Free tool, no account

Bag of clothes value calculator

No published guide prices a bag, so this one does not pretend to. It prices a typical item from edition 2026.1 of our valuation dataset, multiplies it by a number of items you set yourself, and shows you both halves of that arithmetic. The result is an estimate an itemised list should replace.

What you dropped off

Everyday men's and women's garments: shirts, trousers, dresses, sweaters, sleepwear, and outerwear. No shoes and no accessories.

Count boxes the same way you count bags, then set the item count beside it to match how full they were.

Starts at 20. That figure is ours, not a published one: no guide in our source registry says how many garments fit in a bag, and this is the input that decides your answer. Change it to what you actually put in.

Condition

Used, complete, clean, and working, with no notable damage. The middle of the range.

Where the per-item figure comes from

A bag is not a thing any guide prices, so this tool does not pretend one is. It prices a typical item in the bag and multiplies.

Mixed adult clothing, good

$8 per item

Supported range $6 to $9 per item

That is the median of 113 separately valued rows in edition 2026.1 of the dataset, taken across the subcategories listed below. The median rather than the average, so one wool overcoat does not decide what a typical shirt is worth. Where the sample has an even number of rows the lower of the two middle values is used, so every figure printed here is one the published dataset actually contains. Low, high, and suggested are each taken independently.

Rows sitting at that median

Real entries from the dataset whose good figure is the one being multiplied, so the representative item is something you can look at rather than trust.

  • Women's Clothing: Blouse$6 to $9
  • Women's Clothing: Other$6 to $9
  • Women's Clothing: Fleece jacket$7 to $10
  • Women's Clothing: Swimsuit, Two-piece$7 to $10
The 20 dataset areas this sample was drawn from
  • Women's Clothing: Blouses and Shirts
  • Women's Clothing: Dresses
  • Women's Clothing: Exercise
  • Women's Clothing: Outerwear
  • Women's Clothing: Pants
  • Women's Clothing: Skirts
  • Women's Clothing: Sleepwear
  • Women's Clothing: Suits
  • Women's Clothing: Sweaters
  • Women's Clothing: Swimwear
  • Women's Clothing: Undergarments
  • Women's Clothing: Coats
  • Men's Clothing: Exercise
  • Men's Clothing: Outerwear
  • Men's Clothing: Shirts
  • Men's Clothing: Pants
  • Men's Clothing: Suits
  • Men's Clothing: Sweaters
  • Men's Clothing: Sleepwear and Underwear
  • Men's Clothing: Swimwear

Rows with no published range are left out of the sample rather than counted as nothing, which would drag the median down for a reason unrelated to what the guides say.

Value sources behind this sample

Every row in the sample is listed with its own range in Clothing.

How it works

Four inputs, and one of them is yours

Three of these come from the dataset. The fourth is an assumption, and the tool says so rather than burying it.

  1. 1

    Say what was in the bags

    Mixed adult clothing, children's clothing, shoes, or linens and household textiles. Each one is a named slice of the valuation dataset, not a category we made up for this page.

  2. 2

    Count the bags, then say how full they were

    The tool starts at 20 items in a bag because it has to start somewhere. That figure is not published anywhere and it is the input that decides your answer, so change it to what you actually put in.

  3. 3

    Pick the condition they were in

    Like new, Good, or Fair. The per-item figure moves with the tier, because the published guides price the tiers separately and so does the dataset.

  4. 4

    Treat the result as a starting point

    You get an estimate and the range around it, plus the arithmetic that produced it. A real itemised list replaces it and is worth more than it, which is where the next link goes.

Like new
Unworn or barely used, with tags or as good as. The top of the published range.
Good
Used, complete, clean, and working, with no notable damage. The middle of the range.
Fair
Visible wear but still usable and saleable. The bottom of the range, and generally the lowest condition that can be claimed at all.
Where the numbers come from

The per-item figure is a median, not a guess

A composition is a named slice of the dataset. Its representative value is the middle of that slice, computed the same way every time.

  1. A composition names whole subcategories. Mixed adult clothing is 20subcategories of men's and women's garments, listed in the tool above. Only rows with a published range are sampled, because a row nobody prices is not worth zero, it is unpriced.
  2. Three medians per condition tier, taken independently. The median published low, the median published high, and the median suggested value. The suggested figure is the one the tool multiplies; the other two give it the range it shows around the answer.
  3. The median, not the average. One wool overcoat in the sample should not decide what a typical shirt is worth. On an even-sized sample the lower of the two middle values is taken, so every figure printed is a figure the dataset actually contains rather than a computed midpoint between two of them.
  4. The examples are the median. The rows shown under each composition are real entries whose good used condition value is exactly the figure being multiplied, spread across the categories the sample was drawn from. You can look at what the representative item is instead of trusting that there is one.
What it does not do

The honest limits of a bag estimate

A tool that overstates what it can do is worth less than one that says where it stops, and this tool stops early.

