Updated October 2026 · Prices checked 13 October 2026

Carpet Installation Cost Calculator

Q: How much carpet do I need for a 12x12 room?

144 sq ft of floor is 16 sq yd. With 10 percent for waste you order about 158 sq ft, or 18 sq yd. A 12x12 room fits a standard 12-foot roll width with no seam, which Shaw notes is the most common width. Home Depot advises ordering 5 to 10 percent more material for waste; this calculator uses 10.

Q: Is frieze or plush carpet more expensive?

Not by itself. Frieze (a tightly twisted cut pile) and plush (a smooth, level cut pile) are constructions, not fibers. On 14 October 2026 neither Home Depot nor Lowe's sold carpet under a frieze category: both filed it under textured, and Lowe's plush filter listed the same fibers at the same kinds of prices. What moves the price is the fiber (polyester, nylon, triexta, wool) and its face weight, so the calculator prices frieze and plush by the fiber you pick.

Q: Why does the calculator not include removal?

It does, at the rate you enter. No retailer publishes a removal rate: Home Depot's cost guide says furniture moving, removal and disposal are priced separately, Lowe's quotes after a free measure, and Empire Today's in-home estimate includes haul-away without stating a price. Rather than guess, the calculator adds the rate printed on your quote, or nothing if you pull up the old carpet yourself.

Q: What does the region setting change?

Only the labor line. Carpet and pad are national retail prices. Labor runs from $0.69 per sq ft (Home Depot's published basic rate) to $1.60 (our estimate), and the region setting scales it by the mean wage of carpet installers in that region against the national mean, from the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics for May 2025.

Nylon carpet on 8 lb rebond pad costs $3.53 to $9.03 per sq ft installed ($31.77 to $81.27 per sq yd), so a 12x12 room comes to $510 to $1,300 before removal. That is our arithmetic on Home Depot and Lowe’s carpet and pad prices checked 13 October 2026, plus labor from Home Depot’s published $0.69 per sq ft. Enter your rooms below; every line shows where its number comes from.

Price your carpet job

Room 1 length (ft)

Width (ft)

= 144 sq ft of floor, or 16.0 sq yd. Order about 18 sq yd with 10% waste.

Carpet type

Pile style

the everyday cut pile; both big-box sites sell most carpet under this name

Pad

Region (labor only)

Stairs (number of steps)

Stair method

Removal and disposal ($ per sq ft)

Enter the rate on your quote, or 0 if you pull it up yourself. No retailer publishes one, so we do not guess it.

Estimated installed cost

$510 to $1,300

$3.53 to $9.03 per sq ft, or $31.77 to $81.27 per sq yd, for carpet, pad and labor on the floor

Carpet

Nylon, $2.24 to $5.74 per sq ft, plus 10% waste

$355 to $909

Pad

8 lb rebond, $0.34 to $1.01 per sq ft, plus waste

$54 to $160

Installation labor

$0.69 to $1.60 per sq ft

$99 to $230

Prices checked 13 October 2026 at Home Depot and Lowe’s. Not included: furniture moving, subfloor repair, transitions and any per-step stair fee. Ask for each as its own line on a written quote.

Worked examples

The same calculator on four common jobs, national labor rates, no removal.

Job	Floor area	Installed total	Per sq ft (floor)
12x12 bedroom, polyester, 6 lb pad	144 sq ft	$280 to $1,080	$1.94 to $7.49
Three 12x12 bedrooms, nylon, 8 lb pad	432 sq ft	$1,520 to $3,900	$3.53 to $9.03
15x20 living room, triexta, 8 lb pad	300 sq ft	$1,310 to $2,760	$4.35 to $9.19
1,000 sq ft plus 14 stairs, nylon, 8 lb pad	1,000 sq ft	$3,760 to $9,630	$3.53 to $9.03

Which carpet type to pick, and what it does to the price

Carpet type	Carpet listings, per sq ft	Installed, per sq ft	Installed, per sq yd
Polyester (PET)	$0.88 to $4.34	$1.94 to $7.49	$17.46 to $67.41
Olefin (polypropylene)	$0.99 to $2.09	$2.07 to $5.01	$18.63 to $45.09
Berber (loop, any fiber)	$1.89 to $7.49	$3.14 to $10.95	$28.26 to $98.55
Nylon	$2.24 to $5.74	$3.53 to $9.03	$31.77 to $81.27
Triexta (PTT)	$2.99 to $5.89	$4.35 to $9.19	$39.15 to $82.71
Wool	$3.24 to $11.44	$4.77 to $15.35	$42.93 to $138.15

Installed figures put polyester and olefin on 6 lb rebond, nylon, triexta and berber on 8 lb rebond and wool on memory foam, as on the carpet types page. Frieze and plush are pile styles priced by their fiber (see the FAQ below). For the per-yard view of every line, see carpet cost per square yard.

