Start with a common planning size for your cars, then add room for a workshop or storage. Local rules have the final say.
22 × 22 fta common 2-car planning size1-car 12×22, 2-car 22×22, 3-car 32×22 ft. Add 8 ft of depth for a workshop or 4 ft of width for side storage. These are planning sizes, not building-code minimums.
A common planning size for a two-car garage is 22 × 22 feet (484 sq ft); tight plans go down to 20 × 22.
A one-car garage is often 12 × 22 feet and a three-car garage 32 × 22 feet. Add 8 feet of depth for a workshop, or 4 feet of width for side storage. These are starting sizes, not code minimums. Local zoning sets stall sizes.
Cars, then extras
Common planning sizes, not code minimums. Nothing is emailed.
—Planning size
—Area
—Extras
—Read this
What this assumed—
Common planning sizes, not a code minimum. HyreGarage does not design garages.
How wide does a garage door need to be for a truck?
Measure over the mirrors, not the body. Most sizing guides use body width. On a full-size pickup, the mirrors add about sixteen inches.
Take a real, published example. Ford’s spec sheet for the 2026 Ford F-150 SuperCrew, standard body gives a body width of 79.9 in. That is the number a sizing guide uses. On paper it fits a 96 in (8 ft) door with eight inches to spare on each side.
The same sheet gives 95.7 in with the standard mirrors out. Through a 96 in door, that leaves 0.15 in per side. In practice, it does not go through. Fold the mirrors and it is 83.6 in, which fits, if you remember to fold them every time.
With trailer-tow mirrors pulled out, the truck is 105.9 in wide. That is wider than a nine-foot door. Folded, it is 85.3 in.
HyreGarage analysis. This is why the practical single door has grown from 8 ft to 9 ft over the last twenty years, while most guides have not caught up. Bodies did not get much wider. Mirrors got bigger, and more households park full-size pickups and three-row SUVs.
If you are building new and can afford it, a 9 ft door is the cheapest safeguard on this page. See how vehicles outgrew garages for the wider data.
The caveat. These are Ford’s figures for one vehicle, used because the maker publishes them. They are not a claim about your car. Measure yours over the mirrors, set the way you actually drive.
How much room will a pickup have on each side?
Anywhere from none to about 8 in per side, depending on the door and the mirrors. HyreGarage worked this out from Ford’s published widths for the 2026 Ford F-150 SuperCrew, standard body. Then do the same math for your own vehicle.
The shortest bar is an 8 ft door with the standard mirrors out: about 0.1 in per side. Most sizing guides quietly treat that setup as fine.
Door width
Vehicle width used
Total clearance
Per side
Verdict
8 ft (96 in)
Body only, 79.9 in
16.1 in
8.0 in
The number every guide quotes. It leaves out the mirrors.
8 ft (96 in)
Mirrors folded, 83.6 in
12.4 in
6.2 in
Fits, if you fold them every time and never misjudge the approach.
8 ft (96 in)
Mirrors out, 95.7 in
0.3 in
0.1 in
Does not go through.
9 ft (108 in)
Mirrors out, 95.7 in
12.3 in
6.1 in
Comfortable. This is the practical modern single door.
9 ft (108 in)
Tow mirrors out, 105.9 in
2.1 in
1.0 in
About an inch per side. Fold them.
10 ft (120 in)
Tow mirrors out, 105.9 in
14.1 in
7.0 in
Works without folding anything. Rare on a house, common on a shop.
How deep should a garage be?
Deeper than your car is long. A 20 ft deep garage does not hold a 20 ft vehicle. You also need room to walk in front, room behind, and space for whatever sits on the back wall.
A long-box pickup, a workbench and room to walk around the front need nearly 28 ft. The common 22 ft garage does not fit it.
Start with the real length. The 2026 Ford F-150 SuperCrew, standard body with the 6.5 ft box is 243.9 in, or 20.3 ft. With the 5.5 ft box it is 232 in. Neither fits a 20 ft garage with anything in front of it.
Add room to walk around. Three feet at the front turns a tight parking spot into a garage. With less, you cannot get past the front of the vehicle. The back wall becomes storage you cannot reach while the car is in.
Add room behind. Two feet behind the tailgate lets the door close without you parking to the inch every night.
Add what goes on the back wall. An empty workbench is thirty inches deep. Shelving is twelve to eighteen. A chest freezer is thirty. In most homes these are what the garage is really for, and sizing guides leave them out.
The result. The common 22 ft depth works for a mid-size car with a little storage. It does not work for a full-size pickup with a workbench. The shortfall is five or six feet.
Which garage dimensions do people forget?
