How Much Weight Can An Air Mattress Hold?


LiveLifeBig.net may earn a small commission when you use one of the links on this page to purchase.
how much weight can an air mattress hold

Air mattresses are great for guests in the home or for enjoying the outdoors while camping.

But exactly how much weight they can hold can be a little confusing to figure out. They seem strong but at the same time, you wouldn’t want to risk a big pop in the middle of the night.

Or more likely, a terrible night of sleep as the mattress slowly drains under too much weight.

So how much weight can an air mattress hold? Weight capacity will vary between brands but most quality queen or king-sized air mattresses hold around 600 pounds. Smaller air mattresses, like twins, will usually have a weight capacity closer to 300 or 400 pounds. You can find some air mattresses that are capable of supporting as much as 800 pounds. 

600 pounds might sound like a lot to some folks but when you consider that it’s often two people sleeping on one mattress, it’s easy to see how a weight capacity of even 400 pounds just won’t cut it for most.

As is often the case, it’s also a good idea to make sure you’re not pushing the limits too much and you’re well within the weight limits of your mattress.

Let’s take a closer look at the weight capacity of your typical air mattress by reviewing some of the most popular brands and taking a look at what impacts weight capacity.

What’s the Average Weight Capacity of an Air Mattress?

To get a better of the weight capacity for your average air mattress, I grabbed a mostly random sample of the top air mattresses based on the number of reviews on Amazon.

I say mostly because I did purposely include The Englander which was our number one pick for the best air mattress for heavy folks and I also wanted to give an example of an air mattress with a higher-end weight capacity

I only selected queen or king-sized beds but besides that, these are just 6 of the air mattresses that Amazon gave me.

Take a look:

Englander Cal King Size Air Mattress w/Built in Pump - Luxury Double High Inflatable Bed for Home,...
SoundAsleep Dream Series Luxury Air Mattress with ComfortCoil Technology & Built-in High Capacity...
King Koil Luxury Air Mattress Queen with Built-in Pump for Home, Camping & Guests - 20” Queen Size...
Intex Dura-Beam Deluxe Comfort Plush Air Mattress Series with Internal Pump
EnerPlex King Air Mattress with Built-in Pump - 16 Inch Double Height Inflatable Mattress for...
HOUSE DAY Queen Air Mattress with Built in Pump-Premium Inflatable Mattress for Home, Camping &...
Brand
Englander
Sound Asleep Dream Series
King Koil
Intex Dura-Beam
EnerPlex
HouseDay
Size
California King
Queen
Queen
Queen
King
Queen
Weight Capacity
800 pounds
500 pounds
600 pounds
600 pounds
300 pounds
650 pounds
Technology
Coil Beam
ComfortCoil (Coil Beam)
Coil Beam
Beams
Coil Beam
Coil Beam
Amazon Rating
-
-
-
-
-
Englander Cal King Size Air Mattress w/Built in Pump - Luxury Double High Inflatable Bed for Home,...
Brand
Englander
Size
California King
Weight Capacity
800 pounds
Technology
Coil Beam
Amazon Rating
SoundAsleep Dream Series Luxury Air Mattress with ComfortCoil Technology & Built-in High Capacity...
Brand
Sound Asleep Dream Series
Size
Queen
Weight Capacity
500 pounds
Technology
ComfortCoil (Coil Beam)
Amazon Rating
-
King Koil Luxury Air Mattress Queen with Built-in Pump for Home, Camping & Guests - 20” Queen Size...
Brand
King Koil
Size
Queen
Weight Capacity
600 pounds
Technology
Coil Beam
Amazon Rating
-
Intex Dura-Beam Deluxe Comfort Plush Air Mattress Series with Internal Pump
Brand
Intex Dura-Beam
Size
Queen
Weight Capacity
600 pounds
Technology
Beams
Amazon Rating
-
EnerPlex King Air Mattress with Built-in Pump - 16 Inch Double Height Inflatable Mattress for...
Brand
EnerPlex
Size
King
Weight Capacity
300 pounds
Technology
Coil Beam
Amazon Rating
-
HOUSE DAY Queen Air Mattress with Built in Pump-Premium Inflatable Mattress for Home, Camping &...
Brand
HouseDay
Size
Queen
Weight Capacity
650 pounds
Technology
Coil Beam
Amazon Rating
-

If we average these weights, excluding The Englander which is a bit of an outlier, we see an average weight capacity of 530 pounds. If we exclude the 300 pound pick, then we see an average weight of more than 600 pounds.

Again, this makes sense when you consider that these beds are made for more than one person to sleep in.

What Impacts the Weight Capacity of an Air Mattress?

The biggest variable impacting the weight capacity of an air mattress is the technology and design inside the air mattress. While strong external materials will help and are pretty much a requirement, there’s a massive difference between the cheap single chamber air mattresses that were popular decades ago and the modern multiple chamber air mattresses of today.

You’ll notice that every air mattress in the table above includes either a beam or coil beam construction. This type of construction distributes weight across the entire mattress and greatly increases overall capacity.

Let’s take a closer look at the three types of construction you’ll see in the world of air mattresses.

Single or Double Chambers

These days, it’s hard to find a single to double chamber air mattress. That’s because this technology just doesn’t work very well and leads to low weight capacity, poor support, and a generally saggy air mattress.

The design is exactly what it sounds like and the construction is simply one or two chambers that are filled with air. While you probably won’t find many air mattresses with this design, you’ll still see this on smaller items like sleeping pads.

Air Beam Design

This type of construction features rows of air pockets that each individually fills with air. They run in the opposite direction of the sleeper to provide maximum support from head to toe.

You can see a great illustration of what these look like here:

air beam design showing weight distribution on air mattress
This picture from the Intex Dura-Beam makes it easy to see why this is called air beam technology! Each row, or beam, is filled with air which is way better than the old school single or double chamber.

But some companies have taken this even further by adding even more chambers!

Coil Beam or Air Coil Design

Instead of having individual beams filled with air, the coil beam design has dozens of columns each filled with air that support even more weight.

It’s a lot easier to see in this picture for the HOUSEDAY Queen air mattress:

Notice how there are way more air pockets compared to beam design which means even more weight distribution.

It’s actually the same principle that explains why a person can lie down on a bed of nails without being injured. Multiple nails, just like multiple air coils or columns, split up the total weight and support the additional load.

Is Weight Capacity Different Between Air Mattress Sizes?

Weight capacity does differ between different sized air mattresses but probably not as much as you’d think.

The differences in weight capacity between king-size and queen-size air mattresses is pretty minimal and sometimes there no difference at all within the same brands. Even though these two beds are obviously different sizes, there’s not a huge difference in the number of beams or coils that can be added and so the support is usually comparable.

The same is mostly true for the full size bed which is close to a queen.

However, when it comes to twin-sized beds, you’ll find a lot more options that have a weight capacity of 300 pounds. Again, this makes sense when you consider that it’s unusual for two people to try and share a twin-sized bed.

That being said, you can still find plenty of twin-sized beds that can support heavy folks in the 500 pound range.

Closing Thoughts

I’m pretty darn confident that we’ve covered everything you’ve ever wanted to know about the weight capacity of an air mattress.

And probably a little bit more too!

But now you’re fully educated and ready for a good night’s sleep!

Camila R.

Camila is a body positive blogger and fat activist that's focused on helping people of all sizes live life big! That means accepting yourself at any size and just enjoying life! She lives in New Mexico with her husband and two chihauhuas.

Recent Posts