Buying a house is a huge undertaking with many considerations, like your budget, the square footage you’d like, and more. You’ll also have to think about how many bedrooms you need.
In this article, I’ll look at how many bedrooms you may need based on some common situations households face. That way, you won’t have to worry any longer about the kind of house that’ll be right for your needs.
How Many Bedrooms Do I Need?
The number of bedrooms you need varies depending on how many guests you’ll have over, what your future family plans are, whether you’ll have roommates and your family size. Your family situation can change the number of bedrooms, too. For example, some siblings may be able to share rooms while others may not.
How Many Bedrooms Are Usually in a House?
Based on US census data, the most common number of bedrooms is 3. 3-bedroom households make up 39.3% of occupied houses.
The second most common number of bedrooms is 2 at 25.7%.
Important Things to Consider When Choosing Number of Bedrooms
Many things can affect how many bedrooms you might need, including:
How Many Guests You Usually Have
If you love having guests over, then you may want to choose a home with more bedrooms than you need.
How Much Space You Want for Other Rooms
Having more bedrooms might take away space you could use for other rooms, especially if you want a small house.
What Your Future Family Plans Are
If you plan to keep your home for the long term, you may want extra rooms for future children.
Other families choose to have their parents live with them as they get older, so you may also need another bedroom for them in the future.
Whether You’ll Have Roommates
By sharing the costs of living equally, you and your roommates may be able to afford a house with more bedrooms even if you don’t have the budget for it alone.
What Area You Live In
Remember the bedroom statistics I mentioned earlier?
Well, the second least common amount of bedrooms is 5+. So, you may have a difficult time finding a home with the right amount of bedrooms if you have a large family.
It all depends on the housing market in your area. There may be an upper limit on the number of bedrooms you can have unless you’re willing to renovate your home or build your own.
Number of Bedrooms Based on Family Members
Typically, the number of bedrooms you need will depend on how many family members you have.
In this section, I’ll show you some different possibilities for the number of bedrooms based on how many family members you have.
But keep in mind that there are basically infinite possibilities for family structures and room-sharing. If you don’t see your family situation represented here, feel free to adjust as needed so you can find the perfect number of bedrooms for your household.
How Many Bedrooms Should a Single Person Have
Single people really only need one bedroom. You can even get away with a bedroom-less house if you sleep on a futon or pull-out bed.
How Many Bedrooms Do I Need for a Family of 4
The most common number of bedrooms for a family of 4 is 3 — usually a master and two other bedrooms. However, you may want more or fewer bedrooms depending on your circumstances.
If some of your children share a room, you might get away with two bedrooms. Or, if you’re in a multigenerational household, or are a single parent with three kids, you might want four bedrooms.
How Many Bedrooms Do I Need for a Family of 5
For nuclear families, four bedrooms are the minimum if you want each child to have their own room. But there are a few other arrangements that might work better for your lifestyle:
- 2 is the minimum for nuclear families if they plan to have all three children sleep in the same room.
- 3 bedrooms will allow a nuclear family to have two children in one room, one child in another, and a master bedroom. Single-parent families can have two children per bedroom and one master bedroom.
- 4 bedrooms will allow a single-parent family to have one master bedroom, two children in one room, and one child each for the other two.
- 5 bedrooms will allow each person to have their own room, which single parents and multigenerational families may prefer.
How Many Bedrooms Do I Need for a Family of 6
For nuclear families, five bedrooms are the minimum for each child to have their own room. But there are a few other arrangements that might work better for your lifestyle:
- 3 is the minimum for nuclear families if they plan to have two siblings per room.
- 4 bedrooms will allow nuclear families to have two siblings in one room, one master bedroom, and two bedrooms for individual children. Single-parent families can have one master bedroom, two two-sibling bedrooms, and one one-child bedroom.
- 5 bedrooms will allow single-parent families to have one master bedroom, three single-child bedrooms, and one two-sibling bedroom.
- 6 bedrooms will allow each person to have their own room, which single parents and multigenerational families may prefer.
How Many Bedrooms Do I Need for a Family of 7
For nuclear families, six bedrooms are the minimum for each child to have their own room. But there are a few other arrangements that might work better for your lifestyle:
- 3 bedrooms can work for nuclear families that have one master, three children in one bedroom, and two children in another.