Door swing, ceiling space, door height and the driveway approach. Width and depth get planned. These four get discovered after the build.
Room to open the car door
Getting the car in is one problem. Getting out of it is another, and you face that one every day.
An adult needs about two and a half to three feet to open a car door and step out easily. In a two-car garage, that is the gap between the cars. It is why a 20 ft wide double garage feels cramped and a 24 ft one does not.
Ceiling space above the door
A ceiling-rail opener needs clear ceiling for the full travel of the door, plus the motor. Overhead storage and car lifts need that same space.
Want overhead storage or a lift? Put it on the drawing now. It points to a wall-mounted opener and a taller ceiling, both much cheaper to plan than to add later. The opener selector walks through the choice.
Door height, for anything with a roof rack
A 7 ft door is standard on houses. 8 ft is common on newer homes. A roof box, roof tent, bike on the roof or a camper van all need the height, and no sizing calculator asks about them.
Measure the tallest thing you own with whatever usually sits on top. The door track and opener hang below the ceiling, so the clear height is less than the ceiling height.
The driveway in front of the door
If you can only get in by swinging wide across a neighbor’s grass strip, you will stop using the garage. Driveway width and the turn in front of the door are part of the design, even though they sit outside the building.
This is worst on a narrow lot with a side-entry garage. There, the turning room in front of the door often limits the design more than the garage does.
What size is a 1-, 2- or 3-car garage?
Two-car plans commonly run from 20 × 22 ft to 22 × 22 ft, and 24 × 24 ft is comfortable. These are planning sizes, not code minimums. No national code says a two-car garage is 22 by 22. Where stall sizes are regulated, local zoning sets them to define legal parking, not comfort.
Configuration
Common envelope
Comfortable
What the extra space buys
One car, no storage
12 × 22 ft
14 × 24 ft
Room to open the doors on both sides, and a bench at the back you can still reach.
One full-size pickup
14 × 24 ft
16 × 28 ft
The depth for a long-box truck plus room to walk around, per the math above.
Two cars
20 × 22 ft
24 × 24 ft
A middle gap so both drivers can open a door fully. This is the biggest comfort factor in a double garage.
Two cars plus workshop
24 × 24 ft
24 × 30 ft
A bench and tool storage along the back wall that still lets you park.
Two cars plus side storage
24 × 24 ft
28 × 24 ft
A full-depth storage strip down one side for bikes, a mower and shelves, without losing a parking space.
Three cars
32 × 22 ft
36 × 26 ft
Three usable bays instead of two and a squeeze. This usually means two doors, not three.
HyreGarage planning figures. Check your zoning code for the minimum stall size that counts as required parking. Those numbers matter for a permit. They are often smaller than what feels comfortable to use.
What should you measure before planning a garage?
Your vehicles, your storage and your driveway. Twenty minutes with a tape now saves years of living with a number somebody guessed.
Your vehicles, over the mirrors
Measure with the mirrors set the way you drive. Note both folded and extended widths, and be honest about whether you will fold them every day.
Your vehicles, bumper to bumper
Include anything always attached: a tow hitch, a bike rack, a spare wheel carrier. These add real inches and never appear in the brochure length.
The tallest thing you park, with whatever rides on its roof
Compare it with the clear height under the door track, not the ceiling height.
The depth of whatever goes on the back wall
Bench, shelves, freezer, bike rack. Add it to the vehicle length before you settle the depth.
The gap you need between two vehicles
Open a car door where you park now and measure how far it swings. Use that number, not a rule of thumb.
The approach outside
How much room is there to line up on the driveway? Does anything, such as a fence, a tree or a neighbor’s curb, limit the turn?
Your zoning code’s minimum stall size
If this garage must count as required parking, the zoning code sets a minimum. Build above it, but know what it is.
Four numbers to bring to the drawing
95.7 inis a full-size pickup over its standard mirrors, against a 96 in (8 ft) doorFord, 2026 Ford F-150 SuperCrew, standard body
20.3 ftis the long-box version bumper to bumper, before any room in front of itFord, published specification
~3 ftis how much door swing an adult needs to get out of a car easily. It decides whether a double garage feels comfortableHyreGarage planning allowance
30 inis an empty workbench. Add it to the vehicle length before you settle the depthHyreGarage planning allowance
Is one wide garage door or two single doors better?
Two 9 ft doors suit most homes with ordinary cars and a roomy driveway. One wide door suits a tight approach or an oversized vehicle. Too often the choice is made on looks alone.
One 16 or 18 ft door
Easier to park through. There is no center post to miss, and you can enter either bay from any angle. On a tight driveway that is a big practical gain.
