Tile Size Chart: Tiles per Square Foot

Fifteen stocked tile sizes with the tiles per square foot, the count for a 100 and a 200 square foot floor, and the thinset each size drinks.

The number people want is tiles per square foot, and the number people calculate is wrong, because a 12 by 12 tile does not occupy 12 by 12 inches once it is set. It occupies the tile plus one grout joint on two sides, which at an eighth of an inch is 12.125 by 12.125. That is why the column below reads 0.98 rather than a clean 1.00.

On a 12 inch tile the difference is two percent and easy to shrug at. On a 2 by 2 mosaic the joint is a third of the area, and shrugging at it means a third of the order is missing. Every count here is the joint inclusive one, with 10 percent waste already added.

Tiles per square foot by tile size

Tile size	Coverage of one tile, sq ft	Tiles per sq ft	For 100 sq ft	For 200 sq ft	Thinset bags, 100 sq ft
1 x 1 in	0.009	113.78	12,516	25,032	2
2 x 2 in	0.031	31.89	3,508	7,016	2
3 x 6 in	0.133	7.52	828	1,656	2
4 x 4 in	0.118	8.46	931	1,862	2
4 x 12 in	0.347	2.88	317	634	2
6 x 6 in	0.261	3.84	423	845	2
6 x 24 in	1.026	0.97	108	215	3
8 x 8 in	0.458	2.18	240	480	2
12 x 12 in	1.021	0.98	108	216	2
12 x 24 in	2.031	0.49	55	109	3
16 x 16 in	1.806	0.55	61	122	3
18 x 18 in	2.281	0.44	49	97	3
20 x 20 in	2.813	0.36	40	79	3
24 x 24 in	4.042	0.25	28	55	3
24 x 48 in	8.063	0.12	14	28	3

Joint held at 1/8 in across the whole table, waste at 10 percent. Coverage is the tile plus one joint on two sides, which is the space the tile really takes up on the floor. Thinset assumes 85 sq ft per 50 lb bag under small tile, 60 under 12 inch and 40 under large format, because the notch grows with the tile.

Tiles needed by floor area and tile size

Area	4 x 4	6 x 6	12 x 12	12 x 24	18 x 18	24 x 24
25 sq ft	233	106	27	14	13	7
50 sq ft	466	212	54	28	25	14
75 sq ft	699	317	81	41	37	21
100 sq ft	931	423	108	55	49	28
150 sq ft	1,397	634	162	82	73	41
200 sq ft	1,862	845	216	109	97	55
250 sq ft	2,328	1,056	270	136	121	69
300 sq ft	2,793	1,267	324	163	145	82
400 sq ft	3,724	1,689	431	217	193	109
500 sq ft	4,655	2,112	539	271	242	137

Tiles, not boxes, with 10 percent waste in the number. Divide by the tiles per box on the carton to get the order, and always round the box count up, because a box and a half is two boxes.

Print this chart

The same table on a sheet of paper, for the truck door, the trailer wall or the back of a clipboard. No signup and no watermark.

PDF .pdf

Free, no signup, no email, no watermark.

Need one exact answer instead?

The tile calculator takes your own measurements and returns the number for your job, plus the material list as a printable document. Every cell in the table above came out of that same calculator, run at build time.

Measure the room, not the floor plan

Tile goes down on what is there, which includes the strip in front of the closet, the notch behind the door swing and the area under the toilet, and does not include the vanity if the vanity is staying. A floor plan square footage is a starting point and nothing more.

Break an awkward room into rectangles, measure each one, and add them. If you are tiling up a wall as well, that is a separate rectangle at its own height, and it usually wants its own tile size.

Why the waste number moves so much

Ten percent covers a straight lay in a room with four square walls. A diagonal lay wastes fifteen, because every tile at the perimeter gets cut on an angle and the offcut is a triangle nothing else wants. Herringbone and a running bond on a long plank run the same or worse.

The other thing that eats waste is the size of the tile itself. On a 24 by 48 a single bad cut is four square feet gone, so large format wants the higher allowance even on a simple room.

One box over is a bad afternoon. One box under is a second trip, a different dye lot and a floor that never quite looks right.

Large format is a different job, not a bigger tile

Anything 15 inches or longer on a side counts as large format, and it changes the substrate requirements rather than just the count. The floor has to be flat within an eighth of an inch over ten feet, the trowel goes up to half by half inch notches, and each tile gets back buttered so the coverage under it is genuinely full.

The joint offset matters too. A half offset running bond on a long plank telegraphs the natural warp of the tile as lippage at every joint. A third offset, or less, is what manufacturers specify for planks and what keeps the floor flat.

Questions people ask

How many 12x12 tiles in a square foot?

0.98, not 1.00. With an eighth inch grout joint each tile occupies 12.125 by 12.125 inches, which is 1.021 square feet, so a hundred square feet of floor takes 98 tiles before waste and 108 with 10 percent added.

How many 12x24 tiles do I need for 100 square feet?

55 with 10 percent waste. Each tile covers 2.031 square feet once its grout joint is counted, so the bare number is 50 and the waste allowance takes it to 55.

Does the grout joint really change the tile count?

On large tile barely, on small tile enormously. A 12 inch tile with an eighth inch joint loses about 2 percent, which is one tile in fifty. A 2 by 2 mosaic loses nearly a quarter of its area to joints, and a count that ignores that is short by a quarter.

Should I buy extra tile for repairs?

Yes, and keep it. One full box set aside is the difference between replacing a cracked tile in an afternoon and replacing a floor, because dye lots change and a discontinued run is gone for good.

More reference charts

Paint coverage chartFifteen room sizes with the gallons to buy at one, two and three coats, and a second table that works straight off a wall area if you already have one.Drywall sheets chartFourteen job sizes against the three sheet sizes, with the compound, tape and screws for each so the whole delivery is on one line.Room size chartEvery common room size with its area in all three units and its perimeter, which is the number trim and baseboard are ordered by.Flooring box chartFourteen areas against five box coverages, because the only number that changes between two brands of the same plank is how much is in the box.Stair rise and run chartEvery total rise from two feet to twelve, with the riser count that keeps each step in code range, the total run it needs, and the stringer that has to reach.Thinset and grout chartBags of thinset and pounds of grout from 25 to 500 square feet, at three tile sizes, plus what the joint width alone does to the grout order.

See all 30 reference charts.