Moving Box Calculator
How many moving boxes, tape rolls and protective materials a move needs, by room and by person.
Running out of boxes halfway through packing is the most predictable way to turn a moving day into a moving week. The number of boxes a home needs can be estimated from its size and the number of people in it, and it is always more than it feels like.
Enter the number of rooms, the household size and any special items, and this calculator gives the boxes by size, the tape and wrapping materials, and what it all costs.
At a glance
- What you enter
- Rooms to pack, People moving, How much is being packed, Special items needing their own box, Price per large box, Price per medium box, Price per small box, Price per wardrobe box, Price per roll of tape, Price per pack of wrapping material
- What you get
- Boxes needed, Cost of packing materials, Rolls of tape, Packs of wrapping material
- Formula shown
- Yes - every step, right below your results.
- Cost and privacy
- Free, no account needed, and nothing you type is stored.
See worked examples ↓ Read the FAQ ↓ Share this calculator ↓
Results are estimates for general information only - always verify with a professional or official source before acting on them.
How to use the Moving Box Calculator
- 1 Enter Rooms to pack (rooms)
- 2 Enter People moving (people)
- 3 Enter How much is being packed
- 4 Enter Special items needing their own box - Mirrors, artwork, lamps, plants, screens, instruments.
- 5 Enter Price per large box
- 6 Enter Price per medium box
- 7 Enter Price per small box
- 8 Enter Price per wardrobe box
- 9 Enter Price per roll of tape
- 10 Enter Price per pack of wrapping material
- 11 Press Calculate. You get Boxes needed, Cost of packing materials, Rolls of tape, Packs of wrapping material, and every intermediate step stays visible under “How is this calculated?”
- 12 Change one number at a time to see what moves the result - that is usually the most useful thing a calculator can tell you.
Worked examples
Real numbers run through this calculator. Open any example to load it into the form above and change it.
A four-room move for two people at average density
36 boxes for a normally furnished home, with tape at $3.50 a roll and wrapping at $6.50 a pack.
You enter
- Rooms to pack
- 4 rooms
- People moving
- 2 people
- How much is being packed
- 1
- Special items needing their own box
- 2
- Price per large box
- $3.20
- Price per medium box
- $2.60
- Price per small box
- $2.10
- Price per wardrobe box
- $13.00
- Price per roll of tape
- $3.50
- Price per pack of wrapping material
- $6.50
You get
- Boxes needed
- 36
- Cost of packing materials
- $193.90
- Rolls of tape
- 7
- Packs of wrapping material
- 9
The estimate is 36 boxes: 5 large, 14 medium, 13 small, 2 wardrobe boxes and 2 for the special items. That calls for 7 rolls of tape, 9 packs of wrapping material and 6 label sheets. The boxes cost $110.90 and the tape and wrapping $83.00, so the packing materials total $193.90, which is $48.48 per room and $96.95 per person.
An eight-room move for five people from a full house
105 boxes at 1.6 density, with cheaper boxes but far more of them.
You enter
- Rooms to pack
- 8 rooms
- People moving
- 5 people
- How much is being packed
- 1.6
- Special items needing their own box
- 6
- Price per large box
- $2.50
- Price per medium box
- $2.00
- Price per small box
- $1.60
- Price per wardrobe box
- $10.00
- Price per roll of tape
- $2.50
- Price per pack of wrapping material
- $5.00
You get
- Boxes needed
- 105
- Cost of packing materials
- $419.80
- Rolls of tape
- 16
- Packs of wrapping material
- 27
The estimate is 105 boxes: 16 large, 45 medium, 33 small, 5 wardrobe boxes and 6 for the special items. That calls for 16 rolls of tape, 27 packs of wrapping material and 18 label sheets. Even with cheaper boxes at $2.50, $2.00 and $1.60, the boxes cost $244.80 and the tape and wrapping $175.00, so the total is $419.80, or $52.48 per room and $83.96 per person.
Guides that go with it
How Much House Can I Afford on My Salary?
You earn a steady salary. You want a house. Somewhere between those two facts sits a number you need to know before you talk to a lender, a seller, or a real estate agent: the top price you can realis…
How Much of Your Salary Should Go to Rent?
You can work out a defensible rent ceiling in about fifteen minutes with nothing more than your payslip and a calculator. By the end of this guide you will know your gross and take-home pay, the rent…
How Much Can You Save by Paying Off Debt Early?
Paying extra toward a loan feels good. But how much does it actually save? In about ten minutes, you can work out the real number for your own debt: how many months you would cut, how much interest yo…
Frequently asked questions
How are the boxes estimated?
By room and by size. Large boxes are counted at 1.2 per room for bulky but light things such as bedding and soft furnishings, medium boxes at 3.5 per room for general contents, and small boxes at 2.2 per room plus four for books, kitchen equipment and anything heavy. Wardrobe boxes are one per person, and every special item you list gets its own box.
All the counts are rounded up, and the density you select scales the per-room figures, so a long-established home with a lot of stored items moves from average to well furnished or very full and every count rises with it.
Why are there so many more small boxes than large ones?
Because small boxes are what the heavy things go in. Books, tins, kitchen equipment, tools and crockery fill a small box to a weight one person can carry. Packed into a large box they become too heavy to lift safely, which is how backs and crockery get damaged on moving day.
The four extra small boxes in the estimate are for the awkward items that always appear: the tool box, the cleaning materials, a desk drawer and the last things out of the kitchen.
How much tape and wrapping material will I need?
Tape is estimated at one roll for every eight boxes plus two spare for sealing and repairs, wrapping material at one pack for every four boxes, and labels at one per box with six to a sheet. Every figure is rounded up, so the totals are slightly generous.
Real use depends on how carefully you pack. Fragile items and anything with a hard edge need more paper than average, and a box that has already been used once takes more tape to close again.
What if the home is unusually full?
Set the density to well furnished or very full, which multiplies the per-room figures by 1.3 or 1.6, and list the special items separately. Even then, add a margin of ten to twenty per cent, because a workshop, a garage, a loft or a collection is not captured by counting rooms.
Buying slightly more than you need is cheaper than a second trip to the shop on moving day, and unused boxes can usually be returned if you keep the receipt and do not tape them shut.