What carpet installation costs

The published national range for new carpet with installation, what taking up the old carpet adds, and why a small room can cost more than the per square foot price suggests.

Updated October 12, 202611 official sources

On this page5 sections

1Carpet with installation
2Small rooms and minimums
3Taking up the old carpet
4Against other floors
5Homes built before 1978

The figures here are published national ranges from cost guides. They aren't quotes. Each one is a range at least two independent cost guides agree on. Use them to check a price, then ask flooring companies near you to measure and quote the job.

Carpet with installation

Job	Published range
New carpet, installed	$2 to $11 per square foot, installed^1-3

HomeGuide's carpet page breaks its price per square foot into the carpet, the pad and the labor,¹ so ask whether a quote includes a new pad.

Small rooms and minimums

Carpet installers charge a minimum per job,¹ so a small room won't follow the per square foot range. We don't give a figure for the minimum. Ask each company what its minimum is.

Taking up the old carpet

Job	Published range
Taking up old carpet	$0.50 to $1.60 per square foot^4-6
Taking up an old floor, any material	$1.50 to $3 per square foot^7-8

Fixr's carpet removal price includes taking up both the carpet and the pad.⁵

Against other floors

New flooring of any material comes to $5 to $15 per square foot, installed.^9-10 What vinyl plank and laminate floors cost, What tile floors cost and What new hardwood floors cost have the other floors.

Homes built before 1978

The EPA says a carpet job that disturbs 6 square feet or less of painted surface per room isn't covered by its lead-safe rule.¹¹ A job that cuts or takes off more painted baseboard or trim than that in a home built before 1978 can be. Lead-safe rules for floor work explains what the company then has to do.

Each company on this site is listed with its phone number where it has one, so you can call two or three and compare. You can also send a request through the request form.

Ranges compiled from HomeGuide, Fixr, Angi and Today's Homeowner, and rules from the US Environmental Protection Agency, checked October 2026.