Count the moving boxes for your rooms, not an average home: kitchen, bedrooms, bathrooms, office and garage, split into small, medium and large boxes with the packed volume.
How many moving boxes do I need for a 5-bedroom house?
Count the moving boxes for your rooms, not an average home: kitchen, bedrooms, bathrooms, office and garage, split into small, medium and large boxes with the packed volume.
A 5-bedroom house (three bathrooms, a kitchen, a living room, a home office and a stuffed garage) with an average amount of stuff needs about 183 moving boxes: 56 small, 83 medium and 44 large, roughly 533 cu ft once packed. The figure is the middle of Butterfield Moving's room ranges, which add up to 135 to 229 for these rooms; whole-home estimates for this size run 120+ boxes (Redfin) and 200 to 300+ (Butterfield), so this count sits below Butterfield's whole-home figure; more rooms or more stuff move it up. The calculator below is filled in with that layout; change the bathrooms, the garage or the amount of stuff to match your home and press Calculate.
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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.
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 / averageResult: 39 boxes from 29 to 48: 16 small, 19 medium, 4 large.
Move 2: 1-bedroom, travels light
Situation:1 bedroom / 1 bath / 1 living / kitchen / fewer thingsResult: 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 / averageResult: 55 boxes: 19 small, 26 medium, 10 large, about 152 cu ft.
Move 4: 2-bedroom with a half bath, full closets
Situation:2 bedrooms / 1.5 baths / 1 living / kitchen / more things / $2.50 a boxResult: 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 / averageResult: 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 / averageResult: 164 boxes from 121 to 205; the garage alone is 40.
Move 7: one room in a shared house
Situation:1 bedroom / 0 baths / 0 living / no kitchen / averageResult: 16 boxes: 3 small, 7 medium, 6 large.
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
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Calculator verified by the LiczGrupa.pl team
Content, formulas and results have been reviewed for accuracy and relevance by our team of specialists.
Reviewed by: Patryk Matyjasik