Mattress Cost
How Much You Need to Spend for a Good Mattress

Mattresses are available at all price points. The cheapest are less than $500, and the most expensive can exceed $10,000. Within this range, there is something for all budgets. So how much should you spend to get the right mattress for you?

How Much Should You Spend on a Mattress?

We're going to give it to you straight. For a quality queen-size mattress that will last at least 8 years or more as your primary bed, expect to spend at least $1,200 to $2,000. Addressing more specific considerations or concerns can increase the cost from there – more on that below.

At the low end of the market, the quality of cheaper mattresses — especially ones sold at major mattress chains — has declined over the last decade. That means you can still walk into a store and buy a queen size mattress for $500, but unless you are the type of person that can sleep soundly on anything, there’s a decent chance you will ultimately be disappointed. By the same token, cheap mattresses that are sold online tend to be make more grandiose marketing claims, but in the end are similarly low-quality.

At the high end of the market, products become more specialized. You have everything from luxurious products made with the most natural materials to high-tech products made with the most modern materials. These mattresses start in the mid-high thousands of dollars, and run well into the tens of thousands. Just as with most product categories – cars, wine, clothing, etc. – the additional benefits you get at the highest levels will be much harder to justify unless you are in a position to comfortably spend that kind of money on this product.

This brings us to value. When people ask us whether something is a "good value" or "worth it," the truth is that this is an impossible question for anyone but you to answer. A wine expert can tell you that $25 is a fair price for one bottle of wine, and that $100 is a fair price for another. But they should never tell you that the latter bottle is "worth the upgrade" — because that will depend on how much you can afford to spend, what your standards are, and even what your personal tastes are. With mattresses, your own personal assessment of value should be a function of how well the mattress fits your body shape and sleep position(s), how you like the feel of it, how well its features address your key priorities, and of course how closely its price aligns with your budget.

Net, anyone that tells you that it's categorically "worth it" to spend $x on a mattress, or that a given mattress is "worth the upgrade" is either speaking ignorantly on behalf of their own personal criteria and circumstances (not yours), or is simply trying to sell you a mattress.

Factors that Can Add Money to Your Mattress Purchase

For most people, the starting point for a mattress should be one that first gives them proper spinal alignment and adequate pressure relief (each of which are a matter of personal fit), and second has the quality to last them at least 8 years of regular use. Beyond those basics, mattresses are like any other product — the more additional criteria you add (eg, natural materials, cooling, motion isolation, edge support, etc.) to better accommodate your personal preferences, the more expensive it's likely to be. To use an analogy, if you are shopping for an apartment and your only criteria is that it be big enough to house two people, you'll have countless options at a wide range of price points. But as you start to add criteria — neighborhood, amenities, floor plan, finishes, outdoor space, natural light, and so on — the number of options narrows quickly and the resulting prices for the ones that match all your criteria will be higher. Mattresses work the exact same way.

Because of this dynamic, your job as a shopper is to identify your criteria to focus your search and then prioritize it so you can make appropriate price trade-offs as needed. In general, we think of proper spinal alignment and adequate pressure relief as must-have items on which no compromises can be made. That means the remaining criteria that you'll need to consider falls into what we call Feel and Features. Here are some key examples:

Performance Features

Comfort & Feel

• Softness
• Cushioning Depth
• Memory Feel
• Bounce

What About a "Light Use" Mattress?

If you are outfitting a second home on a budget that might only see seasonal or weekend use, you can opt to spend less. In either case, since this mattress will not be your primary sleep surface, it's somewhat less critical that it delivers optimal spinal alignment, pressure relief, comfort & feel characteristics, and performance features. And of course, since it won’t see as much use, a lower quality mattress should fatigue more slowly than it would as your primary mattress.

The same goes if you're buying a mattress for a guest room. Since it will be used only occasionally, its durability and longevity are less of a concern. In addition, because the mattress may be used by a variety of different people, the idea of investing more in order to get a mattress that matches more of your specific requirements doesn't really apply. Rather, you can opt for a "middle of the road" type of feel and a more basic feature set, which can save you some money.

Another consideration is short-term use. For example, if you only plan to use a mattress while away at college, or you’re on a temporary work assignment away from your primary home, you may only need it to last a couple of years rather than the 8-10 years you can expect from a quality unit. In this case though, you still ought to ensure that it delivers what you need in terms of the other aspects of your personal mattress requirements, since this will be your primary sleep surface during that time period.

Getting the Best Price on a Mattress

Consumers tell us their biggest fear is getting ripped off when buying a mattress. We have a whole section on getting the best deal on a mattress – from timing your purchase to take advantage of the biggest sales, to negotiating in the store, to taking advantage of special GoodBed discounts and that can save you hundreds of dollars.