Oak and maple are the two most common domestic hardwoods for floors, cabinets and furniture, and on paper they are close: similar density, similar strength. Where they differ is grain, how they take stain and how they wear. This page compares red oak and white oak with hard maple (sugar maple), the maple used for floors and cutting boards. If you are looking at soft maple, see hard maple vs soft maple.
Oak vs Maple: the numbers
| Property | Northern red oak | White oak | Sugar maple |
|---|---|---|---|
| Janka side hardness, 12% MC | 1,290 lbf | 1,360 lbf | 1,450 lbf |
| Density at 12% MC | 44.1 lb/ft³ | 47.5 lb/ft³ | 44.1 lb/ft³ |
| Weight per board foot | 3.67 lb | 3.96 lb | 3.67 lb |
| Bending strength (MOR), 12% MC | 14,300 psi | 15,200 psi | 15,800 psi |
| Stiffness (MOE), 12% MC | 1.82 million psi | 1.78 million psi | 1.83 million psi |
| Crushing strength parallel to grain | 6,760 psi | 7,440 psi | 7,830 psi |
| Shrinkage green to ovendry, tangential | 8.6% | 10.5% | 9.9% |
| Shrinkage, radial | 4.0% | 5.6% | 4.8% |
| Shrinkage, volumetric | 13.7% | 16.3% | 14.7% |
| Tangential / radial ratio (cupping tendency) | 2.15 | 1.88 | 2.06 |
| Width change per 1% MC, flatsawn (Table 13-5) | 0.369% | 0.365% | 0.353% |
| Heartwood decay resistance (Table 14-1) | slightly or nonresistant | resistant | slightly or nonresistant |
What the numbers mean
- Hardness: White oak is 5% harder than Northern red oak (1,360 against 1,290 lbf), so it resists dents from furniture feet, dropped tools and wear correspondingly better.
- Weight: White oak is 8% heavier. A 1 x 6 board 8 feet long (4 board feet nominal) weighs about 15.8 lb in white oak and 14.7 lb in northern red oak at 12% moisture content.
- Strength and stiffness: White oak is 6% stronger in bending, but Northern red oak is 2% stiffer, and stiffness is what decides how much a shelf of the same size sags under the same load.
- Movement: a flatsawn board 10 in wide that goes from 6% to 12% moisture content (a dry winter to a humid summer indoors) swells about 0.221 in (7/32 in) in northern red oak and 0.219 in (7/32 in) in white oak, from Handbook Eq. 13-2 and the Table 13-5 coefficients. Allow for this in table tops, panels and floors.
- Decay resistance of the heartwood: Northern red oak: slightly or nonresistant; White oak: resistant; Sugar maple: slightly or nonresistant. Sapwood of every species has low decay resistance.
- The percentages above compare the first two columns; the table also lists Sugar maple for comparison.
Appearance, working and what to watch for
Oak is ring-porous: each growth ring starts with a band of large pores, so the grain is bold and open, and it hides dents, scratches and dust. Maple is diffuse-porous, with tiny pores spread evenly, which gives a smooth, pale, almost featureless surface. That smoothness is why maple is used for cutting boards, butcher blocks and countertops: there are no open pores to hold food and grime, and the surface cleans easily.
Staining is where most projects go wrong. Oak takes stain readily and evenly because the pores absorb pigment. Hard maple is dense and close-grained and often blotches with penetrating stains; most finishers use a washcoat, gel stain or dye, or leave it natural. Maple also burns easily under a router or saw if the feed is slow. Hard maple is a little harder than red oak, about as stiff, and wears very well, which is why it is the traditional wood for basketball courts and bowling lanes.
Which to choose: verdict by use
| Use | Better choice | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Kitchen cutting boards and butcher block | Hard maple | Hard, closed-grained and easy to clean; open-pored oak is a poor choice for food surfaces. |
| Stained cabinets and furniture | Oak | Takes stain evenly; maple blotches unless you prepare it. |
| Floors in a busy house | Either | Hard maple is harder, but oak's grain hides wear better and is easier to refinish to a uniform colour. |
| A light, modern, natural finish | Hard maple | Pale, uniform colour with little grain. |
| Outdoor use | White oak | The only one of the three with decay-resistant heartwood. |
| Workbench tops | Hard maple | The traditional choice: dense, flat-wearing and stiff. |
Frequently asked questions
Is maple harder than oak?
Hard maple is, a little: the Wood Handbook gives sugar maple 1,450 lbf, white oak 1,360 lbf and northern red oak 1,290 lbf of Janka hardness. Soft maples such as red maple (950 lbf) are softer than either oak.
Which is more expensive, oak or maple?
Prices vary by region, grade and year. Red oak and soft maple are usually the cheapest of the group; white oak and select white hard maple usually cost more.
Is oak or maple better for a dining table?
Both are strong and hard enough. Choose oak if you want visible grain that hides wear and an easy stain; choose maple for a smooth, pale top.
Sources and method
All property values are read from our parsed copy of the USDA Forest Products Laboratory Wood Handbook: Wood as an Engineering Material (FPL-GTR-190, 2010), a US Government publication in the public domain, the same data as the wood species database. The percentages and the board examples above are our arithmetic on those values. The values describe small, clear, straight-grained specimens: real boards with knots or sloping grain differ, and structural lumber is sized from graded design values in your local building code, not from this table.
- USDA Forest Products Laboratory. Wood Handbook: Wood as an Engineering Material. General Technical Report FPL-GTR-190, 2010. Chapter 2 (species descriptions), Chapter 4 (Tables 4-3, 4-4 shrinkage; Eq. 4-7, 4-9, 4-12 density), Chapter 5 (Tables 5-3b, 5-5b strength and hardness), Chapter 13 (Table 13-5 dimensional change coefficients), Chapter 14 (Table 14-1 decay resistance)
- USDA Forest Products Laboratory. Wood Handbook, 2021 edition (FPL-GTR-282)
Last reviewed: 24 October 2026. How we build and check our data: methodology and corrections. Spotted an error? Please let us know.