Common Ceiling Heights

Time Frame

• Eight-foot ceilings have been the norm for homes throughout most of the 20th century, but from 1995 and 2004, nine-foot ceilings became the new standard height in newly constructed homes. Many new homes have 10-foot ceilings.

Significance

• Ceiling height tops the list of desires that home buyers at the beginning of the 21st century want in a home. Younger buyers in their 20s and 30s are even more likely to want nine- or 10-foot ceilings than older buyers.

Considerations

• Ceiling heights can vary based on the room. While the higher ceilings are popular in living spaces and bedrooms, bathrooms and laundry rooms have not undergone the same rise in ceiling heights.

Fun Fact

• The ceiling is sometimes one of the most distinctive features of a famous building. The Sistine Chapel may be the most famous of all ceilings; it is 20.7 meters high.

Expert Insight

• Ceiling height may affect how people think when they enter a room. People tend to think more abstractly when they are in a room with a 10-foot ceiling, while they think more narrowly in a room with an eight-foot ceiling.