How Much Stuff Is In the Average American Home?
Inside: Have you ever wondered how much stuff is in the average American home? Today we’re going to take a look at that and talk about how to simplify your stuff.
Think you might have too much stuff in your home? Or maybe you’re just curious how much stuff is in the average American home.
While putting exact numbers on this can be quite challenging, we will look at the data we do know to get a sense of the big picture. Often we look at numbers as a way to compare ourselves with what is ‘normal’. Sometimes that helps us feel better about our own situation.
The goal here is not to help us all feel good (or bad) about how much stuff we have. The reality is we could all acquire more things, but most of us don’t need to.
And the majority would be well served to declutter and simplify a bit more, especially if you find that your stuff has become problematic.
We’ll take a look at the data and you can decide for yourself if you have too much stuff or not. I’ll also offer some tips for getting started with decluttering.
How Much Stuff Is In the Average American Home?
Alright, so let’s get to it. How much stuff is in the average American home? It turns out this isn’t a very easy number to come by. Here’s what we do and don’t know.
What we don’t know about how much stuff is in the average American home
Have you ever read the statistic that says there are 300,000 items in the average American home? I’ve seen this one referenced quite a bit, but from doing some additional digging, I did not find any hard data to support this number.
The reference for this number is from an LA Times article in 2014 where it says that professional organizer, Regina Lark, cited “the average U.S. household has 300,000 things, from paper clips to ironing boards.” From there other news sources picked up on the number and have reshared it.
My first thought when I read this was, how was this study done? Did someone take an average-size home and then go count every item in it? If so, how did that work? Is a box of matches one item or does it count as one hundred?
I was curious about the methodology, so I did some further research. On Regina Lark’s website, she has a post about this topic which goes into a bit more detail on where the number originated from.
300,000 Items in the Average American Home?
Regina writes, “One thing I remember reading impressed the hell out of me: The average household contains about 300,000 things. In order to grow my company, I needed clients, which I found by speaking to numerous groups and organizations about clutter, and where I often referenced “300,000 things.”
I’ve asked some colleagues and a few clients to conduct informal surveys in their clients’ home or in their own home. We’ve concluded that items in homes could very well number up 300,000 if one were to count every single thing from underpants to office supplies to photographs to silverware.“
She ends the post by saying “I’ve often wondered if I had it in me to conduct a study about the average number of items the average household contained. If 300,000 things is where we land, it would be nice to finally put the query to bed. And I will never be out of work again.” (source)
In short, she recalls reading it, but it’s unclear from where and a few clients and colleagues did informal surveys that seem to support that the number could be true.
This 300,000 number is often referenced, but I didn’t find any solid data to back it up (you can blame my sociology studies and having a dad who taught statistics for my interest in even looking for it).
I would conclude that we don’t know the actual number of how much stuff is in the average American home, but there is other information we can look at that sheds light on the whole picture.
What we do know about how much stuff is in the average American home
Even if we don’t have a solid number for how much stuff is in the average American home, I think it’s safe to say the number is high and most people have too much.
Here are some other statistics we can look at that indicate that on average, the amount of things that people own has been increasing as are some challenges that come along with that.
Average size home
In 2020, the median size of a newly built single-family house was 2,261 square feet (source), which is well over twice as big as it was in 1950 (source).
Storage units
Currently, 10.6% of U.S. households are renting a storage unit. (source)
Holiday spending
In 2021, consumers spent an average of $997.73 on gifts and other holiday items while the median weekly salary in the U.S. in 2021 is $1,001 before taxes. (source)
Spending on non-essential goods
In 2019 a survey (for Ladder) of 2000 Americans found that on average, people were spending $18,000 per year on non-essential goods (source). A different survey that same year (for Ameritrade) found it to be on average $697 per month being spent on non-essential goods. (source).
Living paycheck to paycheck
Data from early in 2022 shows that 64% of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck in the current inflationary times (source).
Stress about the state of the home
In a study (for Huffington post) 84% of recently stressed Americans say they worry that their home isn’t clean or organized enough. (source)
More stats & data
Check out this post for more statistics on clutter. You may find some of the numbers quite surprising!
