Freight Density Calculator
Enter dimensions and weight, get pounds per cubic foot with the working shown. Density is the number every freight classification starts from, and the one a carrier's dimensioner is measuring when it disagrees with your quote.
Nothing you type into this calculator is uploaded or stored — it runs entirely in your browser. The feedback box at the bottom is the one thing on this page that sends anything, and it sends only what you type into that box.
Why this does not hand you a freight class. It used to. We removed that on 4 September 2026 because the table behind it was the wrong shape, and we would rather say so than leave it up.
NMFTA's Docket 2025-1 took effect on 19 July 2025. Old Dominion's summary states that "A revised 13-subprovision density scale will replace the current 11-tier system, allowing for a more precise classification of freight based on density. This adjustment introduces class 50 and 55 to the NMFC density scale." Thirteen subprovisions. We had published eighteen bands — the generic class list that circulates on carrier blogs, not the scale the classification uses.
The correct breaks are in the NMFC itself, a licensed NMFTA publication we do not hold and may not reproduce. Get your class from NMFTA's ClassIT+ or your carrier's rating tool, and re-check it after each docket — they have moved twice since 2025.
Density is only part of it in any case: NMFTA describes class as resting on four characteristics — density, handling, stowability and liability — with a commodity's own NMFC item overriding density outright.
Result
How the arithmetic works
Volume in cubic feet is length × width × height in inches, divided by 1,728 — the number of cubic inches in a cubic foot. Multiply by the piece count for the whole shipment, then divide total weight by that. A single 48 × 40 × 48 inch pallet is 53.33 cubic feet; at 800 lb it is exactly 15.0 lb per cubic foot.
Two details cause more disputes than the arithmetic does. Measure the shipping dimensions — pallet, wrap and overhang included, at the tallest point, not the box on top. And weight is the whole shipment while dimensions are per piece; swapping those is how a density comes out wrong by a factor of ten.
Where this fits
Density drives class, class drives the rate on an LTL shipment, and the dimensions you feed it come off the bill of lading — which the generator will produce for you. What sets class, and why a reclassification bill arrives, is on freight class.
Building the quote desk these belong to? Join the waitlist — the tools stay free either way.
Did this match the density the carrier billed you on?
One sentence is plenty. It goes to the person building this — there is no support desk and no auto-reply. Nothing from the tool above is sent, only what you type here.