How to Choose a Mattress
Match your sleeping position and body weight to the right firmness, pick a mattress type and budget that fit, and check the trial and warranty terms before you pay.
You will end up with a short list, the firmness that fits your sleeping position and body weight, the mattress type that fits how you sleep, a realistic budget, and the trial and warranty terms to check before you pay.
Choosing a mattress does not have to be complicated once you know the few factors that actually matter. Your sleeping position, your body weight, and a handful of practical features narrow the field from hundreds of options to a few. The CDC's 2022 figures put the share of adults not getting enough sleep at anywhere from 30% in Vermont to 46% in Hawaii. A mattress will not fix everything, but sleeping on the wrong one makes it a lot harder to get the rest you need.
Start with your sleeping position
Your sleeping position drives everything else, because it determines where your body needs support and where it needs cushioning. Side sleepers need a softer surface. Your hips and shoulders carry most of your weight in this position, and a mattress that is too firm will create pressure points that leave you tossing all night. Look for something in the soft to medium range that lets those joints sink in while still keeping your spine straight. Back sleepers need medium-firm to firm support, the range the Sleep Foundation gives for them. Your weight is distributed more evenly, but your lower back still needs the mattress to fill the natural curve of your spine. Too soft and your hips sink too far. Too firm and there is a gap under your lower back. Stomach sleepers need a firm surface. A soft mattress lets your pelvis drop, which hyperextends your spine and can leave you waking up with lower back pain. A firm surface keeps your hips level with your shoulders. If you switch positions through the night, choose for the position you spend the most time in. If no position wins, the Sleep Foundation recommends medium-firm, with a responsive surface that makes it easy to change position.
Good to know: Not sure what position you sleep in most? Note the position you wake up in over the next few mornings, and ask a partner which position they see you in most.
Learn the main mattress types
There are five main types of mattresses, and each one has a distinct feel. Knowing the basics will save you from getting overwhelmed by marketing language. Innerspring mattresses use steel coils for support with a thin layer of foam or fiber on top. They are the most affordable option, sleep cool because air flows through the coils, and feel bouncy and responsive. The downside is that they do not isolate motion well, so if your partner moves around, you will feel it. Memory foam mattresses are all foam, no coils. They contour closely to your body shape, which makes them excellent for pressure relief and motion isolation. The tradeoff is that they trap heat and can feel like you are sinking into the bed rather than sleeping on top of it. Latex mattresses use natural or synthetic rubber. They are the most durable type, naturally breathable, and have a responsive bounce that feels very different from memory foam. They are also the most expensive foam option. Hybrid mattresses combine a coil support core with several inches of foam or latex on top. They aim to give you the airflow and bounce of springs with the contouring and motion isolation of foam. They are versatile but tend to be heavier and pricier. Adjustable air mattresses use air chambers you can inflate or deflate with a remote. Each side can be set independently, which is great for couples who disagree on firmness. They cost the most and have mechanical parts that can eventually fail.
Factor in your body weight
Your weight changes how a mattress feels underneath you. Two people can lie on the exact same mattress and have completely different experiences based on how much they weigh. If you are under 130 pounds, you will not compress the mattress as much. A mattress labeled "medium-firm" might feel genuinely firm to you because you are not heavy enough to engage the comfort layers. Go a step softer than the standard recommendation for your sleeping position. If you are between 130 and 230 pounds, the standard firmness guidelines work well for you. The 130- and 230-pound cutoffs are the ones the Sleep Foundation's firmness chart uses. If you are over 230 pounds, you will sink deeper into any mattress. A "medium" feel might let your hips drop too far, especially on all-foam beds. Go a step firmer than the standard recommendation. Look for high-density foams and thicker comfort layers, because low-density materials will break down faster under more weight. A 2021 review of 39 studies in the Journal of Orthopaedics and Traumatology concluded that a medium-firm mattress promotes comfort, sleep quality, and spinal alignment. The figures you may have seen quoted, back pain down about 48% and sleep quality up 55% after 28 days, come from one of the smaller studies it covers. That study moved 59 healthy volunteers, who had slept on their own spring mattresses for the past 5 years, onto a new medium-firm one, so some of the gain is simply new against old. But "medium-firm" is relative to your body. What feels medium-firm to someone who weighs 150 pounds will not feel the same to someone who weighs 250.
Heads up: Do not rely on firmness labels alone. Brands label firmness on their own scales, and even the Sleep Foundation says its 1-to-10 firmness scale is not perfectly scientific, so one brand's medium can feel like another brand's medium-soft. Test the mattress in a store or buy it with a sleep trial.
Decide what other features matter to you
Beyond firmness and type, there are a handful of features that can make or break your experience depending on your situation. If you sleep hot, temperature regulation should be near the top of your list. Innerspring and hybrid mattresses sleep coolest because air moves through the coils. All-foam beds trap the most heat. If you love the feel of memory foam but run warm, look for gel-infused or open-cell foam and a breathable cover. If you share the bed with a partner, motion isolation matters. All-foam mattresses isolate motion well, so you feel less of the other person getting up, while the Sleep Foundation describes innersprings as having limited motion isolation. Hybrids with pocketed coils fall in between. If you sit on the edge of the bed to put on shoes, or if you and your partner use the full width of the mattress, edge support matters. Coil-based mattresses handle this better because the perimeter is reinforced. All-foam beds tend to compress and feel unstable at the edges. The Sleep Foundation's mattress guide breaks down how each of these features varies by type if you want to compare them side by side.