  • It does not know how many items you gave. That number is not in Publication 561, not in any thrift guide we cite, and not in our dataset. It is your assumption, the tool prints it as yours, and the answer moves in a straight line with it. Doubling the count doubles the estimate.
  • It does not know what was in the bag. A composition is a typical mix, so a bag of designer coats and a bag of worn t-shirts get the same per-item figure from the same selection. If the contents are unusual in either direction, the median is the wrong tool and the itemised calculator is the right one.
  • It does not produce a record. An estimate is not a description of donated property, and a description is what the paperwork asks for. There is also no account and no server here, so the numbers disappear when you close the tab. What Form 8283 asks for.
  • It does not tell you what you saved. Fair market value is not the deduction, and the deduction is not the tax. Those depend on whether you itemise, on your income, and on the year you are filing for.
Then what

Replace the estimate with a list

This is the page that should send you somewhere else. An estimate answers a question. A list answers a return.

There is no published per-bag figure, so this builds one the only honest way: a stated number of items per bag times a representative per-item value drawn from the dataset, both shown and both adjustable. It is an estimate that a real itemized list should replace, and it says so before it says the number.

More free tools

The rest of the toolkit

All free, all in the browser, none of them asking for an account.

Everything together on the free tools page.

FAQ

Questions about bag values

How much is a bag of clothes worth for taxes?
There is no published per-bag figure, so the honest answer is a multiplication you can check rather than a number to quote. In edition 2026.1 of our dataset the median item of mixed adult clothing in good used condition sits at $8, in a supported range of $6 to $9. Multiply that by however many garments were actually in the bag. Children's clothing is priced lower by the same guides, at a median of $3.75 per item in good condition.
How many items are in a bag of clothes?
We do not know, and neither does any source in our registry. A kitchen bag of t-shirts and a contractor bag of coats are not the same donation. The tool starts at 20 because a calculator has to start somewhere, prints that assumption on screen, and lets you change it. If you want the count to be defensible, count the items as they go in the bag rather than reconstructing it later.
Can I deduct a bag of clothes without listing what was in it?
A bag is not a description. The IRS generally expects a record of what you gave and its condition, and once your noncash total for the year passes $500 Form 8283 asks for a description of the donated property in writing. At $250 or more you also need a contemporaneous written acknowledgment from the organization, which is a separate rule with its own deadline. What to collect, at which threshold.
Why is this estimate lower than I expected?
Because it is the median of what published thrift-valuation guides actually say, rather than what a garment cost new or what it might fetch from the right buyer. Fair market value for used clothing is generally what a willing buyer would pay a willing seller for it in its current condition, which is close to what the shop that receives it can sell it for. Our donation value guide shows the derivation for every range.
Does a box work the same way as a bag?
Yes, and that is the point of making the item count editable. Count boxes the same way you count bags, then set the items in each to match how full they were. The tool multiplies containers by items by a per-item value, so the container is only ever a way of counting.
Is a bag estimate good enough for an audit?
No, and no tool should tell you otherwise. An estimate built on an assumed item count is a starting point. A list of what you gave, with a condition and a sourced value on each line, is the thing that answers a question about a return. Build one in the itemised donation calculator. This is record-keeping, not tax advice.

Where the per-item values come from

Every range on this page traces to one of these. Values are derived from the published ranges, never copied from another product’s valuation database, and never invented where no source covers an item.

  1. Donation Value Guide (The Salvation Army Thrift Stores | Donation Valuation Guide)

    The Salvation Army (Thrift Stores / Adult Rehabilitation Centers)

    Primary value source. A published range from this guide can set the low or high end of an item's band. Fetched and read .

  2. Valuation Guide for Goodwill Donors

    Goodwill Industries International (compiled list, republished by member affiliates)

    Primary value source. A published range from this guide can set the low or high end of an item's band. Fetched and read .

  3. Valuation Guide for Goodwill Donors (single average price variant)

    Goodwill Industries International (single-value variant; copy hosted by Goodwill Industries of East Texas)

    Corroborating check. Used to sanity-check a band. Never moves a figure on its own. Fetched and read .

