Moving Boxes for a 2-Bedroom House: About 82 (60 to 102)

Moving boxes counted room by room

Redfin puts a 2-bedroom home at 40 to 60 moving boxes; Butterfield Moving puts it at 50 to 80. Both are averages over homes that are not yours. This calculator builds the count from the rooms you actually pack, using Butterfield's room-by-room ranges, places it at the low, middle or high end depending on how much stuff you have, and splits it into U-Haul's small, medium and large boxes with the packed volume in cubic feet.

Quick start. A 2-bedroom apartment with one kitchen, one living room and one bathroom, average amount of stuff, no garage: 71 boxes, from a room-by-room range of 53 to 88, as 22 small, 32 medium and 17 large, about 206 cu ft.

Seven things the form asks

Bedrooms - every room someone sleeps in, including a nursery or guest room. 0 for a studio.
Bathrooms - count a half bath as 0.5, so one full and one half bath is 1.5.
Living rooms - living, family and dining rooms you are emptying.
Home offices or dens - rooms with a desk, shelves and paperwork.
Kitchen - yes if you are packing one; no for a dorm room or a single room in a shared house.
Garage or storage - none, sparse (5 to 10 boxes) or stuffed (30 to 50).
Amount of stuff - fewer things than most takes the low end of every range, average the middle, more than most the high end. An optional price per box adds the cost of the boxes.

Seven moves, seven box counts

Every case below is a run of the calculator. The range is the sum of the room ranges; the count is where your amount of stuff puts you inside it.

Move 1: studio apartment

Situation: 0 bedrooms / 1 bath / 1 living / kitchen / average
Result: 39 boxes from 29 to 48: 16 small, 19 medium, 4 large.

Butterfield's whole-home figure for a studio or 1-bedroom is 30 to 50, so the room sum lands inside it. Redfin's 10 to 20 for a studio is the lowest published figure.

Move 2: 1-bedroom, travels light

Situation: 1 bedroom / 1 bath / 1 living / kitchen / fewer things
Result: 41 boxes, the bottom of 41 to 68: 14 small, 19 medium, 8 large.

Move 3: the same 1-bedroom, average amount of stuff

Situation: 1 bedroom / 1 bath / 1 living / kitchen / average
Result: 55 boxes: 19 small, 26 medium, 10 large, about 152 cu ft.

Same rooms as move 2, 14 more boxes. How much is in the closets matters as much as how many rooms there are.

Move 4: 2-bedroom with a half bath, full closets

Situation: 2 bedrooms / 1.5 baths / 1 living / kitchen / more things / $2.50 a box
Result: 92 boxes, the top of 55 to 92: 30 small, 41 medium, 21 large, $230.00 in boxes.

Move 5: 3-bedroom house with an office

Situation: 3 bedrooms / 2 baths / 1 living / 1 office / kitchen / sparse garage / average
Result: 113 boxes from 82 to 141: 37 small, 51 medium, 25 large, about 322 cu ft.

Move 6: 4-bedroom house, stuffed garage

Situation: 4 bedrooms / 2.5 baths / 1 living / 1 office / kitchen / stuffed garage / average
Result: 164 boxes from 121 to 205; the garage alone is 40.

A stuffed garage is worth more boxes than two bedrooms. It is the line people most often leave out of a rough count.

Move 7: one room in a shared house

Situation: 1 bedroom / 0 baths / 0 living / no kitchen / average
Result: 16 boxes: 3 small, 7 medium, 6 large.

The whole-home figures for a 1-bedroom (20 to 40, 30 to 50) assume a kitchen and a living room. For a single room, the room count is the one to trust.

Boxes per room and the size each room needs

The ranges are Butterfield Moving's. The split between sizes is this calculator's own assumption, following U-Haul's advice on what each box is for: small for heavy things such as books, canned food and small appliances, medium for kitchen appliances, toys and bathroom or bedroom items, large for bulky but light things such as folded clothing.

Room	Boxes	Small	Medium	Large
Kitchen	15 to 25	50%	50%	0%
Bedroom, each	12 to 20	20%	40%	40%
Living room, each	10 to 15	20%	50%	30%
Bathroom, each	4 to 8	50%	50%	0%
Home office or den, each	8 to 15	50%	50%	0%
Garage or storage, sparse	5 to 10	30%	50%	20%
Garage or storage, stuffed	30 to 50	30%	50%	20%

The three U-Haul sizes, with the volume worked out from their dimensions: small 16-3/8 x 12-5/8 x 12-5/8 in, about 1.51 cu ft, rated for up to 65 lb; medium 18-1/8 x 18 x 16 in, about 3.02 cu ft; large 18 x 18 x 24 in, 4.50 cu ft. A large box holds three small ones by volume, which is exactly why books go in the small one.

Published whole-home figures side by side

How far apart the published estimates are, and where a typical room layout with an average amount of stuff lands in this calculator. The layouts: one kitchen and living room everywhere, one bathroom up to two bedrooms, then 2, 2.5 and 3 bathrooms, an office from three bedrooms, a sparse garage from three bedrooms and a stuffed one from four.

Home	Redfin	Butterfield	This calculator
Studio	10 to 20	30 to 50	39
1 bedroom	20 to 40	30 to 50	55
2 bedrooms	40 to 60	50 to 80	71
3 bedrooms	60 to 80	100 to 150	113
4 bedrooms	80 to 120	150 to 200	164

The two publishers differ by up to 70 boxes for a 3-bedroom home. The room-by-room count follows Butterfield's room figures, so it sits close to Butterfield's whole-home range and above Redfin's. If you pack lightly, run the lighter setting and you move toward Redfin.

Box questions before moving day

Is it better to buy too many boxes or too few?

Usually too many. U-Haul buys back any unused U-Haul box, with the receipt, at its centers, so spare boxes cost little if you buy from a store with that policy. Running out on the last evening means a trip to the store in the middle of packing.

Why are books in small boxes?

Weight. U-Haul rates its small box for up to 65 lb and lists books first among what fits in it. The same books in a large box, three times the volume, would be far too heavy to lift safely.

Does the count include clothes on hangers?

Folded clothes are inside the bedroom range. Hanging clothes usually go into wardrobe boxes, which have a metal bar for hangers, and they are not counted here. Plan them by closet.

How do I count a half bath or a dining room?

A half bath is 0.5 bathroom, so its range is half of the 4 to 8 boxes. A separate dining room or family room counts as one more living room, at 10 to 15 boxes.

What does the cubic feet figure help with?

It is the space the boxes take when packed, before furniture. The 206 cu ft of the 2-bedroom quick start is the same as about 68 medium boxes stacked tight, a useful figure to keep beside a truck or container's capacity, minus the room the furniture needs.

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How many moving boxes do I need for a 2-bedroom house?

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