How many moving boxes do I need?
There is no single right answer to how many moving boxes you need, and any page that gives you one number is guessing. We went and read what the moving companies, the box sellers and the movers' forums actually publish, lined the numbers up next to each other, and put the spread below.
Where the sources agree, we say so. Where they don't — and on a 2-bedroom they really don't — you get the range instead of a number we made up.
How many boxes, by home size
| Home | Published range | Small | Medium | Large | Wardrobe & dish packs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 bedroom | 20 to 40 | 8 to 12 | 10 to 15 | 5 to 8 | 2 to 4 |
| 2 bedrooms | 20 to 80, clustering 40 to 60 | 12 to 18 | 15 to 25 | 8 to 12 | 4 to 6 |
| 3 bedrooms | 55 to 90 | 18 to 25 | 22 to 32 | 10 to 16 | 5 to 8 |
| 4 bedrooms or more | 90 to 125 | 28 to 38 | 35 to 48 | 18 to 25 | 8 to 12 |
The 2-bedroom row is the honest one. Across the guides we read, estimates for the same 2-bedroom home ran from 20 boxes to 80 — a four-fold spread for an identical house. The middle of that is somewhere around 40 to 60, and Home Depot sells moving kits branded for a 2-bedroom at 47 and 50 boxes, which is a retailer betting its own money near 50.
Our own read: start at the middle of your row, and expect to land above it rather than below.
What each size is actually for
Box dimensions are one thing you can pin down exactly, because the sellers publish them. U-Haul's own product pages give:
- Small — about 1.5 cubic feet (16⅜ x 12⅝ x 12⅝). Books, canned food, tools, records, anything heavy. U-Haul rates this box to 65 pounds, which is the real ceiling on how full you should pack it.
- Medium — about 3 cubic feet (18⅛ x 18 x 16). The workhorse, and the size you'll use most. Pots, small appliances, toys, shoes, board games, most of the kitchen.
- Large — about 4.5 cubic feet (18 x 18 x 24). Bedding, pillows, towels, lampshades, winter coats. Light and bulky only.
- Specialty. Wardrobe boxes hang clothes straight off the rod; dish packs have thicker walls and dividers; picture boxes adjust to fit frames and mirrors.
Other brands run a little either way, so treat 1.5, 3 and 4.5 cubic feet as approximate across the market and exact only for U-Haul.
Notice that medium outnumbers small in every row of the chart. That's consistent across the sources we read, and it's the correction most people need: a common mistake is buying mostly large boxes because they look like better value, and the other is over-buying smalls. Fill four large boxes with books and you'll have four boxes nobody can lift.
Four things that move you up the range
- Books and dishes. The most consistent reason an estimate comes in low. A wall of bookshelves or a well-stocked kitchen pushes you toward the top of your row, mostly in small boxes and dish packs.
- How long you've lived there. Ten years in the same house usually means closets and a garage nobody has emptied.
- Whether you're taking the furniture. Selling the dresser means its contents move into boxes.
- Storage. Anything going into a unit instead of the new house still needs a box, and it needs a sturdier one, because it will sit stacked for months.
How to buy without over-buying
The approach we'd take: buy about two thirds of your row up front and pack the rooms you use least — the garage, the spare room, the linen closet. By the time those are done you'll know your own rate, and the last third is an accurate order instead of a guess.
Two things are worth more of than you think: packing paper and tape. A roll of tape does fewer boxes than it looks like it will.
Count the boxes you pack, not the ones you bought
The number that matters on moving day isn't how many boxes you ordered. It's how many left the old house, whether that many arrived, and whether anybody other than you can tell.
Number each box by room as you pack it, and add the total when the room is done, so a label reads "Kitchen 3 of 8". Our free label maker prints them numbered by room. Then keep one list of what's in each one — see how to keep track of moving boxes for the whole system.
We built Stow Haven to be that list. Each box gets its number, its room and a photo of what went in, and the people helping you can look it up from their own phones.
Questions
- How many moving boxes do I need for a 2 bedroom apartment?
- Published estimates for a 2 bedroom run anywhere from 20 to 80 boxes, clustering around 40 to 60. A reasonable middle is roughly 12 to 18 small, 15 to 25 medium, 8 to 12 large and 4 to 6 specialty boxes. Expect to land toward the top of that if you have a lot of books or a well-stocked kitchen.
- Is it better to buy too many moving boxes or too few?
- Too many. Most box sellers take back unused flat boxes, and a spare box costs a couple of dollars, while a trip to the store on packing day costs you an hour. Buy about two thirds up front, pack the rooms you use least, then order the rest once you know your own rate.
- What size moving boxes should I buy the most of?
- Medium boxes, at roughly 3 cubic feet. Every source we read has medium as the highest count. They hold pots, small appliances, toys and most of the kitchen and stay light enough to carry. Use small boxes for anything heavy — U-Haul rates its small box to 65 pounds — and large boxes only for bulky, light things like bedding and pillows.
- Where can I get free moving boxes?
- Liquor stores come up in nearly every list: their boxes are built for glass and wine boxes have compartments already inside. Copy and print shops are the other strong source, since paper-ream boxes are sturdy and all the same size. Grocery stores and buy-nothing groups are worth asking. Home improvement stores sell boxes rather than giving their empties away. Check any free box for damp and creased corners first.