RV park and campground calculator

How this works

Enter the gross acres and the state, and pick the county or city where our research holds a local rule. Then enter the site mix: full-hookup RV sites, partial-hookup sites with water and power but no sewer, RV sites with no hookups, and tent or primitive sites. The calculator returns a preliminary estimate for each part of the program a preliminary site plan carries in its site data table, and it names the rule behind every figure. The inputs stay in the link, so a result can be shared and reopened.

The calculator does not compute internal road length, a layout or pad sizes: no source in our research supplies a method for them. A drawn RV park site plan does that work on the actual parcel.

Sites per acre

The calculator estimates no site count from a density observed in approvals. The density statistics and clusters our research found are computed over a set of approvals that includes machine-written meeting summaries, which the research itself says should be replaced with staff reports before public use, so none of them is shown. The calculator checks the site mix you enter against any verified density cap instead, and lists the approvals below as evidence, not as a rate.

Four approvals with primary documents show the spread. The Uintah County Planning Commission approved Rhoades RV Park unanimously, with 38 RV sites on 1.71 gross acres, or 22.2 sites per gross acre ^[1]. The Grants Pass Urban Area Planning Commission approved Jantzer RV Park 7-0, with 87 RV sites on 5.83 gross acres, or 14.9 per acre ^[2]. In Palm Beach County, the West Atlantic RV Resort staff report counts 113 RV sites and 8 camping cabins, 121 in all, on 10.11 gross acres, or 12.0 per acre ^[3]. The Adirondack Park Agency approved Woods Hollow RV Park unanimously, with 277 sites on 83.4 acres, or 3.3 per acre ^[4]. The guide to RV sites per acre covers the planning side of these numbers.

Density caps and minimum park size

Where our research verified a density cap stated per acre, the calculator caps the count, names the cap and keeps the lowest where several apply. Florida caps RV parks at 25 RV units per gross acre statewide for new or modified parks, and sets 1,200 sf per RV space and 500 sf per tent space ^[5]. Local codes can be stricter. Palm Bay, Florida, caps RV parks at 15 RV sites per gross acre, with a 10 acre minimum park size ^[6]. Sutherlin, Oregon, allows 22 sites per acre, or 25 with a density bonus, with a 2 acre minimum ^[7]. Alamosa County, Colorado, allows 8 sites per acre on average, with a 12 acre minimum ^[8]. Parker County, Texas, requires a 5.0 acre minimum tract and allows 60 spaces maximum on a 5.0 acre tract ^[9], and the calculator shows that cap as written rather than turning it into a rate per acre. The Florida RV park page and the Polk County model project show the Florida cap on a drawn site.

Michigan requires a 1,200 sf minimum site area, 15 ft of road frontage per site and a 4 ft clear path around each unit in all campgrounds ^[10]. The calculator multiplies each minimum site area by the sites entered and reports the share of the gross area the sites alone take, before roads and amenities.

Electrical load under NEC Article 551

NEC 551.71 requires 30 A, 125 V receptacles at 70 percent of electrified sites and 50 A receptacles at 40 percent of new sites (20 percent of existing), with every 50 A site also carrying a 30 A receptacle ^[11]. The 50 A share for new sites was raised from 20 to 40 percent in the 2017 NEC ^[12]. Dedicated tent sites with 15 or 20 A supply may be excluded when computing the 30 A and 50 A percentages ^[13]. The calculator uses the minimum 50 A share unless you enter a count, and gives every other powered RV site a 20 A and a 30 A receptacle.

For the calculated load, 551.73(A) counts 12,000 VA per 50 A site, 3,600 VA per site with both 20 A and 30 A, 2,400 VA per site with 20 A only and 600 VA per dedicated tent site with 20 A only ^[14]. Table 551.73(A) demand factors fall from 100 percent at 1 site to 41 percent at 36 or more sites, and they do not apply to bathhouses, recreation buildings, pools and similar loads ^[14]. In a published worked example, 20 sites at 45 percent of 3,600 VA gives 1,620 VA per site, or 32,400 VA in total ^[15]; the first worked example below repeats it.