Data is constantly changing
The data is constantly changing on what people are saving and spending even more so in these inflationary times.
It should also be noted that some of the surveys may not feel representative of your personal experience. It would be impossible for data from a nominal amount of people to be a blanket statement of an entire population.
The numbers can give us a glimpse of what is happening in some people’s lives and are a good starting place for considering our own circumstances.
Do YOU Feel Like You Have Too Much Stuff?
Perhaps you clicked on this post because you were curious about the numbers. Maybe you wanted to compare to the average so that you’d hopefully feel like maybe things aren’t too bad in your home.
However, if you are reading this post because you are wondering if you have too much stuff, you likely do. The fact that you’re asking the question is a good indicator that the stuff has become a problem for you.
There is no magic number of what the ideal amount of stuff is in a home. Different people have varying comfort levels with the number of things they own.
What matters most is how your things are impacting your life. These questions can help you determine if you have too much stuff.
Do you have too much stuff? The questions to ask yourself.
1. Do you feel burdened by your things? Do you have a nagging feeling you need to deal with your stuff?
2. How do you feel in your home? Are you able to use your space the way you want to?
3. Do you spend more time than you’d like buying, cleaning, managing, and maintaining your things?
4. Are you overspending on unneeded items? Do you often buy something and then discover you already had one?
5. Are you storing a large number of boxes that you never access? Do you have a storage unit that you dread dealing with?
Your answers to those questions are a good indicator of whether or not you have some clutter you need to deal with or not. If you did find yourself answering yes to a number of those questions, check out the resources below to help you get started.
How to Start Decluttering When You Have Too Much Stuff
Decluttering can feel overwhelming initially. Here are some helpful posts for getting started with the decluttering process.
Overwhelmed? Use these 7 tips for when you’re feeling overwhelmed with decluttering.
Not sure what decluttering method to use? This post discusses four popular decluttering methods and helps you pick the right one for your personality and home.
How do you decide what stays and what goes? Check out these questions to ask when decluttering to give you clarity and help you make decisions.
Ready to clean out your storage unit? Use these tips to help declutter and clean out your storage unit. You’ll get rid of the burden and save your
Want to stop clutter from coming back into your home? Use the tips in this post to stop the clutter cycle in your home.
Taking the time to declutter your home is a wonderful thing you can do for yourself and for your family. Then you can enjoy your home more and get time back for the things that matter most to you.
And just for fun…
How Much Stuff Do You Think Is In the Average American Home? Post your guesstimate in the comments section!
No, there is no real answer, but guessing is kind of fun anyway!
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Several times in my adulthood, I’ve enjoyed looking through the photography book Material World by Menzel, Mann and Kennedy. It is a fascinating look inside homes around the world. I’d encourage everyone to look through it to learn some about different ways of living.
Very interesting post. I’m pretty minimalist and i would still guess that I have at least 300 items in each room. Granted I basically live in a studio apartment so each room functions as multiple rooms. My bedroom is also my living room and the office for my husband and I and my closet (which is abnormally large) is also my craft room and garage (cause I store our camping gear and other stuff like that in it). Assuming that the average American has 300 items in each room and the have a living room a kitchen 3 beds and 2 baths I would assume that at the least ppl have about 2,100 items but I’m sure it’s waaaay more!
my bedframe has drawers in it (to replace a dresser) and about half of it if filled as my ‘bookcase’, which is 280 books! plus the almost 40+ items in my bedside table (just guessing between the shelf and the drawer), then the other bedframe drawers of the yoga stuff, my hair items (I counted each individually ties, scrunchies, fancy clips & even each bobby pin) are at least another 30+ (I don’t remember the total of each category
Butttt I DO remember that the total of my EXTREMELY minimalist bedroom (only my bedframe, bedside table, air filter & kitty food/ water bowls on floor, NOTHING else, plus NOTHING on my walls) and I STILL have 343 items in said bedroom!!!
and I am ALREADY up to 866 items counted my bedroom, extremely small bathroom, extremely small dining area, & a very small laundry closet!!!
