A room measures 40 feet by 20 feet. If using the floor-area method with 15 square feet per person, what is the occupancy load?

• A. 50
• B. 54
• C. 53
• D. 60

Answer: (C)

Using the floor-area method, you find occupancy load by dividing the space’s floor area by the occupant load factor. The room is 40 feet by 20 feet, so the floor area is 800 square feet. With an occupant load factor of 15 square feet per person, 800 ÷ 15 = 53.333… Since you typically use whole people, the occupancy load is 53 people. (Some codes round up to 54, but this method as applied here uses the whole-number portion.)