What the calculator leaves out

Furniture moving, subfloor repair, transitions and any per-step stair fee. Home Depot’s cost guide prices furniture moving, removal and disposal separately; Empire Today’s in-home estimate includes furniture moving and haul-away but publishes no price. Ask every installer to list carpet, pad, labor, stairs and removal as separate lines, then enter their removal rate above and compare the rest against your result. Retailer terms are compared on the Home Depot, Lowe’s and Empire Today pages.

Questions

How do I calculate carpet installation cost?

Multiply the floor area by the installed price per sq ft, then add stairs and removal. Our model's installed price is carpet plus pad, each with 10 percent extra for cutting waste, plus labor. For nylon on 8 lb rebond that comes to $3.53 to $9.03 per sq ft, so a 12x12 room (144 sq ft) is $510 to $1,300. The calculator above does the same sum for any fiber, pad, region and number of steps.

How much carpet do I need for a 12x12 room?

Is frieze or plush carpet more expensive?

Why does the calculator not include removal?

What does the region setting change?

Sources and method. The Home Depot, Installed Carpet listings by fiber (per sq ft prices of polyester, nylon, triexta, wool, olefin and berber carpet; checked 13 October 2026); Lowe's, carpet listings (nylon and polyester) (per sq ft prices of nylon and polyester carpet; checked 13 October 2026); The Home Depot, Carpet Padding listings (per sq ft prices of 6 lb and 8 lb pad, memory foam and moisture-barrier pad; checked 13 October 2026); Lowe's, carpet padding listings (per sq ft prices of rebond, fiber and foam pad; checked 13 October 2026); The Home Depot, Carpet Installation Cost Guide (average cost per sq ft: carpet $1 to $4, padding $1.01, installation $0.69 for basic install; furniture moving, removal and disposal priced separately; checked 13 October 2026); The Home Depot, How to Calculate Square Footage (order 5 to 10 percent more material for waste; checked 13 October 2026); U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS May 2025, Carpet Installers (47-2041) (national and state hourly wages, read through the BLS public data API; checked 13 October 2026); International Code Council, 2021 IRC section R311.7 (stair width at least 36 in, riser at most 7 3/4 in, tread at least 10 in, nosing up to 1 1/4 in; landings at least as wide as the flight and 36 in deep on a straight run (R311.7.6); winder treads at least 10 in deep at the walkline and 6 in at any point (R311.7.5.2.1); checked 13 October 2026); Shaw Floors, Carpet Installation (plan and install guide with FAQs) (most carpet is made in 12-foot rolls and 15-foot rolls are available; larger rooms and large pattern repeats need extra material; installation takes several hours or a couple of days depending on size and complexity; furniture moving and old-floor removal are usually an additional cost; checked 13 October 2026); Lowe's, Carpet Installation (no published per sq ft install price; quote follows a free in-home measure; checked 13 October 2026); Empire Today, Coupons and Deals ($300 off $3,000+ for new email subscribers, what the All-Inclusive Price Estimate covers, same-day appointments; no multi-room price; checked 13 October 2026). The calculator is our arithmetic on the cited inputs: carpet at the lowest and highest listing we found for the fiber you pick, pad from the lowest listing for its type to the larger of its highest listing and Home Depot's $1.01 installed-job pad price, both plus 10 percent for waste; labor from $0.69 per sq ft (Home Depot's published basic rate) to $1.60 (our estimate: $0.69 scaled by the BLS 90th to 10th percentile installer wage ratio), times the BLS regional wage ratio when you pick a region; stairs at the same per sq ft rates on 4.75 sq ft a step (waterfall) or 5.06 (cap-and-band); removal at the rate you enter. Low ends are added together and high ends together; totals are rounded to the nearest $10.