 months of patient air drying or kiln-dried wood delivered ready to burn.

Pick a wood that matches how you actually use your pit — quick weeknight fires, long Saturday gatherings, or backyard cooking — and stop letting bad wood ruin good evenings.