Sizes and Weights of Tiny Homes

This article has been reviewed in accordance with our editorial policy.

Since the tiny house interest has been steadily increasing, people often wonder what it’s like to live in a tiny house. How do they feel? How big are they? What is the average size of a tiny house? Let’s look into these questions.

So, what is the average size of a tiny house? The average size of a tiny house is 8′ 6″ (2.6 m) by 28′ (8.5 m), leaving the square footage at 238 (72.5 m). But a tiny house can be anything under 500 sq ft (152.4 sq m) (or sometimes 600 sq ft (183 sq m)). Tiny houses come in lots of different sizes and are customizable.

My husband and I have been living tiny and working for tiny house companies for almost four years now. We have lived the life and watched hundreds and hundreds of other houses being built. Let’s look more into the sizes of tiny houses.

What is the Average Size of a Tiny House?

The average size of tiny houses on wheels (THOWs) now is 8′ 6″ (2.6 m) by 28′ (8.5 m), leaving the house at 238 sq ft (72.5 sq m). The average size used to be smaller, around 8′ (2.4 m) by 20′ (6 m) leaving you with 160 square feet (48.8 sq m) of space inside. This was about 8 years ago, closer to when the tiny house trend first hit.

Since interest in tiny houses has skyrocketed a lot more people are going tiny. Many people who buy THOWs now do not move them around at all, these homes are stationary.

People are starting to realize that you cannot fit much in an 8′ (2.4 m) x 20′ (6 m) and so they have been opting for bigger homes. Bigger homes are harder to tow, but you have more space in them.

Since many people are no longer towing their houses much at all anymore, it makes sense to live in something a little larger. Thus the average size of tiny houses has increased over the years.

*This information comes from iPropertyManagment.com, tiny house companies, people who live in tiny houses, and research about other tiny housers.

How Big are Tiny Houses?

Tiny houses can be anywhere from 90 (27 sq m) to 500 square feet (152 sq m). Most definitions of tiny houses say under 500 square feet (152 sq m), however, some say 600 (183 sq m). For example in Canada, it is considered a tiny house if it is under 600 square feet (183 sq m).

Tiny houses can be very small. About the smallest, you will see is an 8 (2.4 m) foot by 12 (3.7 m) foot. These houses are 96 square feet (29 sq m). Anything smaller than this is technically a tiny house, but it is now called a micro house.

You can buy a micro home, which is 8 foot (2.4 m) by 10 foot (3 m), giving you 80 square feet (24 sq m) of space inside. However, these are not usually considered tiny houses, they are micro homes

Tiny houses have grown over the years. In 1998, the average tiny house was 9′ (2.7 m) by 10′ (3 m), equaling 90 square feet (27 sq m). (source). This is about the smallest tiny house you can get now.

As they grew in popularity, people started to want tiny houses but also some more space. In 2010, the average tiny house was 8′ (2.4 m) by 20′ (6 m), which is 160 sq ft (49 sq m). (source)

And now, as reported in 2018, the average tiny house is 8′ 6″ (2.6 m) by 28′ (8.5 m), which gives you 238 sq ft (72.5 sq m). We can see that tiny houses are trending upward in size.

How Much do Tiny Houses Weigh?

Knowing the weight of your tiny house is very important if you are going to be towing it. You will need to know how heavy duty of a truck you need or who to hire.

So, how much does a tiny house weigh? The weight of a tiny house is based on size. The average tiny house is 8.6′ (2.6 m) by 28′ (8.5 m), which usually weighs around 15,000 lbs (6804 kg), fully loaded, or often estimated at 10,000 lbs (4535 kg) in dry weight. Of course, it depends on the materials and what you have inside. Let’s look at the average weights for other sizes of tiny houses.

Tiny houses are usually much heavier than people think. You have to keep in mind that this is nothing like an RV. Tiny houses are usually built with a wood frame and real building materials.

Even just a 24-foot (7.3 m) trailer is around 2,000 lbs (907 kg). And if you are building a bigger house then your trailer will weigh even more. Our first home was 35 feet (10.7 m) long and the trailer weighed 3,600 lbs (1633 kg).

About the smallest tiny house, you get can is an 8′ (2.4 m) by 12′ (3.7 m). You can get a smaller house, that could be around 8′ (2.4 m) by 10′ (3 m), but these are not really tiny houses anymore. It will be too small to have normal tiny house aspects, like a kitchen, bedroom, and bathroom. These are often called micro homes.

An 8-foot (2.4 m) by 12-foot (3.7 m) tiny house will weigh, on average, between 5,000 lbs (2268 kg) to 7,500 lbs (3402 kg). It is a smaller house, so less weight in materials but it also varies dramatically based on what you have in it. If you want this to mostly just be a bedroom and a bathroom, then it will weigh much less.

The next size up is usually an 8′ (2.4 m) by 20′ (6 m). These used to be the most common size tiny house, but now it is a 28-foot (8.5 m) long house. An 8-foot (2.4 m) by 20-foot (8.5 m) tiny house weighs around 12,500 lbs (5670 kg).

This is MUCH heavier than the average camper, which is 6,700 pounds (3040 kg) (source). And this is still considered a small tiny house!

The average weight of an 8′ 6″ (2.6 m) by 28 (8.5) foot tiny house is about 15,000 pounds (6804 kg) fully filled. This is more than a typical F150 can tow. With this house you will need a heavier-duty truck, maybe even a diesel, to pull it.

If you are going even larger then it will be even heavier. Our house was 8′ 6″ (2.6 m) by 35 feet (10.7 m) long and it weighed 21,700 pounds (9843 kg)! This was also without some normal appliances most tiny homes have in them.

Now you can drastically reduce the weight of your house by the materials you use. Some siding can be heavier than others, some countertops are heavier than others.

