Give yourself enough space to comfortably move around your home
The typical hallway width ranges from 36 to 60 inches, with your ideal width depending on household size and traffic patterns.
ADA-compliant hallway width is 36 inches minimum, which comfortably accommodates wheelchairs and helps you age in place or use universal design principles.
Your hallway width choice depends on building codes, available space, floor plan layout, and whether you need room for furniture or fixtures.
Hiring a local home remodeling professional helps you widen narrow hallways or adjust your layout, keeping the project on track and code-compliant.
Hallways are necessary paths from one part of the home to another, but we don’t often think about whether they’re the right width for our needs. A hallway with a minimum width can feel cramped and limit functional and decorative options for the space, while very wide hallways can cut into usable space elsewhere in your home. We break down what affects standard hallway width and how to decide what’ll work best for your home.
Most home hallways range in width between 36 and 60 inches. In smaller homes like apartments and condos, hallways tend to be narrower in order to maximize the rest of the living space. In larger homes such as single-family houses, hallways can be more spacious without significantly reducing usable space.
| Use | Average Width (Inches) |
|---|---|
| ADA-compliant | 36 |
| Two-person | 40–48 |
| Storage or seating | 48–60 |
| High-traffic | 48–60 |
While the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) doesn’t apply to residential buildings, many home builders use the ADA’s guidelines for things like hallway width. The ADA requires a minimum width of 36 inches for hallways, which is wide enough to accommodate most wheelchairs. For homeowners looking to age in place or use universal design in their homes, following ADA requirements can help ensure your home will be comfortable and easy to navigate even as your mobility needs change over time.
A 36-inch-wide hallway can feel a little cramped if more than one person is using it at the same time, so hallways where two people are expected to regularly pass each other or walk together may be more comfortable with a width of 40 to 48 inches. This width offers a little more flexibility without cutting too much into the rest of the living space.
Hallways that incorporate freestanding storage, seating, or decor should be 48 to 60 inches wide to also allow foot traffic without feeling like your path is being impeded. Hallway storage, seating, and decor should be thoughtfully placed so people walking down the hall don’t need to dodge objects to get to their destination.
For larger households or busy hallways to and from main parts of the home, a width of 48 to 60 inches can handle higher levels of traffic and make the home feel more open. Hallways that are too narrow for high traffic can experience greater wear and tear and feel more cramped.
To measure your hallway’s width, measure from wall to wall at the narrowest part, keeping in mind that any installed trim or hallway lighting will reduce the usable width.
If you’re planning a remodeling project or building a new home and trying to decide on the best hallway width, take these factors into account when allocating space.
Many municipalities dictate minimum hallway width in their local building codes. While you don’t need to limit yourself to the standard hallway width, you want to be sure you’re staying compliant with all applicable codes and regulations. Check with your contractor or local building authority to see if there are hallway width guidelines you need to follow.
Widening your hallways means you’ll either need to reallocate space that could be used elsewhere in the home or add total square footage. If your available square footage is limited, wider hallways may come at the expense of living space.
How your home will be laid out can be a major determining factor in hallway width. The floor plan you select and how the rooms connect to one another will help guide you in deciding how wide to make your hallways. If you’re adding an entryway, opening up your floor plan, or expanding the living space with an addition, wider hallways may be a logical choice for comfort and traffic flow. A smaller, more compact floor plan may make narrower hallways necessary to save on space and maximize square footage throughout the rooms.
Hallways that may either use furniture as decor or may be used to move furniture in and out of rooms will be easier to maneuver if they’re wider than standard. Having extra width can open up possibilities for moving and displaying furniture that wouldn’t work in a narrow hallway.
If you’re renovating or remodeling and have decided your hallways are too narrow (or too wide), contact a local home remodeling pro. They can help you reallocate your space, change your hallway configuration, or widen or narrow hallways as needed so they’re a better fit for your household. Budgeting hallway widening into the cost to renovate a house can help make your home more comfortable and customized for your family’s needs. A remodeling cost estimator can help you budget for the whole project before you get started so you know what to expect.
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