How Many Bedrooms Should A Family Of 4 Have?

You’ve been thinking about this for a while now: Eventually, you would love to have two adorable babies with your partner. But first thing first, you need a house that will allow you to build a happy family. So, you’ve probably wondered how many bedrooms would you need if you have a family of four.

As a rule of thumb, a family of four should have four bedrooms in their house. This allows for everyone to have their own room, especially when the children will grow into their teenage years. Having more bedrooms can allow for an office space, studio, and guest bedroom to be accommodated, as well.

However, the actual bedrooms needed could vary due to a few different factors. These could be the age of the children, your family growth plan, what type of families each adult has, etc. In this article, we will discuss how many bedrooms you should have for a family of four, and the ins and outs of why that is.

First thing first, you need to understand why the “number of bedrooms” is so important when it comes to the specs of a house. The reason is simple: bedrooms are more than where you sleep. It is also the primary space you, especially your kids will be spending time in. What that means is that… bedrooms could be easily used for other purposes.

For example, if you have a “spare” bedroom, you can actually turn it into a reading room or a game room. This comes in handy especially when your house doesn’t have a big living/dining area.

On the other hand, lacking bedrooms could easily lead to living problems, such as insufficient private space. Assuming you know how kids are… you definitely want to make sure you have enough room to suit your family member’s most basic needs.

The easiest way to figure out how many bedrooms you need for a family of four is going with the headcount. In this case, a family of four will need a minimum of four bedrooms: one for each parent, and one for each child.

This is the most basic and conservative way of room distribution and has enough flexibility. In the meantime, two of the bedrooms can be substituted for one master bedroom with a much larger space.

However, do keep in mind: a four-bedroom is also a great selling point. So, if you are thinking about selling your house sometime in the future, you may want to keep the two bedrooms instead of turning them into a master bedroom.

Now that we’ve mentioned about the future, there is another aspect you should consider: how long do you plan on staying in this house? If your kids are young, and you are not planning on living here for an extended period of time, then you may consider the condensed approach to bedroom planning.

For example, both your children can share a bedroom if they are under the age of 12. Pre-teens have more conflicts in shared spaces as they begin to value privacy. However, until they reach that stage, they can work their ways out with a bunker bed or a separation line.

Thus, in this case, you can get away with three bedrooms, or one master bedroom and one separate bedroom.

Not so long ago we talked about the pros and cons of a big lot vs. a big house. If you have a family of four with kids growing up, you will definitely be focusing more on house size this time.

As of 2020, the median house size is 2,422 square feet. Legally speaking, a bedroom must be no smaller than 70 square feet, but you’d rarely see bedrooms that small in real homes.

Realistically, most bedrooms in an apartment/condo are at least 132 square feet, whereas bedrooms in a single-family home are around 219 square feet on average. An average master bedroom in a single-family home is about 309 square feet.

Here’s an extended chart of bedroom sizes in different sizes of homes.

To sum it up, you pretty much want one bedroom for each person in the house.

That means typically you’d need 4 bedrooms for a family of four, or one master bedroom and 2 separate bedrooms. If your kids are still little, you may get by with having them share a bedroom.

Other elements such as resell value, duration of residence, and family/guest size all affect the actual number needed. In addition, aside from the reasons mentioned above, something else may call for an additional bedroom as well.

For example, if one of you needs a home office for your work, having a spare bedroom is often the best option. After all, you can easily set up a professional work environment in the bedroom. This is much easier than trying to work in a shared area like the dining table or the living room.

At the end of the day, the rule is simple: Each person in the household should have one bedroom. The rest can be flexible as long as your needs are met.