- 4 bedrooms will allow nuclear families to have two siblings in one room, two siblings in another, one child in another room, and one master. Single-parent families can put two children in each room (besides the master).
- 5 bedrooms will allow nuclear families to have one master, three children in their own room, and two children sharing a room. Single-parent families can have one master bedroom, two children each in two rooms, and one child each in the other two rooms.
- 6 bedrooms will allow single-parent families to have one master bedroom, two children in one bedroom, and four other bedrooms for individual children.
- 7 bedrooms will allow each person to have their own room, which single parents and multigenerational families may prefer.
How Many Bedrooms Do I Need for a Family of 8
For nuclear families, seven bedrooms are the minimum for each child to have their own room. But there are a few other arrangements that might work better for your lifestyle:
- 3 bedrooms can work for nuclear families with one master bedroom and three children each for the other two bedrooms.
- 4 bedrooms will allow nuclear families to have two children in each bedroom besides the master. Single parent families can put two children each in two bedrooms, three children in one bedroom, and then have a master bedroom.
- 5 bedrooms will allow nuclear families to have one master, two children each in two rooms, and one child each in the remaining two bedrooms. Single-parent families can have one master, two children each in three bedrooms, and one child in the remaining bedroom.
- 6 bedrooms will allow nuclear families to have one master, two children sharing a bedroom, and four remaining bedrooms for the other children. Single-parent families can have one master, two children each per two rooms, and then three remaining bedrooms for the other children.
- 7 bedrooms will allow single-parent families to have one master bedroom, two children sharing a bedroom, and then the remaining five bedrooms for the other children.
- 8 bedrooms will allow each person to have their own room, which single parents and multigenerational families may prefer.
How Many Bedrooms Do You Need for Kids?
The decision on how many bedrooms you need for children might seem straightforward at first. But the situation gets more complicated when you consider room-sharing possibilities. Here are some things to consider:
Can Your Children Share Rooms?
While you might dread having your children share rooms, stats show there’s nothing to worry about.
Most adults who shared a room as a kid said it was a positive experience for them. Many have also said it helped their confidence levels and conflict management skills.
That being said, the decision to have your children share rooms will depend on a variety of factors, including:
Sibling Relationships
Siblings naturally get into fights from time to time, and allowing them to resolve these fights can be beneficial for them.
However, if some of your children get into fights too often to focus or start to get violent, it’s best to put them in separate bedrooms if possible.
Opposite-sex Children
There aren’t any specific laws against opposite-sex children sharing a room. It all depends on your comfort level and your children’s comfort levels.
For example, as opposite-sex siblings go through puberty, they may feel ashamed without their own space.
Older Children
Much like opposite-sex children, older children sharing a room will depend on your comfort level and theirs.
Typically, older children prefer having more privacy and independence. They may not want to share a room with their siblings.
Meanwhile, other children have successfully shared a room well into their teens.
Foster Children
If you have foster children, the decision to share a room with siblings will depend on your state’s laws.
Some states allow four children to share a room, while others limit it to two. They may also place other limits like only allowing same-sex children to sleep in the same room.
If you aren’t familiar with local laws on this, it’s good to contact your foster care agency for guidance.
Adopted Children
Most adoption agencies tell parents not to put their adopted child in the same room as their biological children. Adoption can be a big adjustment for both the adopted child and their siblings, so it’s good for them to have their own space.
Step-siblings
Step-siblings may be able to share a room or not, depending on the circumstances.
If children become step-siblings at a young age, the situation is very similar to biological siblings. Older step-children might prefer to have their own space, though.
Disabled Children
Some disabled children may need extra space for medical equipment, so they may need their own room.
Babies in Their Parents’ Rooms
If you’re a parent with a baby, you may wonder if they can share a room with you for the time being.
At the end of the day, this is a personal decision and depends on your comfort level. But some research has shown that babies older than 4 months sleep much better in their own room.
Are Houses with More Bedrooms Worth More?
Most people assume that houses with more bedrooms are worth more. If you thought this, too, you’re right!
A study from 2015 showed that the price of houses went up 6.7% for each bedroom added. This was more than the price increase for adding other rooms, which was only 3.5%.
Some data suggests that the actual price increase depends on your region. One study found that home prices in the southwestern US are impacted more by the number of bedrooms than others.
Regardless, more bedrooms generally equal higher prices.