Cheaper. One door, one opener, one set of hardware. Two single doors means two of everything except the opening.
Better for oversized vehicles and anything you bring in at an angle, such as a boat, a trailer or a long ladder.
The downsides. It is a much bigger opening, so it needs a bigger beam above it. In a flying-debris wind zone the rating is harder to meet and the door costs more. It also loses more heat and leaves a bigger hole when open.
Two 8 or 9 ft doors
You only open the half you need. Less heat lost, less weather in, and less of the garage on show to the street. If the garage is also a workshop, this matters more than it sounds.
A breakdown strands one car, not two. A broken spring on a single door affects one bay. On a double door it affects both.
Smaller openings are easier to build and, where a wind rating applies, much cheaper to rate.
The downsides. The center post takes space, and you have to steer around it every time. Each door must also pass the mirror math above. That is exactly where an 8 ft door quietly becomes a problem.
HyreGarage view: with ordinary vehicles and a roomy driveway, two 9 ft doors usually make the better long-term garage. If the approach is tight or you own something oversized, one wide door earns its extra cost every day. Pricing a new door? Try the garage door cost calculator.
What do the terms on a garage plan mean?
These words appear on plans and door quotes. Knowing them helps you read a drawing instead of just looking at it.
Headroom
The space from the top of the door opening to the ceiling or the lowest thing in the way. It decides which track and which opener will fit. Low-headroom hardware exists and costs more.
Backroom
How far into the garage the open door reaches. For a standard lift, it is roughly the door height plus a couple of feet.
Side room
The clear wall on each side of the opening for the upright track and, with torsion springs, the spring mount. Usually a few inches, and a real limit on a garage built tight to a corner.
Clear opening
The actual hole once the frame and door stop are in. It is always smaller than the rough opening, and it is the number your vehicle must pass through.
Rough opening
The framed hole before the door and frame go in. It is the number on a framing drawing, not the one to measure your car against.
Stall dimension
The minimum length and width a zoning code requires for a space to count as off-street parking. It is a legal minimum, not a comfortable size, and often the limit on a partial conversion.
High lift
A track setup that raises the door higher before it turns flat, freeing the ceiling just behind the opening. It is needed for a car lift and requires extra headroom.
Setback
The minimum distance a building must sit from a property line. Zoning sets it, and on a detached garage it usually decides the footprint first.
What can this garage size planner not do?
It gives a starting size, not a permit drawing. Use it to bring a sensible number to a designer, and to check whether a number someone gave you makes sense.
It does not know your zoning. Setbacks, lot coverage limits, maximum outbuilding size and minimum stall sizes are all local. Any of them can decide the footprint before your vehicles do.
The vehicle figures are one maker’s, for one vehicle. Ford publishes them, so anyone can check them. They are a worked example. Yours will differ, and measuring takes five minutes.
The sizes are planning conventions. HyreGarage holds no data on built garages. We do not claim these sizes are typical or ideal. They come from the math above plus ordinary allowances, and they are labeled that way.
It does not design garages. Structure, foundation, drainage and how the garage joins the house are work for a qualified designer. None of it is on this page. Turning the garage into a room instead? See garage conversion.
Questions this calculator answers
What size garage do I need for two cars?
About 22 by 22 feet is a common planning size. That is 484 square feet. A large truck or a workbench needs more. Check local zoning for stall sizes.
How big is a one-car garage?
A common planning size is 12 by 22 feet, or 264 square feet. A three-car garage is often 32 by 22 feet.
Will a full-size pickup fit in my garage?
Check the width over the mirrors, not the body. Ford lists the 2026 F-150 at 79.9 in for the body and 95.7 in with standard mirrors out. That leaves 0.3 in in a 96 in (8 ft) door. See cars vs garage sizes.
Is there a building code for garage size?
No national code sets a garage size. Stall width and backup distance come from local zoning or the adopted building code. The sizes here are planning numbers.
How much extra space does a garage workshop need?
This planner adds 8 feet of depth behind the cars for a workbench or workshop. Side storage for cabinets, a fridge or tires adds 4 feet of width.
Sources and methodology
Figures dated August 23, 2026. Last reviewed .
2026 Ford F-150 technical specifications (Ford Motor Company, retrieved 2026-09-05. The worked example for vehicle width over mirrors: 79.9 in body, 95.7 in mirrors extended, 105.9 in with trailer-tow mirrors extended. The maker publishes the figures, so anyone can check them.)
Adopted state and local building codes (ICC, retrieved 2026-08-23. Parking stall sizes, where they exist, live in zoning or the adopted building code. This page does not quote a national stall size.)