Pool Gallons Chart: Round, Oval and Rectangle Sizes Listed

How many gallons in a 24 foot round pool depends on the water depth. With 4 feet of water, the usual depth behind a 52-inch wall, it's about 13,600 gallons, and behind a 48-inch wall with 3.5 feet of water it's about 11,900. The tables below cover the other standard sizes, with round and oval above-ground pools at 48, 52 and 54-inch walls, rectangle in-ground pools by average depth, and the tanker loads each one takes.

How to use the chart

Find your shape and size, then the column that matches your wall height or average depth. The figures use the standard pool-industry formulas, in feet, rounded to the nearest 100 gallons. A rectangle is length x width x average depth x 7.5, a round pool is diameter x diameter x depth x 5.9, and an oval is length x width x depth x 6.7.

The above-ground rows assume you fill to 4 to 6 inches below the top of the wall, which is about where most skimmers sit. That works out to 3.5 feet of water behind a 48-inch wall, 4 feet behind a 52-inch wall, and 50 inches (about 4.17 feet) behind a 54-inch wall. Fill lower and your number is smaller. For an exact figure from your own measurements, use the gallons calculator.

Round above-ground pools (12 to 33 ft) at 48, 52 and 54 inch walls

An 18 foot round pool holds about 7,600 gallons at 4 feet of water, a 24 foot round about 13,600, and a 27 foot round about 17,200. Volume climbs quickly because the diameter is squared, which is why a 24 foot pool holds almost twice what an 18 foot pool does.

Oval above-ground pools

A 15x30 oval above-ground pool holds about 12,100 gallons at 4 feet of water and a 16x32 about 13,700. An in-ground rectangle of the same length and width holds more, because it has more floor area than an oval and is usually deeper, as the next table shows.

Rectangle in-ground pools (12x24 to 20x40) by depth

Average depth is (shallow end + deep end) ÷ 2. A pool 3.5 feet at the steps and 6 feet at the deep end averages 4.75 feet, and many residential rectangles average somewhere between 4 and 5.5 feet.

That puts a 16x32 in-ground pool anywhere from about 15,400 to 21,100 gallons depending on depth. The 18,240 figure you'll see on many sites is the 4.75 ft average. If most of the pool is shallow and the deep end is a small hopper, the true average sits closer to the shallow depth, so use a lower column.

Freeform and kidney pools

Split the pool into a rectangle and one or two half-circles, work each one out and add them up. For a quicker estimate, use the longest length, the average width and the oval formula. A kidney pool 32 feet long and about 16 feet wide on average, with a 4.5 foot average depth, comes out around 15,400 gallons that way. The builder's drawings, if you have them, beat any formula.

Tanker loads for each size

Water trucks typically carry 6,000 to 8,000 gallons, and haulers price by the load, so the rounding matters. On an 8,000-gallon truck, 8,100 gallons is two loads. The loads below use the 52-inch wall or 4.5 ft average columns and assume one truck size for the whole job. Your quote confirms the count for the hauler's actual trucks.

Most one and two-load pools are above-ground pools, and our above-ground pool fill page covers how those deliveries work. Larger in-ground pools are usually full the same day by truck, against anywhere from one to nearly four days by hose. The complete fill guide covers the procedure for each surface, and filling without a hose bib covers your options when there's no outdoor tap.

Frequently asked questions

How many gallons is a 24 foot round pool with a 52 inch wall?

It holds about 13,600 gallons at 4 feet of water (24 x 24 x 4 x 5.9). With a 48-inch wall and 3.5 feet of water it's about 11,900 gallons, and with a 54-inch wall and 50 inches of water about 14,200.

How many gallons is an 18 foot round pool?

About 7,600 gallons at 4 feet of water, 6,700 at 3.5 feet and 8,000 at 50 inches. At 4 feet that's one load on an 8,000-gallon truck and two on a 6,000-gallon truck, so ask which truck the hauler runs.

Why is the chart lower than my pool's advertised capacity?

Some manufacturers and retailers quote capacity with the pool filled to or near the top of the wall, while in use the water sits 4 to 6 inches lower. The chart uses the real water depth, which is what sets loads, chemical doses and hose time.

How accurate do I need to be to get a delivery price?

Within a few hundred gallons is close enough. Loads are the unit of pricing, so what matters is which side of a load line you fall on, at every 6,000 or 8,000 gallons depending on the truck. Steps and benches can take a few percent off the real volume. The delivery day checklist covers what else to have ready once you know the number.

Found your size? Put the gallons, the ZIP and the hose distance into the quote form and you'll see an estimate right away, then a person confirms one delivered price. Start my quote.