Framing lumber traded around $521 per thousand board feet in late August 2026 — near the low end of its recent range — which shakes out to $4 to $6 for an untreated 2×4×8 stud at retail, $4.20 to $5.00 pressure-treated, and $5 to $9 per board foot for hardwoods like oak and maple. What you actually pay depends on species, grade, treatment, and how the commodity market felt that quarter. Here's how those layers stack, and the board-foot math to price any order.
The 2×4×8 stud is the benchmark — every yard stocks it and its price tracks the commodity closely. Current retail, straight from the big boxes:
| Board | Typical price | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| SPF 2×4×8 stud | $4-$6 | Menards $4.25, Home Depot premium-cut $4.65, contractor budgets ~$6 |
| Pressure-treated 2×4×8 | $4.20-$5.00 | Southern yellow pine; ground-contact rating costs a bit more |
| Commodity value of the wood | ~$2.78 | 5.33 board feet at $521/MBF — the rest is milling, drying, freight, retail |
That commodity line explains the sticker. A stud contains 5.33 board feet (2 × 4 × 8 ÷ 12), and the mill-gate composite price of about $521 per thousand board feet puts $2.78 of wood in the board. Retail adds sawing, kiln drying, planing, shipping, and the store's margin — roughly a 50%-to-115% markup over the raw commodity, which is normal for dimensional lumber and worth knowing when prices spike and everyone blames the trees.
Three different numbers get quoted as "the price of lumber," and they answer different questions:
| Measure | Level (2026) | What it represents |
|---|---|---|
| Futures price | ~$567/MBF (Sept 8) | Traded contracts — down 2.2% over the prior month |
| Mill composite (Madison's) | $521/MBF (Aug 28) | What dealers pay for random-length framing packages |
| Installed cost basis (Gordian) | $916/MBF (July) | Delivered-and-built composite; up 12.7% year over year |
| Retail dimensional | $0.80-$1.13/BF | What a $4.25-$6 stud works out to per board foot |
| Retail hardwood | $5-$9/BF | Oak and maple, 4/4 stock; figured woods run far higher |
Hardwood pricing runs on a different ladder entirely. Wholesale FAS red oak moved around $680-$750 per thousand board feet in 2026, but the retail rack prices it per board foot: red oak 4/4 at roughly $5-$6, hard maple 4/4 at $6-$9, and figured maple — quilted, curly — from $9 into the $20s and beyond. Grade matters as much as species; FAS (First and Seconds) yields long clear cuts, #1 Common is the cabinet-shop workhorse at a discount, and the price gap between them routinely runs 30-40%.
Board feet make any order priceable: BF = thickness × width × length ÷ 12, boards = linear feet ÷ board length rounded up, and the order is boards × board price. Priced at the retail equivalent of $0.80-$1.13 per board foot, with 10% waste added to the footage:
| Order | Boards | Board feet | At $0.80-$1.13/BF |
|---|---|---|---|
| 100 LF of 2×4 (8-ft stock) | 13 | 69 | $55-$78 |
| 100 LF of 2×6 (8-ft stock) | 13 | 104 | $83-$118 |
| Deck joists, 12×16 @ 16" OC (2×8×12) | 13 | 208 | $166-$235 |
| 200 LF of 2×10 rim/header stock (12-ft) | 17 | 340 | $272-$384 |
The joist line is a real 12×16 deck frame minus beams and posts, and it shows why lumber dominates framing budgets: 208 board feet before you've cut a single board. Buy by the board foot whenever your supplier allows it — a $1.10/BF quote on that joist package is $229, and comparing BF prices across suppliers is the only apples-to-apples comparison there is.
Lumber is a commodity, and it trades like one. Futures have ranged from the low-$100s to above $800 per thousand board feet across recent decades, with historic spikes during building booms when mill capacity simply can't chase demand. The 2026 market sits near the calm end: futures around $567 in early September, drifting down 2.2% over the month, with analysts expecting a $500-$600 average and spikes above $600 if tariff policy fully lands on Canadian imports. For a homeowner buying 30 studs, a $50/MBF move is about $8 on the order. For a builder framing 40 houses, it's a margin event — which is why framing bids carry lumber-price clauses and why your deck quote is only good for 30 days.
A few levers that don't involve waiting out the market. Buy full bundles when the order is big enough — the tally tag math is the same nominal-size board-foot formula this guide uses, and bundle pricing beats picking through the rack. Choose lengths that minimize offcuts: a plan needing 100 linear feet of plates takes thirteen 8-footers or ten 10-footers, and the 10s leave fewer joints to cut and stagger. Compare big-box per-board prices against a local yard's per-thousand quote once orders pass a few hundred board feet — the yard usually wins. And skip pressure-treated everywhere except genuine ground contact and weather exposure; the treatment premium buys nothing indoors. Whatever the order, add 10-15% for waste and culls rather than making a second trip on a Saturday.
Board feet per board, board count from linear feet, total volume, and cost for any dimensional size.
Lumber Calculator →Expect $4-$6 per untreated 2×4×8, $4.20-$5.00 treated, $0.80-$1.13 per board foot at retail for dimensional stock, and $5-$9 per board foot for oak or maple hardwoods — all riding a commodity that traded near $521 per thousand board feet in late August 2026. Convert your plans to board feet before you shop: the lumber calculator turns nominal size, stock length, and linear feet into board counts and cost. For the projects that consume the lumber, the deck calculator prices the whole structure and the fence calculator does the same for linear feet of fencing.
An untreated SPF 2x4x8 stud runs about $4.25 at Menards, $4.65 for Home Depot's premium-cut stud, and up to $6 budgeted by contractors. Pressure-treated 2x4x8 runs $4.20-$5.00. A 2x4x8 contains 5.33 board feet, so at the late-2026 commodity price of about $520 per thousand board feet, the wood itself costs roughly $2.78 before retail markups.
Commodity framing lumber traded near $521 per thousand board feet in late August 2026, or about $0.52 per board foot, with futures around $567. Retail dimensional lumber works out to roughly $0.80-$1.13 per board foot once sawn, dried, and shelved. Hardwoods at retail run $5-$9 per board foot for oak and maple.
Lumber is a traded commodity, and futures have swung between the low-$100s and high-$800s per thousand board feet across recent decades, with extreme spikes during building booms. Housing demand, mill capacity, Canadian duties, and tariffs all move the price; analysts in 2026 expect framing lumber to average $500-$600 with spikes above $600 if tariffs fully land.
Add 10-15% for framing waste, offcuts, and culls — if the plan calls for 100 linear feet, buy 110-115. Enter the inflated figure in the lumber calculator so the cost estimate reflects the real order, not the drawing.
Use nominal — the size you order, like 2x4. Board-foot pricing conventionally uses nominal dimensions even though a surfaced 2x4 actually measures about 1.5 x 3.5 inches. The board feet formula is thickness x width x length ÷ 12.