SettingsSettings for this calculationUS
The length of one continuous wall space, not the whole room.
Measure along the wall from one break to the next, round any corners in between: a doorway, a fireplace or a sliding or opening floor-length panel ends a wall space; a fixed panel, such as fixed glazing, and a corner do not. Run each space separately and add the counts — each space needs its own outlets, so splitting a room this way can add up to one outlet for every extra space. Spaces shorter than 2 ft (0.61 m) are exempt under the NEC.
Tools needed: Tape measure
Minimum outlets for this wall space
4 outlets (minimum)
- Wall run length
- 39 ft
They open the calculator with your figures already in it
Outlet Spacing Calculator: 4 outlets (minimum) — shown in imperial, US market. The link sets both, so the result they see is the one on your screen.
Show calculation logicHide calculation logic
How this was calculated
Formula source(s)
- NEC 210.52: no point along a wall line may be more than 6 ft from a receptacle, meaning outlets are required at least every 12 ft along usable wall space
Inputs used
- Wall Run Length
- 39 ft
Intermediate steps
- Wall run length
- 39 ft
What this calculation does not cover
- This counts receptacles for reach spacing only. It is not a load calculation: it says nothing about how many outlets a branch circuit may carry, what conductor size or breaker the run needs, or where GFCI, AFCI or tamper-resistant devices are required.
- The count applies to one continuous wall space. Doorways, fireplaces and sliding or opening floor-length panels end a wall space and begin a new one (a fixed panel counts as wall space under NEC 210.52(A)(2)), and each new space carries the reach requirement on its own account, so a room's total wall length run through this in one go can return fewer outlets than the code needs — up to one short for every extra space. Run each space on its own and add the counts.
- Special locations sit outside this rule entirely. Countertops, bathroom basins, hallways, garages, outdoor walls and laundry areas are governed by their own tighter reach distances or by a flat count, and the island and peninsula provisions have been rewritten between recent NEC editions.
- The number assumes every receptacle counts toward the rule and can be placed wherever the arithmetic wants it. Outlets mounted high on the wall, inside a cabinet, behind a fitted wardrobe carcass, or set in the floor away from the wall it serves may not count toward the spacing requirement, and none of that is modelled.
- This is the North American reach rule and nothing else. BS 7671 sets no socket-outlet spacing requirement in a UK dwelling, and even in the US the adopted NEC edition and any local amendment govern — the result is a code-minimum starting count for a licensed electrician to check, not a layout or a plan.
Estimated cost — your price
This site holds no price list for this material — local prices vary too much to publish honestly. Enter your supplier's price and the result is costed with it.
Part of bigger jobs
This trade is one line of several job takeoffs. Run the whole job and every other trade comes back with it, off the same measurements.
Or plan the space itself: measure it once, doors and windows included, and this figure comes back worked out on that space, with what goes with it.
also measuresFraming StudDrywall Joint Compound
also measures18 other trades
also measuresLighting Circuit Connected LoadEMT Conduit Bend Length
also measuresMasking and Protection MaterialsPenetration Firestop Caulk VolumeSkim Coat PlasterPaint PrimerSkip & Dumpster Size
Computed in your browser — nothing you enter is uploaded. Presented in US customary units and US trade terminology. Where a formula follows a published standard, that standard and its edition are cited beside it on this page; where none governs, the page says so. Local amendments override model codes — verify against the code in force where you build.
Sources checked 2026-09-02 · in the site-wide review of 2026-09-06 · v1.0.1
Regulatory standards & verification citations1
- NEC 210.52: no point along a wall line may be more than 6 ft from a receptacle, meaning outlets are required at least every 12 ft along usable wall space
Which documents these citations point at
- National Electrical Code (NFPA 70) — 210.52 (United States)Electrical installations — conductor sizing and protection, load calculation, wiring methods, grounding and working clearances.
A code or standard has force only where a jurisdiction has adopted it, usually with local amendments. This site holds no adoption data for any authority, so check what is in force with the authority where you build. Any section cited above without an edition should be checked against the edition in force where you build. What it would take to know.
Cite this page
Your workspace
Most jobs need more than one number. Add the calculators you need next and they open right here, underneath this one — your figures stay on screen and nothing is lost to a page change.
Protection this work requires
- Stop and check first. Textured ceiling coatings, board behind panels, floor tiles and bitumen adhesive in older buildings — built before asbestos was banned or phased out where you are — can contain asbestos, and drilling or sanding them releases fibres. Do not disturb it — have it sampled first. This is not a job for better PPE.
Tools and safety for this job
To first-fix electrical. Generic types, no brands, no prices.
- Assume every cable is live until proved dead at the point you will touch, with a two-pole tester you have just proved on a known source.
First-fix electrical: This site does not publish a tool list for electrical installation work. In every market it serves, fixed wiring is either reserved to a registered electrician or notifiable to a building authority, and the failure mode is a fire or an electrocution months later rather than a visibly bad job on the day. The calculator gives you the quantities to discuss and to buy against. The installation is a job for a qualified electrician, and the certificate they issue is the point of them.