Free freight class calculator.

The 2026 freight class chart — the 13-sub NMFC density scale

Since July 19, 2025, most general commodities take their class from this table. Find your density in pounds per cubic foot; the class beside it is the density-suggested class. Ranges run lower-bound inclusive, upper-bound exclusive — exactly 30.0 PCF is class 60, exactly 50.0 PCF is class 50.

NMFTA has kept amending the NMFC since — Docket 2025-2 took effect in December 2025 and Docket 2026-1 followed in spring 2026, both canceling and consolidating more commodity items. The 13 density breaks above are unchanged through the supplements we've reviewed; we re-verify this table against each new docket.

How to measure — the way a carrier will

• Measure at the greatest point of each dimension, projections included. If cartons overhang the pallet, the overhang is the measurement, not the pallet edge — a dimensioner will find it even if you don't.
• Include the pallet, both ways. Density is computed on the handling unit as tendered: the pallet's height counts in the dims and its weight counts on the scale.
• Multiply L × W × H in inches, divide by 1,728. That's your cubic feet.
• Divide weight by cube. Total pounds as tendered ÷ cubic feet = density in PCF.

Worked example — the one NMFTA itself uses: a 48 × 40 × 45 inch pallet weighing 450 lbs. 48 × 40 × 45 = 86,400 cubic inches ÷ 1,728 = 50 cubic feet. 450 ÷ 50 = 9.00 PCF — the 8-but-less-than-10 band, class 100.

One honest note on rounding. The NMFC materials we can verify don't prescribe rounding the density value itself — NMFTA's own example keeps two decimals and compares the unrounded number against the breaks. Rounding each dimension up to the next whole inch is common carrier practice (it's what dimensioners and many rules tariffs do), not NMFC text. This calculator computes with your exact inputs and offers round-up as a toggle; your carrier's rules tariff has the final word.

Multiple pallets: two legal ways to compute

The NMFC's density rules compute density per handling unit — each pallet gets its own density and can land in its own class. There's one exception: when the shipping papers show only a total weight for all handling units, density may be computed on total weight ÷ total cube. The two methods can disagree — a shipment with one dense pallet and one light one can average into a band neither pallet occupies. The calculator above shows both: the per-line class next to each item, and the total-weight-÷-total-cube class in the result panel, with a flag when they diverge.

When density does not set the class

The 13-sub scale covers commodities NMFTA has identified as having no handling, stowability, or liability (HSL) issues. Where those characteristics exist, class follows the commodity's own provisions instead:

• Handling — articles difficult to handle for size, weight, shape, fragility, or the special care they need.
• Stowability — co-loading prohibitions (hazmat), excessive length, protrusions, freight that can't be tiered or bear a load on top.
• Liability — susceptibility to damage, propensity to damage adjacent freight, perishability, theft exposure.

Thousands of commodity-specific NMFC listings survived the 2025 overhaul. We deliberately don't republish NMFC item numbers or commodity descriptions here — they're NMFTA-licensed content, available through the paid ClassIT+ subscription. If your commodity plausibly has an HSL profile or its own listing, treat this calculator's output as a starting point and confirm the item with your carrier.

What changed in July 2025 — and why old charts are wrong

NMFTA's Docket 2025-1 canceled roughly 2,000 commodity items and folded them into generic items that class by the standard density scale, expanding it from 11 subs to 13 by adding classes 55 and 50 at the dense end. If you find an 18-row “density guidelines” chart that maps less-than-1 PCF to class 500, it predates July 2025 — plenty of those still rank in search, and quoting off one will misclass dense and light freight alike.

Also gone: the free NMFC Item Lookup Tool NMFTA launched as a temporary transition aid for the 2025 changes. It has been discontinued, and NMFC item data now lives exclusively in ClassIT+, NMFTA's paid subscription product. That's their call to make — the NMFC is their intellectual property — but it means a free, honest calculator has to stop at the density scale, which is public. This one does.

Where this feeds a carrier's workflow

If you run an LTL fleet or consolidate freight, class isn't a one-off lookup — it's a field on every shipment, and getting it wrong surfaces later as a reclass bill. Inside Keelway's LTL TMS for carriers, density computes live as dispatchers type pieces, weight, and dims onto a shipment; the class suggestion updates as they type, from measured dims when you have them or a standard-pallet estimate when you don't.

The suggested class then feeds the rating engine — your own tariffs by lane across the six standard LTL weight breaks (L5C through 10M), FAK class discounts, minimum-charge floors. And when quotes arrive by email, quote-from-email extracts pallets, weight, and dims and runs this same math before a dispatcher touches the keyboard.