# How Big Would A Million Dollars Be? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 19, 2008, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-would-a-million-dollars-be/464268 "2008-09-19T04:14:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![KRSOradio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/0ea827/32.png) [@KRSOradio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KRSOradio)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2008, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-would-a-million-dollars-be/464268/1 "2008-09-19T04:14:40Z")
Let’s say I had a million dollars in a bank and I wanted to withdraw it. How much space would a million dollars occupy? Let’s say they gave it to me in $100 bills. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2008, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-would-a-million-dollars-be/464268/2 "2008-09-19T04:21:38Z")
One million dollars in $100 bills is 10,000 bills. A bill is [0.010922 cm in thickness](http://hypertextbook.com/facts/1999/DeneneWilliams.shtml). That would be 109.2 cm. That would be a stack of bills just over 3 1/2 feet high. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2008, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-would-a-million-dollars-be/464268/3 "2008-09-19T04:34:17Z")
That’s in new bills of course. Worn bills wouldn’t stack as neatly. At any rate, a smallish suitcase / large briefcase should hold a million in 100s. Here’s somebody’s simulation: [http://www.cockeyed.com/inside/million/million.html](http://www.cockeyed.com/inside/million/million.html) ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2008, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-would-a-million-dollars-be/464268/4 "2008-09-19T04:38:53Z")
One million US dollars is approximately 696500 euros. If they gave that to you in 500-euro notes, that would be 1393 notes. If the 500-euro note was the same thickness as the 100-US-dollar banknote, that would be a stack of bills 15.22 cm high, or a hair under 6 inches. I think I’ll get my withdrawl in euros. Easier to carry. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2008, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-would-a-million-dollars-be/464268/5 "2008-09-19T04:47:57Z")
This reminds me of the funniest part in _Dodgeball_ (which ain’t sayin’ much), where Ben Stiller is trying to bribe the other guy to throw the game, for $100,000 cash. The guy’s reluctant, yet Stiller keeps trying, “Have you ever even seen what 100 Large looks like?” To this he turns around his briefcase and dramatically flips it open, revealing two tiny wads of bills, in an otherwise very empty briefcase. Maybe you had to be there. ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2008, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-would-a-million-dollars-be/464268/6 "2008-09-19T04:48:36Z")
Based on large piles of cash I’ve had the opportunity to see (and in agreement with **pulykamell** ’s calculations), $1 million in $100 bills would fit pretty easily into a normal paper grocery bag. ---
**Author:** ![Desert\_Nomad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desert_nomad/32/177_2.png) [@Desert\_Nomad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desert_Nomad)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2008, 10:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-would-a-million-dollars-be/464268/7 "2008-09-19T10:23:36Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > One million US dollars is approximately 696500 euros. If they gave that to you in 500-euro notes, that would be 1393 notes. If the 500-euro note was the same thickness as the 100-US-dollar banknote, that would be a stack of bills 15.22 cm high, or a hair under 6 inches. > > I think I’ll get my withdrawl in euros. Easier to carry. 🙂 You could do the same with 1,000 Franc Swiss notes… only 1120 notes needed. ---
**Author:** ![accidentalyuppie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@accidentalyuppie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/accidentalyuppie)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2008, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-would-a-million-dollars-be/464268/8 "2008-09-19T11:54:58Z")
> [@Sublight](#): > > Based on large piles of cash I’ve had the opportunity to see (and in agreement with **pulykamell** ’s calculations), $1 million in $100 bills would fit pretty easily into a normal paper grocery bag. It would be a little larger than that, I’ve seen it. I have a friend who is a long term employee at the Federal Reserve in NYC. I have taken private tours of their gold vault on several occasions. In addition to storing lots of the world’s gold, they also store cash. I saw million dollar bundles of 100’s stacked in a cage, it was more tempting than the actual cages full of gold brick. It’ been a few years and I am trying to visualuize them but I believe each bundle was about 18" square, maybe even a little bigger. And this is new, shrink wrapped cash. I also came into 10K in hundreds earlier this year. It would not fit into a standard business envelope, I had to use a 9"x12" envelope folded over once. Shortly after I saw a TV show where someone slipped a standard envelope full of cash to an offical as a bribe, and my first thought was " that guy comes cheap". ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2008, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-would-a-million-dollars-be/464268/9 "2008-09-19T12:11:46Z")
The Horseshoe casino in Las Vegas used to have $1 million on display I don’t know if they still do, or if they eveb still exist, for that matter). It was in really large bills, though, and it didn’t take up much space at all. If you could’ve taken the buills out of the display, you could slip them all into your pockets and walked off without any b telltale bulges. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2008, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-would-a-million-dollars-be/464268/10 "2008-09-19T12:37:27Z")
I once had to count $4985 in unbundled five dollar bills. It took us all afternoon to count them three times. They filled up a large Hefty bag. If they were hundred dollar bills, that would 99,700 dollars. So it would be about 10 Hefty bags to hold a million in unbundled hundred dollar bills. ---
**Author:** ![Vorpal\_Blade](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/9de0a6/32.png) [@Vorpal\_Blade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vorpal_Blade)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2008, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-would-a-million-dollars-be/464268/11 "2008-09-19T13:15:57Z")
> [@KRSOradio](#): > > Let’s say I had a million dollars in a bank and I wanted to withdraw it. > > How much space would a million dollars occupy? Let’s say they gave it to me in $100 bills. I read somewhere (no cite) that $1MM in twenties would weigh about 110 pounds. ---
**Author:** ![KRSOradio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/0ea827/32.png) [@KRSOradio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KRSOradio)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2008, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-would-a-million-dollars-be/464268/12 "2008-09-19T16:28:40Z")
Thanks for the links, interesting ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2008, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-would-a-million-dollars-be/464268/13 "2008-09-19T23:52:11Z")
I once toured the Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank. At one point, on the other side of a metal grid fence, there was a small table, about 3-4 feet wide by about 1.5 feet deep, resting up against the fence. Piled on that table were bundled stacks of bills, most of the length of the table, and about 1 foot to 1.5 feet high. A quick calculation by some of us came up with the result that sitting on that table was about $7 million. Or, as someone said, probably more money than we would make in our entire lifetime. Just sitting there on that little table.