Updated October 2026 · Prices checked 13 October 2026
How Much Does It Cost to Carpet a Room?
It costs $510 to $1,320 to carpet a 12x12 room and $420 to $1,100 for a 10x12, in nylon or triexta carpet on 8 lb pad with installation, before removal. That is $3.53 to $9.19 per sq ft of floor: 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. Find your room size below, or enter your own measurements in the calculator.
Cost to carpet a room, by size and carpet grade
Room
Budget
Standard
Premium
10x10 100 sq ft
$190–$750
$350–$920
$480–$1,540
10x12 120 sq ft
$230–$900
$420–$1,100
$570–$1,840
11x12 132 sq ft
$260–$990
$470–$1,210
$630–$2,030
12x12 144 sq ft
$280–$1,080
$510–$1,320
$690–$2,210
12x14 168 sq ft
$330–$1,260
$590–$1,540
$800–$2,580
12x16 192 sq ft
$370–$1,440
$680–$1,760
$920–$2,950
14x16 224 sq ft
$440–$1,680
$790–$2,060
$1,070–$3,440
15x20 300 sq ft
$580–$2,250
$1,060–$2,760
$1,430–$4,610
20x20 400 sq ft
$780–$2,990
$1,410–$3,680
$1,910–$6,140
Budget is polyester on 6 lb rebond, $1.94 to $7.49 per sq ft; Standard is nylon or triexta on 8 lb rebond, $3.53 to $9.19 per sq ft; Premium is wool on memory foam, $4.77 to $15.35 per sq ft. Carpet and pad include 10 percent for cutting waste. Shaw says most carpet is made in 12-foot rolls, so a room more than 12 feet in both directions (14x16, 15x20, 20x20 here) needs a seam, and the order can run above the floor area plus 10 percent.
The grade is a starting point, not a rule: the fiber and its weight set the price, and any fiber can go in any room. The carpet types page compares polyester, olefin, nylon, triexta, berber and wool side by side.
Price your own room
= 144 sq ft of floor, or 16.0 sq yd. Order about 18 sq yd with 10% waste.
the everyday cut pile; both big-box sites sell most carpet under this name
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.
About $3.53 to $9.19 per sq ft of floor for nylon or triexta carpet on 8 lb pad, installed. That makes a 10x12 room $420 to $1,100 and a 12x12 room $510 to $1,320, before removal. Across grades and sizes, a 10x10 room in budget polyester starts at $190 to $750 and a 20x20 room in wool reaches $1,910 to $6,140. These are 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.
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); 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). Installed figures are our arithmetic on the cited inputs: carpet and pad at the retail prices shown, plus 10 percent for waste, plus 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). Removal, furniture moving and stair surcharges are not included.
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