Why Are Mattresses So Expensive

If you’ve ever googled how much do mattresses like Tempurpedic cost, you probably asked yourself one question: why are mattresses expensive? The very idea of paying $2,000-$4,000 for a mattress sounds like a little too much and raises questions. Why do mattresses cost so much? What factors influence the price? And is spending more on a mattress actually worth it? All the answers are already here!

P.S We won’t talk about how much do mattresses actually cost — if you want to find out what mattress types are more expensive and what ones are cheaper, check out this post!

Whether you're going to buy a mid-priced mattress or an expensive product from Tempurpedic, Avocado, or any other premium brand, you’ll still have to spend at least $800-$1,000. Here, we’ll talk about the factors that influence the price — from the major ones to the ones you’ve probably never thought about.

• Materials. The innerspring mattresses (the ones made with coils) are cheaper, the ones made with memory foam are more expensive. The most expensive material for mattresses is organic latex — that's because latex is a natural material that takes a lot of effort to make.
• Size. The larger the mattress is, the more you’ll have to pay for it. King size mattresses can be twice as expensive as twin size mattresses!
• Country of manufacture. Mattresses made in the United States are more expensive — making things in America is more expensive because of the higher cost of labor and higher quality of components.
• Density of foam or number of coils. The denser the foam, the more durable it is and therefore the more it costs. You should also know that the more coils the mattress contains, the more you'll need to pay for it.
• Cooling technology. Some mattresses (mostly the memory foam ones) have a gel layer on top — this layer keeps the sleeper cool because the memory foam mattresses can be quite hot. Of course, the mattresses with a cooling gel layer are more expensive.

• No used mattress market. First, it's not recommended to buy a used mattress because of possible defects, dust mites, and no warranty. Second, it's illegal in some states to resell a mattress. That's how it always works, if there's no used market, the prices are higher.
• Home sales. It's simple, too — when the housing market rises, people buy more mattresses, and if the demand is higher than supply, the prices will not drop significantly.
• Few suppliers. According to the experts, such suppliers as Tempur and Serta Simmons Bedding control more than 50% of the market and the same applies to memory foam and mattress coils. Such a market structure (oligopoly) results in higher prices for consumers and this is something that won't change in the immediate future.
• Coronavirus. Unsurprisingly, one of the major events of 2020 has influenced the mattress industry as well. The thing is, there is a shortage of fabric used to encase coils because it's also used for personal protective equipment.
• Petroleum price. Since memory foam is made of petroleum, the petroleum price is the main answer to the question "why is memory foam so expensive?".

In general, yes. First of all, more expensive mattresses are made of better materials. Better memory foam has better support and is more durable than cheap memory foam. More expensive innerspring/hybrid mattresses have more coils which makes them more supportive and more comfortable than their cheap counterparts.

Premium brands also often (but not always) provide better warranty terms and better trials (up to 365 days). It’s also more likely that you’ll get free delivery and probably even free White Glove delivery if you buy an expensive mattress.

And after all, innovations always cost more. When you buy a premium mattress, you don’t only pay for the quality of the materials and for a dense foam. Cooling gel, sleep sensors and trackers that monitor sleep stages, heart rate, and respiration rate, graphite-infused latex — these are only a few examples of what you’ll get if you buy a premium mattress.

However, not all good mattresses are expensive. You don’t need to pay thousands of dollars to improve your sleep — you only need to follow some simple rules. Here they are.

First, and it’s extremely obvious, you need to choose a good but affordable mattress — there are lots of high-quality mattresses that cost about $800-$1,000. The full list of top affordable mattresses is available here.

Then, we recommend you buy the mattress at the right time. You probably know about Black Friday and some other days to shop e.g Cyber Monday, Amazon Prime day, etc. However, there are actually many more “cheap” days to buy a mattress — read this guide and you’ll see what we’re talking about.

Of course, you can also negotiate the price, but this can work only if you buy a mattress offline. Online mattress shops, in turn, often offer good sales and have generally lower prices because of lower operating costs.