  4. Donation Value Guide - What is my Donation Worth?

    Goodwill Northern New England

    Primary value source. A published range from this guide can set the low or high end of an item's band. Fetched and read .

  5. Donation Value Guide (2023 edition)

    Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity ReStore

    Primary value source. A published range from this guide can set the low or high end of an item's band. Fetched and read .

  6. Donation Valuation Guide (2017/2019 PDF edition, superseded)

    Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity ReStore

    Primary value source. A published range from this guide can set the low or high end of an item's band. Fetched and read .

  7. Thrift Store Valuation Guide

    Catholic Charities Maine (Catholic Charities Thrift Store)

    Corroborating check. Used to sanity-check a band. Never moves a figure on its own. Fetched and read .

  8. Valuation Guide for St. Vincent de Paul - Cincinnati Donors

    Society of St. Vincent de Paul, Cincinnati (St. Vincent de Paul Thrift Shops)

    Primary value source. A published range from this guide can set the low or high end of an item's band. Fetched and read .

  9. Estimated Donation Values

    Goodwill of Central & Northern Arizona

    Primary value source. A published range from this guide can set the low or high end of an item's band. Fetched and read .

  10. Donation Value Guide / Valuation Guide

    Goodwill Industries of Central Illinois (Peoria, IL)

    Corroborating check. Used to sanity-check a band. Never moves a figure on its own. Fetched and read .

  11. Donation Value Guide

    Agrace (Agrace Thrift Stores; Wisconsin's largest nonprofit hospice, Madison/Janesville WI)

    Corroborating check. Used to sanity-check a band. Never moves a figure on its own. Fetched and read .

  12. Fair Market Value Sheet (Revised 3/1/2023)

    Ohio Valley Goodwill Industries (Cincinnati, OH)

    Corroborating check. Used to sanity-check a band. Never moves a figure on its own. Fetched and read .

  13. Estimated Valuation Guide & Receipt for Items Donated to the Kokomo Rescue Mission

    Kokomo Rescue Mission (Kokomo, Indiana; Federal I.D. No. 351104430)

    Corroborating check. Used to sanity-check a band. Never moves a figure on its own. Fetched and read .

  14. Donation Value Guide

    Hope Village for Children (Hope Village Thrift Store, Meridian, Mississippi)

    Corroborating check. Used to sanity-check a band. Never moves a figure on its own. Fetched and read .

  15. Donation Value Guide - What is my donation worth?

    Goodwill Greater Milwaukee & Chicago (Goodwill Retail Services, Inc., Tax ID# 39-2040239)

    Corroborating check. Used to sanity-check a band. Never moves a figure on its own. Fetched and read .

  16. Valuation Guide for Goodwill Donors

    Goodwill of Western and Northern Connecticut

    Corroborating check. Used to sanity-check a band. Never moves a figure on its own. Fetched and read .

  17. Valuation Guide

    Goodwill Industries of Northern Illinois

    Corroborating check. Used to sanity-check a band. Never moves a figure on its own. Fetched and read .

  18. Donation Value Guide

    The Beacon House Association of San Pedro (Beacon House Thrift Shop, San Pedro, CA)

    Corroborating check. Used to sanity-check a band. Never moves a figure on its own. Fetched and read .

  19. Valuation Guide for Charitable Contributions

    Small Business Taxes & Management (A/N Group, Inc.), ISSN 1089-1536

    Corroborating check. Used to sanity-check a band. Never moves a figure on its own. Fetched and read .

  20. Price List

    Goodwill Industries of the Southern Piedmont (Charlotte NC; stores in NC and SC)

    Corroborating check. Used to sanity-check a band. Never moves a figure on its own. Fetched and read .

The rules behind the thresholds

  1. Publication 561, Determining the Value of Donated PropertyIRS, IRS publication
  2. Publication 526, Charitable ContributionsIRS, IRS publication
  3. Instructions for Form 8283IRS, IRS form
Count it at the car, not in April

An itemised list is only tedious if you build it once a year.

DeductiBee carries the same valuation dataset on your iPhone, logs a drop-off item by item in a couple of minutes, keeps photo evidence with each one, and exports a Form 8283 worksheet at filing time.

No assumed item count

The app knows how many items you logged, because you logged them. Nothing has to be reconstructed from a bag.

Same numbers, offline

The valuation dataset ships inside the app, so it works with no connection and no account.

DeductiBee on the App StoreFree to start, with 20 new item entries a year. Pro is $19.99 a year.