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Moving Truck Size Calculator

Estimates the volume of a household's belongings from the number of bedrooms (175 ft³ per furnished room, rooms = bedrooms + 1 living area) and matches it to the U-Haul rental classes 10 ft (402 ft³), 15 ft (764 ft³), 17 ft (865 ft³), 20 ft (1,016 ft³) and 26 ft (1,682 ft³), with the box count and the next size up.

When to use

You are booking a rental truck for a home move and need to know which size class fits a studio, apartment or house of a given number of bedrooms.

Do not use when: You need the volume of a specific box or item (use rectangular-prism), a professional mover's quote by weight, or vehicle payload limits; furniture-heavy or minimalist homes can differ from the room-based estimate by a class.

Formula

rooms = furnished_rooms or max(1, bedrooms + 1); estimated_volume_ft3 = rooms × 175; planning_volume = estimated_volume × (1.15 if long_distance else 1); recommended_truck = smallest class with capacity ≥ planning_volume (402, 764, 865, 1016, 1682 ft³); utilisation = estimated_volume / capacity × 100; boxes = rooms × 20; 1 ft³ = 0.0283168 m³

Movers estimate 150–200 ft³ of goods per furnished room; 175 ft³ is the midpoint and a home is counted as its bedrooms plus one living/kitchen area (a studio is one room). Capacities are U-Haul's published cargo volumes; other rental companies' classes of the same length carry similar volumes.

Inputs

ParameterTypeUnitRequiredDescription
bedroomsintegeryesNumber of bedrooms (0 = studio). Range: ≥ 0, ≤ 5
furnished_roomsintegernoTotal furnished rooms including living, dining, office and garage, if you want to override the bedrooms + 1 rule. Range: ≥ 1, ≤ 12
long_distancebooleandefault falsetrue adds a 15 % allowance so that everything fits in one trip.

Outputs

OutputTypeUnitDescription
rooms_countedintegerfurnished_rooms, or bedrooms + 1 (minimum 1).
estimated_volume_ft3numberft³rooms × 175 ft³.
estimated_volume_m3numberm³Same volume in cubic metres.
planning_volume_ft3numberft³Load with the long-distance allowance (× 1.15) when selected.
recommended_truckstringSmallest U-Haul class whose cargo volume covers the planning volume.
truck_capacity_ft3numberft³Cargo volume of the recommended class.
truck_typical_usestringU-Haul's description of the homes the class is meant for.
utilisation_percentnumber%estimated_volume_ft3 / truck_capacity_ft3 × 100.
boxes_estimateintegerboxesAbout 20 medium boxes per room (typical range 15–25).
alternativestringThe next size up, or what to do if the load exceeds the largest class.

Example

2-bedroom apartment: {"bedrooms":2} → {"rooms_counted":3,"estimated_volume_ft3":525,"estimated_volume_m3":14.9,"recommended_truck":"15 ft","truck_capacity_ft3":764,"utilisation_percent":68.7,"boxes_estimate":60}

4-bedroom house, long distance: {"bedrooms":4,"long_distance":true} → {"rooms_counted":5,"estimated_volume_ft3":875,"planning_volume_ft3":1006,"recommended_truck":"20 ft","truck_capacity_ft3":1016,"utilisation_percent":86.1,"boxes_estimate":100}

GET https://tttkmbb.com/api/v1/calculate/moving-truck-size?bedrooms=2

Machine access

Sources

FAQ

U-Haul suggests a bigger truck for my 3-bedroom house. Who is right?

Rental companies size by bedrooms alone (20 ft for 2–3 bedrooms, 26 ft for 3–4+) and assume full living, dining and garage contents. Set furnished_rooms to the real number of furnished rooms, including garage and office, to capture that.

What if the estimate exceeds 1,682 ft³?

No standard rental truck is larger; plan two trips, a second truck or a trailer, or have a mover quote by weight.

How much does a loaded truck weigh?

Household goods average about 7 lb per cubic foot, so a full 20 ft truck carries around 7,000 lb, within the class's payload rating; check the rating for pianos, safes or books.

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