Living Room Dimensions (Sizes Guide)

Here’s our living room dimensions guide including different living room sizes for the average, minimum, small, large and outdoor living room layouts.
One room that is probably given much thought when owning a new home is the living room. The living room is a communal space for family and entertaining guests. It features all carefully chosen knick-knacks, which give the room its personality and make guests feel right at home. 

This article will talk about what you need to know about the basics of living room dimensions to help you decide on what you need.

How Big is a Living Room?

The size of your living room will depend on whether you have a larger or smaller home. Usually, a living room will take up 15% of floor space in a smaller home, while that number will fall at 8% for bigger and larger homes. However, this space could be different from one and every household. 

It’s also notable that although the living room and family room are two interchangeable terms, the living room is usually more formal, where guests are welcomed. In contrast, the family room is multi-purpose and a room where family members generally hang out. 

Average Living Room Size

Today’s average house sizes are leaps and bounds different from what they were 30 or even 40 years ago. In 1973 the average house had 1525 square feet compared to today’s 2687 square feet houses. With that 62% increase come an adjustment to how much space is allotted for each room. 

What is the average living room size? If you have a home between 2000 to 2900 square feet, you could leave out 319 square feet of space for your living room.

While for a home averaging 3000 square feet, 393 square feet of that entire space would be enough for a big living room. As your house’s size increases, your living room should too as well. 

Average Living Room Size in The US? 

The average living room size in the United States is 340 square feet. If we take that in dimensions, that is a room with 16 by 20 feet or 192 by 240 inches of space. This size of the living room would be perfect for an average home between 2000 to 3000 square feet. 

Average Family Room Size

The factors that will determine the size of your family are the number of family members and the size of the home structure itself.

Since the family room is a communal space where activities like watching a movie or playing video games together are the usual activities, it needs a bigger space than the formal living room.

Family rooms usually have high ceilings and are filled with a number of seating options for lounging and entertainment. See our comparison guide to family room vs living room here. 

If you consider having a family room for your larger home, the standard size is usually 12 by 15 feet or 144 by 180 inches. You can go bigger to keep the size proportionate to your bigger house. 

Very Small Living Room Size

If you live in an apartment setting in a building, the chances are you might own a small living room. A very small living room is 7 feet by 10 feet or 2.1 by 3 meters. This space would only allow a two-seater loveseat on one end of the wall with a television probably mounted on the wall in front of it. 

There is also the option of opting for a small living room with dimensions of 10 by 13 feet or 3 meters by 4 meters. Four to five people can utilize this room all at one time. With this room size, you have the option of using two 2-seater loveseats plus an ottoman. 

Medium Living Room Size 

A medium living room can fit six to ten people comfortably. This size of a living room is usual for most homes.

Medium living rooms have dimensions of 12 by 18 feet or 3.7 by 5.5 meters— enough to fit two 3-seater sofas and a couple of armchairs or ottomans.

To fit ten people in conversations over wine and cheeses, you would have to make sure that all four corners are being utilized with seating options. 

Large Living Room Size

You are entering the realm of large living rooms if yours exceeded the size of 15 by 20 feet or 4.6 by 6 meters.

But even larger living rooms have dimensions of 15 feet by 28 feet or 4.6 by 8.5 meters. This luxurious size can accommodate both lush seating and even a conversation area on the other side. 

This size would not just be open to having multiple side tables but also secondary living room furniture such as shelves on the side, a writing desk, or even a games table for late-night chess games.

If you will opt for both couches on one side and a conversation pit on the other, it is wise to put a divider of a display table or even a daybed just to break the room and keep it from looking empty. 

Many open concept living room’s provide adequate space for a dining room table and enough space to pull out chairs comfortably. Read more about dining room dimensions here.

Minimum Living Room Size

Most residential houses and apartments in buildings are not afforded extra space; living rooms in this type of housing are usually the minimum allowable of 7 feet by 10 feet or 2.1 by 3 meters—the size of a very small living room.

You typically see this size of living room in metropolitan cities where space is precious, and having this size of a living room is even lucky for some. 

All in all, the minimum allowable for a small living room is 70 square feet or 6.3 square meters with a ceiling height of 9 feet or 3 meters from the floor up. 

What is a Good Living Room Size? 

What is probably the best living room size is the standard 314 square feet or 29 square meters living room. This size would be enough to fit a full-sized three-person sofa, a loveseat, and a number of armchairs and ottomans. Read more about sofa dimensions and measuring sofas here.

A 314 square feet living room can even accommodate a whole entertainment center and even a baby grand piano on the side. 

What is Considered a Large Living Room?

Larger families and people with the budget could opt for a bigger living room to complement the size of their house. People who are also fond of entertaining guests at home and throwing small parties would want a larger living room. But what constitutes a larger living room? 

Any living room larger than 300 square feet or 28 square meters is considered a large living room. This means that almost the average of all American households has more extensive living or family rooms. If you want something larger than the average, you might want to look into great rooms. 

Great rooms are larger than the typical living rooms and are usually a completely open space that could sometimes open to the patio or even include a bar by the side. See more bar dimensions here.

Great rooms could be as big as 15 by 22 feet or 180 by 264 inches or even more extensive with a space of 19 by 27 feet or 228 by 324 inches or 25 by 30 feet or 300 by 360 inches. This is the height of luxury and could be designed however you see fit. 

Outdoor Living Room Dimensions

Outdoor living rooms or patios, as it is sometimes called, are a great idea to utilize outside space practically and efficiently. This space is perfect for backyard barbecues, or it could open to your pool if you have them. An average backyard living room size is 16 by 18 feet or 192 by 216 inches. 

This size will give you enough room for many types of outdoor furniture, which are usually bigger, and you could even add a patio swing for the kids. Just make sure to leave a 3 feet clearance space around each piece of furniture for foot traffic. 

Visit our open concept living room design ideas for more related content.