How Many Moving Boxes Do You Actually Need?

Everyone underestimates. Consistently, and by a lot. Here are the numbers we actually see on the truck.

Box counts by home size

• Studio / 1 bedroom apartment: 25–40 boxes
• 2 bedroom: 45–70 boxes
• 3 bedroom house: 75–110 boxes
• 4 bedroom house: 110–160 boxes
• 5+ bedroom house: 160–250+ boxes

Adjust upward if you've lived in the house more than seven years, if you have a full garage or basement, or if anyone in the household has a hobby that involves equipment. Adjust downward if you're moving out of a rental you furnished quickly.

The ratio that matters more than the count

Buy roughly 40% small, 40% medium, 20% large. Most people buy the reverse, because large boxes feel efficient. They aren't. A large box full of books is a 90-pound box that nobody can carry safely and that will fail at the seam.

• Small (1.5 cu ft): books, records, canned goods, tools, anything dense.
• Medium (3.0 cu ft): the workhorse. Kitchen items, small appliances, toys, décor, files.
• Large (4.5 cu ft): bedding, pillows, lampshades, towels, light and bulky only.

Specialty boxes worth the money

• Dish barrels / dish packs — double-walled, for kitchenware. Worth it every time.
• Wardrobe boxes — hanging clothes go straight from closet to box to closet. Figure two per average closet.
• Mirror / picture cartons — adjustable flat boxes for framed art and mirrors.
• Mattress bags — non-negotiable if the mattress is going in a truck with anything else.

The rest of the list

Per 100 boxes, budget for: 8–10 rolls of packing tape, 5–7 pounds of unprinted newsprint (not newspaper — the ink transfers), one roll of bubble wrap, and two markers. Buy more tape than you think. Everyone runs out of tape.

Two rules that prevent most damage

1. Fill every box completely. Empty space is where things break. Top off with paper or towels until nothing shifts when you tilt the box.
2. Label the side, not the top. Boxes get stacked. Write the destination room and one line of contents on two adjacent sides.

When it's worth having us pack

Kitchens, china cabinets, and home offices are where professional packing pays for itself — they're the slowest rooms and the ones with the most breakables. Plenty of customers pack their own clothing and books and have us do the kitchen and the fragile items. That's a perfectly good split.

Ask us for a packing estimate →