But if you really want to reduce the weight of your tiny house, use metal studs. A metal frame will reduce the weight by 35%! This is huge if you plan on traveling in your home.

However, the reason people don’t usually use metal is that it is a lot more expensive. A metal frame will essentially cost double what a wood frame would have cost.

Also, you will need to pay more for insulation. You will have to use spray foam insulation in a metal frame house due to condensation and the thermal bridge.

Metal needs a vapor barrier to keep condensation out when the temperatures are changing. Similarly, you will need spray foam to better insulate against the thermal bridge. Metal gets very cold and transfers that temperature to all other materials it touches, so you need to protect against that.

Spray foam insulation is definitely more expensive than normal batten, but it is also better. It has a much higher insulation quality. So your home will be more expensive, but it will also be lighter and better insulated.

How Many Tiny Houses are There?

It is very hard to determine how many tiny houses there are out there. There is no database collecting data on how many people buy tiny houses. They are not like regular homes.

Dan George Dobrowolski, the owner of Escape Tiny Homes, has been building small houses for over 25 years now. He estimated that around 2,000 tiny houses were sold in 2016.

However, in an interview in 2017, Dobrowolski stated, “Nobody has a fix on this. Whatever measuring stick people are trying to use, they don’t get it.” We do not know how many tiny houses have been built.

If you want to see how many people have listed themselves as owning a tiny house then check out the map they have created.

How Long Have Tiny Houses Existed?

People have been building small homes for thousands of years, however, what we consider the tiny house movement started in the 90s. Jay Shafer built the first tiny house on wheels in 1997 and started a tiny house building company from there.

This was when tiny houses on wheels (THOWs) are thought to have started. Although, people have technically been building tiny houses for a long time. Considering many cultures started by having very small homes.

Tiny houses have been growing in popularity since the early 2000s. Interest in tiny houses skyrocketed when HGTV came out with its show on tiny houses in 2014.

Tiny houses are definitely not a fad, they have been around for a very long time now. More and more people are starting to see the benefits of having a tiny house, and cities are starting to change zoning laws to allow them as well.

63% of Millennials say they would live in a tiny house now. Over half of our future generations not only want to keep tiny houses around but they would also live in one.

The Future of Tiny Homes

Tiny homes have been growing in popularity and they will only continue to do so. As we can see the younger generations are more excited about tiny houses, so they will perpetuate their popularity.

One change we can see is the size. As tiny homes spread across the nation they will continue to get slightly larger. We have been seeing this trend now:

• In 1998, the average tiny house was 9′ (2.7 m) by 10′ (3 m), equaling 90 square feet (27 sq m).
• In 2010, the average tiny house was 8′ (2.4 m) by 20′ (6 m), which is 160 sq ft (49 sq m).
• And now, as reported in 2018, the average tiny house is 8′ 6″ (2.6 m) by 28′ (8.5 m), which gives you 238 sq ft (72.5 sq m).

Another trend we are likely to see with tiny houses is their luxury. According to iProperty Management, tiny homes have been steadily increasing in luxurious touches.

A common idea now is to “downsize and upgrade”. It is true when you have such a small home and you are already saving lots of money, why not splurge on the finishing touches.

If you have a tiny house then it is not as expensive to buy expensive items. In our first house, we bought the most beautiful real hardwood floors that were $5 a square foot. But it was still way cheaper to buy our floors than to buy cheap floors for a normal size home.

An additional trend we are seeing is that tiny houses are not just being used as homes anymore. Lots of people are buying tiny houses for Grandparents’ quarters, offices, party pods, vacation homes, hunting cabins, and more. There are so many uses for tiny houses, people are starting to see the benefit of having a mobile, livable home.

We have seen companies buy tiny houses built as a party area with just seats and a bar or buy a tiny house that is just several bathrooms. The mobility, customization, and stability of tiny houses are making them soar in popularity.

As tiny homes grow in popularity we will see cities and counties become more accepting of them. This is the trend that excites me the most.

You can already see lots of cities have made an effort to make tiny houses legal. As more and more people start to see the benefits of living tiny we can only hope that they will become more accepting.

There are so many benefits that come from tiny homes. One major benefit is the carbon footprint, tiny homes are a lot better for the environment than full-sized homes.

Tiny houses use fewer materials, less lumber, insulation, and everything else. They also typically have smaller or fewer appliances, which then use less electricity.

There is less space to heat and cool, which drastically saves on electricity as well. And many tiny houses even run on solar. It is said that cutting a house in half will then reduce its emissions by 36%. Imagine how much it is reduced by a tiny house!

On top of that, over a period of 70 years, more than 80% of a home’s greenhouse gas emissions are from electricity and fuel consumption. Emissions would be cut down dramatically by having less space to heat and cool, and by using less fuel.

All around tiny homes are great options for a better environment and the cost benefits. There are a couple of reasons that they will continue to rise in popularity.

The Sizes of Our Tiny Homes

We have been living tiny for almost 4 years now and we have built three different homes in that time. My husband has built all of them and they have all been different styles.

Our first house was a typical THOW, with cedar siding. It was 35 feet (10.7 m) long by 8 foot and 6 inches (2.6 m) wide, with two loft bedrooms that could fit king-size beds. It was beautiful but also very heavy and not as mobile as we would have preferred.

Our next house was built out of a container. It was a 40 foot (12.2 m) container with a 5 foot (1.5 m) porch, so it was 35 feet (10.7 m) long by 8 foot (2.4 m) wide, with no lofts. This is not a mobile home.

The next house we built was out of a cargo trailer. This house is 14 feet (4.3 m) long and 7 (2.1 m) feet wide, with a 3 foot (0.9 m) V nose over the hitch. We have taken this house all over the country and it has been great!