AND I STILL have left to count All Of my toiletries cabinet/shelf (it doesn’t fit in my bathroom, it’s THAT small), all of my kitchen cabinets, food stuffs, pantry cans, etc (don’t forget including organizing bins, lazy Susans, etc!), my clothes closet (it’s actually off the living room lol), and my living room (PLUS most people have a garage, or basement or attic, and even most rentals now have little locking storage areas even off the porch or in the carport area!!!
I’m guessing (if I estimated same-ish & doubled # of items in some coming areas based on areas already counted) and I roughly guestimated 1,830 tonight (after counting to the 866)!
of which 280 is books, and at least 750-800 wb disposable food/pantry/toiletries items, I believe (but I’ll know better at the end of this week;)
I truly believe even in your own household, you’d find your 3 bathroom house estimate is off by times 10!!!! imho
where is the evidence supporting this claim of 300000. seems exaggerated
I would be interested in knowing more about this 300,000 number that seems to have no hard basis in fact. I wonder if a more reasonable to estimate the number of items based on square footage. In the long run, it really doesn’t matter anyway. If you have too much stuff, you have too much stuff. It doesn’t matter the total number of items. Is your stuff being used, loved, or practical? Is stuff causing struggles in daily living or stress? These are questions for each individual.
there’s no way that number is right. if I did the math right 2200sq ft x8 ft ceilings means 17 items per cubic foot. very few rooms get more than half full and there are bulky items like tables and sofas. even smaller items like shoes or shirts would be difficult to get 17/cubic ft.
doesn’t pass the sniff test.
you would be VERYYYYYY surprised to find out how much stuff you can put inside (therefore count separately) inside drawers, and closets, inside bins (and don’t forget to count the bins and dressers themselves!) on top of shelves that people “OMG I completely forgot that was even in there!!!!”. My dresser alone holds 280 BOOKS!!! And it’s NOT a huge dresser at that! (I have the book rows doubled 1 row on top of the other for space savings). Then I have about 50 hair things (I counted each tie, fancy thing, plus each bobby pin individually), 17 purses/tablet bags (bc I got into the fun of changing colors!)
Allll of this (tiny sample here of a bit of excess) in a VERYYYY otherwise minimalist & extremely decluttered 1-bedroom apartment, and I’m STILL already counted 866 items in just my bedroom (only has a bed, which has the drawers inside the bedframe, 1 bed side table, an air-filter & kitty food/water bowls. NOTHING else on my bedroom floor! NOTHING on my bedroom walls. A super small “laundry closet, dining area, & bathroom” plus the bedroom are the only areas that I’ve counted so far and I’m ALREADY up to a whooping 866! but like I said, I’m counting individual items, so 1 chapstick in my nightstand (and I happen to have 4 of them currently bc they were on sale… counting all of these things individually does add up MUCH faster than you’d think!!!)
even then it is not 300000
I have a rule that everytime I buy something (maybe it’s upgrading towels or dishes or whatever), I donate or get rid of the old ones and not keep both. That’s how I keep from accumulating so much. People realize all the junk they acquire when it comes time to move!
I could fathom how the 300,000 number was derived. I think it all comes down to what is counted. Just thinking about all the stuff I had in my 2,200 SQ Ft House in suburbia before I downsized by ~98%. Having a huge stamp collection could count as 40,000 items alone (each stamp). A sizable coin collection (thousand +). A sports card collection would be several thousand more (each card). Counting individual photos in old albums or boxes is easily in the thousands (I digitized over 7,000 after a serious culling — so likely 10,000 to start). Matchbox car collection, three sets of dishes, and extensive camping gear. Tools, boxes of screws, nails, lumber, and other DIY supplies add up fast. Old toys like brio train set, dolls and doll clothes, toy tea sets, marble runs, blocks, etc. Boxes of old cards and letters, large bins of our kids artwork, and shelves and boxes off books (easily a thousand books). A pencil collection (450+). It would exceed 300K if I counted each financial statement I had kept in two large filing cabinets. For a family of four (and only counting a package of paperclips or screws as one item) I think we had 300,000 items, and yet I thought we had less than most of our neighbors as we were good about storing it all away in bins and boxes on shelves in the closets, attic, basement, utility room, and large shed. Thanks for the thoughtful post — it was fun to ponder how much we really do have. Cheers!