Set a realistic budget
You do not need to spend a fortune, but you should not buy the cheapest option either. You will sleep on it every night for the 6 to 8 years the Sleep Foundation gives as a mattress lifespan (FAQs below). As a general range for a queen-size mattress, the Sleep Foundation guide linked in the previous step puts innerspring at $600 to $1,100, all-foam at $900 to $1,300, hybrid at $1,500 to $2,000, latex at $1,600 to $2,000, and adjustable air beds at $2,000 to $2,400. Those are list prices, and the same guide notes that sales and promotions mean buyers frequently pay less than that. Think about it in terms of cost per night. A $1,200 mattress that lasts 8 years, the top of that range, costs about 41 cents a night. The Sleep Foundation says buying online normally means a lower price, but that mattress stores have good deals too, especially for people willing to negotiate, so compare both. Watch for holiday sales. The Sleep Foundation names Labor Day, Memorial Day, Cyber Monday, and Black Friday as holidays when many brands run mattress sales, so buy around one of them if you can wait.
Good to know: If a deal sounds too good to be true, check the foam density, and check it against the right scale for the material. The Sleep Foundation counts memory foam under 3 pounds per cubic foot as low density, and polyfoam under 1.5. They are different materials on different scales, so 2.5 is a decent polyfoam support core and a weak memory foam comfort layer. Denser foams last longer and sag less, so the density figure tells you more about how long the mattress will hold up than the price tag does.
Test the mattress properly
If you are shopping in a store, do not just sit on the edge and bounce. Lie down in your actual sleeping position for at least 10 to 15 minutes. Yes, it feels awkward. Do it anyway. Five seconds of sitting tells you almost nothing about how a mattress will feel after six hours. Bring your own pillow if you can. Your pillow sets the angle of your neck and shoulders, which changes how the mattress feels underneath you. If you are buying online, the sleep trial is your testing period. Online brands sell with a sleep trial that lets you try the mattress at home and send it back if it is wrong for you. The number of nights, and what a return costs, differ from brand to brand, which is what step 7 is about. A trial is actually a better test than any showroom, because you are sleeping on it in real conditions for real nights. Do not decide on the first few nights. A different surface can feel off at first even when it is right for you, so sleep on it for several weeks, well inside the trial window, before you decide.
Read the return policy and warranty before you buy
Not all sleep trials and warranties are created equal, and the differences are in the details. For sleep trials, check whether the company charges return shipping. Returns are not always free, and a pickup fee can take a real bite out of the refund. Look for restocking fees too. And confirm whether there is a minimum number of nights you have to sleep on it before you are allowed to return it. For warranties, look at what is actually covered. Check that it covers manufacturing defects and sagging, and how deep a sag has to be before it counts. A change in your comfort preference is not a defect, so the warranty will not cover a mattress you simply stop liking. Check whether the warranty is prorated. A prorated warranty decreases in value over time, so by year seven you might only get a fraction of the original price covered. Read reviews from people who actually went through the return process. A generous trial period on paper means nothing if the company makes returns difficult in practice.
Heads up: Keep the law tag attached, keep your receipt, and keep the original packaging until the trial ends. Then read the warranty for anything else it asks you to keep.
If you wake up with sore hips or shoulders during the trial, the mattress is too firm for how you sleep, and a softer topper (FAQ 3 below) or a softer model is the fix. If your lower back aches after sleeping on your back or stomach, it is too soft, because your hips are sinking (step 1). If you sleep hot, go back to step 4 before you exchange it. Once the mattress is settled, our guide on how to sleep better covers the bedroom and routine changes that matter as much as the bed.
Questions we get asked about this
Answers from experience, not a textbook.
The Sleep Foundation's general guideline is every 6 to 8 years, and the type shifts where you land in that range. Lower-quality innerspring and all-foam mattresses tend to wear out soonest, hybrids tend to last longer, and latex is the most durable, lasting upwards of 8 years. Signs that it is time to replace yours include visible sagging, waking up with pain or stiffness that goes away during the day, and consistently poor sleep despite no other changes in your routine. Rotate your mattress 180 degrees on the schedule the manufacturer gives, unless it says not to.
Medium-firm, not the firm mattress older advice recommended. In a randomized, double-blind trial of 313 adults with chronic low back pain, published in The Lancet in 2003, the people given medium-firm mattresses had better results after 90 days for pain while lying in bed and for disability than the people given firm ones. A mattress that is too firm creates pressure points at the hips and shoulders. One that is too soft lets the spine sag out of alignment.
If the problem is firmness and the mattress is not sagging, yes. The Sleep Foundation says a topper is most useful when your main goal is to change how firm the bed feels, and most toppers are 1 to 4 inches thick. A topper will not fix a sagging mattress, because it follows the dip underneath it. If yours sags or is past the 6 to 8 years in FAQ 1, replace it.
It depends on who sleeps in it and how big your bedroom is. A twin (38 by 75 inches) works for a single child or teen. Twin XL (38 by 80 inches) is better for taller single adults. Full or double (54 by 75 inches) suits a single adult who wants more room. Queen (60 by 80 inches) gives two people room without dominating an average bedroom. King (76 by 80 inches) gives couples maximum space and works well for families who co-sleep.
Generally yes, but price alone is not a reliable indicator of durability. What matters most is the density and quality of the materials inside. High-density foams last significantly longer than low-density ones regardless of the brand name on the label, and the threshold depends on the material. Above 1.7 pounds per cubic foot counts as high-density polyfoam, while memory foam has to clear 5. A mattress built on low-density foam can sag years before a denser one does, whatever either of them cost. Look at the foam density specs rather than the price tag when comparing durability.