These NEC values come from secondary reproductions of the code tables, and the calculator labels them that way. Which NEC edition a state has adopted is not verified in our research, so each result states the edition logic it uses: the values from 2017 onward, with the earlier 20 percent share and 9,600 VA basis for a 50 A site shown beside them ^{[12, 14]}.

Water and wastewater design flows

The calculator multiplies the sites of each kind by the state's design flow, adds them, and compares the total with the state's review thresholds. Texas sets 50 gpd per travel trailer or RV park space, or 40 gpd with water-saving devices, and per-person rates for parks with a bathhouse (15 gpd, or 12 with devices) and without one (10 gpd, or 8) ^[16]. Its Chapter 285 on-site sewage rules apply to an RV park only with combined wastewater flow of less than 5,000 gallons per day ^[16]. Michigan sets 75 gal per site for sites with water and sewer outlets and for sites served by service buildings, 30 gpd per primitive site and 150 gal per park model site ^[10]. Michigan wells must deliver at least 30 gpm, or the sum of 1 gpm per park model connection plus 0.5 gpm per other site connection if that is higher ^[10].

North Carolina's 18E table sets 100 gal per RV space, 70 gal per campsite served by a bathhouse and 150 gal per park model space ^[17]. Its 02T table for non-discharge permits sets 100 gal per campsite with hookups, 75 without, and 50 gal per space for a campground dump station ^[18]. The local health department may approve RV park systems up to 1,500 gpd, and state review is required above 3,000 gpd unreduced design daily flow, for unapproved advanced pretreatment or for any system receiving dump-station waste ^[19]. The North Carolina RV park and Texas RV park pages cover the rest of each state's approval path.

Every state applies at least the federal public water system test: at least 15 service connections, or regularly serving an average of at least 25 individuals daily at least 60 days a year ^[20]. The calculator compares persons only when you enter persons per site, and it compares the sites with a water hookup against the connection test while stating that whether each hookup is one service connection is not verified in our research. Partial-hookup sites have no category in any verified table, so a total that leaves them out says so.

Fixtures, traffic, roads and parking

Florida requires, per park, 1 toilet and 1 urinal for men and 2 toilets for women, with the same set repeated for each 25 non-self-contained spaces or fraction, and 1 dump station per 100 spaces or fraction, or 1 per 250 spaces or fraction when more than 50 percent of spaces have sewer hookups ^[5]. A full-hookup, self-contained-only park may file an exemption letter (64E-15.005(6)) ^[5]. The calculator counts the sites without a sewer hookup as the non-self-contained spaces, and says so. Michigan requires a sanitary station, and for a primitive campground 1 privy per sex plus a water outlet per 25 sites ^[10].

For traffic, the calculator multiplies the occupied sites by the ITE PM peak hour rate for land use 416, Campground/Recreational Vehicle Park: 0.27 trips per occupied campsite in the 11th Edition (2021), as a city fee table republishes it ^[21]. It is a published trip rate from a thin dataset of 6 studies, not a code requirement ^[22].

Road widths start from NFPA 1194, a model standard for recreational vehicle parks and campgrounds ^[23]. For roads designed for all camping unit types and sizes, it sets 10 ft per traffic lane and 8 ft per parallel parking lane, and roads leading to accessory structures need 20 ft of unobstructed width and 13.5 ft of vertical clearance ^[23]. Adopted codes set their own widths. Oregon sets 10 ft per traffic lane and 10 ft per parking lane on park streets used by the public ^[24]. Fruita, Colorado, which adopts NFPA 1194 by reference, requires 28 ft two-way roads and 20 ft one-way roads ^[25]. TxDOT's Table 4-1 gives the MH/B, a motor home with a boat trailer, a 49.8 ft design radius and a 35 ft inside radius ^[26]; which design vehicle should govern an RV park's loop roads is not stated there and is not verified in our research.

Michigan's campground rules require 1.5 parking spaces per site, on sites or in a separate lot ^[10]. Tucson requires 1 parking space per campsite ^[27], Houston's Sec. 26-492 does not codify the use ^[28], and Milwaukee's Table 295-403-2-a has no row for it ^[29]; the parking requirements lookup covers other city rules. The campground site plan and glamping site plan pages cover the tent and cabin side of a program.