Tell us your home size and packing style and get a box-by-box shopping list — small, medium, large, wardrobe and dish-pack — plus tape and paper.
Moving companies estimate boxes from two things: the size of your home and how much you own. We start with a per-home-size baseline — a typical breakdown across the five box types professionals actually use — then scale it by your packing density and add extra boxes for the two categories that always throw counts off: books (heavy → small boxes) and a fragile kitchen (→ dish-pack boxes).
Packing density multiplies the baseline: minimalist ×0.7, average ×1.0, packrat ×1.35. Tape and packing-paper estimates come from the total box count (roughly one roll of tape per 16 boxes and one 5 lb bundle of paper per 10 boxes).
Estimates vary. Two households the same size can differ by dozens of boxes. Buy a few extra small and medium boxes — running out mid-pack is far more annoying than returning a flat bundle — and check whether your mover or a local Buy-Nothing group has free used boxes.
| Home size | Small | Medium | Large | Wardrobe | Dish-pack | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Studio | 4 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 15 |
| 1 bedroom | 6 | 9 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 22 |
| 2 bedrooms | 10 | 15 | 7 | 2 | 3 | 37 |
| 3 bedrooms | 16 | 22 | 11 | 3 | 4 | 56 |
| 4+ bedrooms | 22 | 30 | 15 | 4 | 6 | 77 |
For an average 2-bedroom home, plan on roughly 35–45 boxes across all sizes — mostly medium and small. If you own a lot or have a big kitchen and library, it can climb past 55. Enter your details above for a split by box type.
Small boxes are for heavy, dense things like books so no single box gets too heavy. Medium boxes are the everyday workhorse for most items. Large boxes are only for light, bulky things like bedding and pillows — packing them with heavy items makes them impossible to lift and prone to blowing out the bottom.
They're worth it. Wardrobe boxes let you move hanging clothes straight from the closet in minutes, and dish-pack (dish-barrel) boxes are double-walled to protect glassware. You can move without them, but they save time and breakage.
Budget about one roll of tape per 16 boxes and one 5 lb bundle of packing paper per 10 boxes — the calculator estimates both from your total. Always buy one extra roll of tape; it's the thing people run out of first.
Used boxes are free and fine for non-fragile items — ask your mover, check liquor and grocery stores, or a local Buy-Nothing group. Buy new for anything heavy or fragile, where box strength matters. A mix is usually the cheapest approach.
Because two homes the same size can hold very different amounts. We model a typical household and let you adjust for how much you own, but the honest answer is to get the estimate, then buy a few extra small and medium boxes as a buffer.