That's a lot of numbers!

Walk into the average American home, and you’ll likely find closets that barely close, garages crammed with mystery boxes, and storage units overflowing with who-knows-what. But just how much stuff do Americans really own—and how much of it qualifies as “junk”? We crunched the numbers, and the results are eye-opening.

The Sheer Volume of Stuff

• 300,000 items per home
  According to estimates by professional organizers, the average U.S. household contains around 300,000 individual items. That’s everything from socks to spoons to souvenirs you forgot you bought.
• 25% can’t park in their garages
  A study from the U.S. Department of Energy found that 1 in 4 people with two-car garages can’t fit a single car inside—thanks to all the extra belongings taking up space.
• Self-storage boom
  The U.S. is home to more than 50,000 self-storage facilities, totaling over 2.3 billion square feet of storage space. That’s more than triple the number of McDonald’s restaurants worldwide. Translation: we own so much stuff, we’re paying billions just to keep it out of sight.

How Much of It Is Junk?

Defining “junk” isn’t easy—your grandmother’s old armchair might be another person’s trash. But surveys suggest a significant portion of our possessions go unused:

• 80% of items are rarely used
  Research from the National Association of Professional Organizers suggests Americans don’t use 80% of the things they own. That includes clothes, electronics, and household goods that sit untouched for years.
• Billions wasted annually
  A 2023 survey found Americans spend an average of $1,500 per year on items they later regret buying or never use—that’s over $120 billion nationally, every single year.

Why Do We Have So Much Stuff?

Several cultural and economic factors contribute to America’s clutter problem:

• Consumer culture: Sales, fast fashion, and cheap manufacturing encourage constant buying.
• Bigger homes, bigger closets: U.S. homes are nearly twice as large as those in Europe or Japan, so we fill the extra space.
• Emotional attachment: Many people hang onto items for sentimental reasons, even if they’re never used.
• “Just in case” thinking: We convince ourselves we might need it someday… even if we never do.

The Hidden Costs of Clutter

Clutter isn’t just about messy shelves—it has real impacts on our lives:

• Stress and anxiety: Studies link cluttered environments to higher cortisol (stress hormone) levels.
• Financial drain: Buying, maintaining, and storing unused items eats into savings.
• Time lost: The average person spends 2.5 days per year looking for misplaced items in their own home.

Doing the Math: How Much Junk Are We Talking About?

Let’s break it down:

• If the average home contains 300,000 items…
• And 80% go unused…
• That’s 240,000 unused items per household.
• Multiply that by roughly 123 million households in the U.S.…
• You’re looking at nearly 30 trillion unused items nationwide—enough to circle the Earth thousands of times if lined up end to end.

The Bottom Line

Americans own more stuff than any other population in the world—and most of it goes unused. While some possessions hold sentimental value, much of what we store could be donated, recycled, or simply let go.

Decluttering isn’t just about freeing space in your home; it’s about freeing mental space, saving money, and rethinking our relationship with consumption.

If you need help getting rid of unneeded or junk items in your home or business, you can count on Junk Removal RI & MA. Just call or text our friendly Rhode Island team today at 401-649-7822. We would love to hear from you and to help you unclutter your life!