Abstract: The research history of quantitative benefit -cost analysis of street tree cultivation and management worldwide as well as in China was summed up in the paper.Sampling methods for street tree survey, composition of benefits produced by street trees and the costs invested in cultivation and management of street trees were analyzed, and a brief introduction was made for STRATUM(Street Tree Resource Analysis Tool for Urban forest Managers)model for quantitative benefit -cost analysis of street trees developed by Pacific Southwest Research Center, USDA Forest Service in recent years.