Standard Pallet Sizes and Dimensions

The standard pallet in the US is 48 × 40 inches: 48 inches long and 40 inches wide. That's 1219 × 1016 mm (121.9 × 101.6 cm), or 4 feet by 3 feet 4 inches, and it covers about 13.3 square feet of floor. Empty, it stands roughly 4.5 to 6.5 inches tall depending on how it's built, and a wood one usually weighs 30 to 48 pounds.

It's known as the GMA pallet, after the Grocery Manufacturers Association, which became the Consumer Brands Association in 2020. Around 30% of new wood pallets made in the US are this size, according to Kamps Pallets.

The first number is the length

Pallet sizes are written stringer length first, then deck board length. On a 48 × 40, the stringers (the long boards that run between the top and bottom decks) are 48 inches, and the deck boards laid across them are 40. Not every supplier or freight site follows that order, so if a size looks reversed on a quote or spec sheet, ask which way the stringers run.

Common pallet sizes

Outside the 48 × 40, these are the sizes you'll run into most. Each tends to belong to an industry, as Freightquote's pallet size chart and PalletOne list them:

International pallet sizes

The 48 × 40 is used around the world, but Europe and Asia mostly run on metric sizes. These are the common footprints by region:

• 1200 × 800 mm (47.2 × 31.5 in): the Euro pallet (EUR or EPAL 1), the European standard
• 1200 × 1000 mm (47.2 × 39.4 in): Europe and Asia
• 1219 × 1016 mm (48 × 40 in): North America
• 1165 × 1165 mm (45.9 × 45.9 in): Australia
• 1100 × 1100 mm (43.3 × 43.3 in): Asia
• 1067 × 1067 mm (42 × 42 in): North America, Europe and Asia

The EPAL Euro pallet is 144 mm (5.7 in) tall, weighs about 25 kg (55 lb) and has a safe working load of 1,500 kg (about 3,300 lb). It's narrower than a 48 × 40, so a load built for one overhangs or underfills the other.

How much weight a pallet can hold

Pallets carry three load ratings, and they're far apart:

• Static: what it holds sitting still on a flat floor. This is the highest number.
• Dynamic: what it holds while a forklift or pallet jack moves it.
• Racking: what it holds resting on the beams of a storage rack, with nothing under the middle. Usually the lowest.

For one new four-way wood GMA pallet, Nelson Company lists 6,000 lb static, 2,200 lb dynamic and 2,000 lb racking. A plastic rackable 48 × 40 from Rehrig Pacific is rated 7,200 lb static, 4,200 lb dynamic and 2,400 lb on a rack. The "up to 4,600 pounds" on many size charts doesn't say which rating it is. If you're shipping, plan around the dynamic rating, since the load will be lifted and moved, and get it from your pallet supplier: it changes with the wood, the build and the pallet's condition.

How pallet size and weight set your freight class

For LTL (less-than-truckload) freight, the class on your paperwork drives the rate, and a growing share of goods is classed by density: total weight divided by cubic feet. The NMFC changes that took effect on July 19, 2025 replaced the old density scale with a 13-step one, from class 50 (50 lb per cubic foot or more) to class 400 (under 1 lb), and moved more than 2,000 items to density-based classes, according to the NMFTA.

Density is measured on the whole pallet: its footprint, the height from the floor to the top of the load, and the weight with the pallet and packaging included. The NMFTA lists leaving out the pallet's height as a common mistake. Here's what height does to one 500-pound load on a 48 × 40:

The carrier's measurement is the one that counts. If their measurement comes out larger than yours, the density drops, and the class and the charge can go up. For loads on 48 × 40 pallets, the NMFTA's guidance on density margin suggests building at least 5% above a class threshold and keeping cartons inside the footprint, since half an inch of overhang can use up a fifth to a quarter of that margin. Our free freight class calculator runs this math for each pallet on the 2025 scale and shows how close you are to the next class.

The classes in the table and the calculator are density estimates. They apply where your item is classed on the full density scale, so confirm your commodity's NMFC item and your carrier's terms before you put a class on the bill of lading.

How many pallets fit on a truck

A 53-foot trailer fits 26 standard 48 × 40 pallets single-stacked, and up to 52 if the freight can be stacked two high, per Freightquote. Whether yours can be double-stacked depends on whether the bottom load can carry the one on top.

Putting your pallets on the bill of lading

Once you have the pallet count, dimensions, weight and class, they go on the bill of lading: the document that travels with the freight and serves as the carrier's receipt and the contract for the move. You can fill out a bill of lading with our free generator, which includes the freight class and NMFC fields, and save it as a PDF.

If you're still deciding whether to palletize an inbound container at all, our comparison of floor-loaded and palletized shipping covers the tradeoffs. And if you store inventory with Simpl, a pallet is one of our storage types, along with small bins, large bins and shelves; our pricing page has the rates.