A tree removal quote can look almost arbitrary until you know what's actually driving it. In practice it comes down to a short list of factors, roughly in order of how much they move the number.
These two measurements set the baseline. A taller tree means more time aloft (climbing or bucket-truck work), more rigging to lower large sections safely, and more wood to process. A wider trunk means more cuts, heavier sections to control and haul, and — past a certain diameter — equipment that can't just be muscled by hand. Height and diameter together explain most of the difference between a $300 job and a $3,000 one.
Not all wood cuts and hauls at the same rate. Dense hardwoods like oak and walnut are heavier per cubic foot and slower to buck into manageable, haulable pieces, which shows up directly in labor time. Softwoods like pine, spruce, and fir are lighter and faster. Palms are their own category — a single unbranched trunk with a light, fibrous structure and comparatively little cleanup — and are usually the cheapest tree type to remove at a given height.
An open yard where a crew can drop the whole tree in one or two large sections and drive a chipper right up to the debris is the cheapest scenario. A tree wedged near a house, inside a fenced-in side yard, or under power lines forces piece-by-piece dismantling — cutting and lowering small sections on rope rather than a straight fell — which takes meaningfully longer. Power lines are usually the single biggest surcharge, sometimes requiring the utility company to temporarily de-energize the line before crews can safely work near it.
Tree removal and stump grinding are commonly quoted separately — removing the tree doesn't automatically include grinding the stump down. Stump cost scales with diameter and, again, wood density; a small softwood stump might run under $150, while a large hardwood stump can run several hundred dollars or more. See the stump removal cost page for a worked table.
Cleanup and hauling (whether debris is chipped on-site, hauled away, or left as firewood for you), the number of trees if you're getting multiple removed at once (per-tree cost often drops with volume), local labor rates, and permit requirements in areas with tree-protection ordinances. None of these move the price as much as size, species, and access — but they're worth asking about when you compare quotes.