# Carton counts explained: why a 40-count costs more than a 90-count > The count on a potato carton is the number of potatoes it takes to fill a 50 lb box, so a lower count is a bigger potato and a higher price. A 40-count holds about forty big bakers near 20 ounces each while a 100-count holds a hundred small ones near 8 ounces, and normalizing both per hundredweight is what makes the counts comparable. _Updated Jul 10, 2026._ The count on a potato carton is the number of potatoes it takes to fill a 50 lb box, so a lower count means a bigger potato. A 40-count carton holds about forty big bakers at roughly 20 ounces each. A 100-count holds a hundred small ones near 8 ounces each. Same 50 pounds in the box, very different potato, and that is why a 40-count costs more per carton than a 90-count. ## The count ladder Russet bakers are graded across a ladder of counts, and the trade prices each rung on its own. The common rungs run 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90 and 100, with 110 and 120 for the smallest stock. The Idaho Potato Commission's size guide puts a 40-count near 20 ounces a potato, a 70-count around 11.5 ounces and a 100-count near 8 ounces. The rule is simple and worth repeating because it trips people up: the bigger the number, the smaller the potato. The premium sits at the low-count, big-baker end. ## Who buys which count Count maps to the plate. White-tablecloth kitchens and steakhouses want the big 40, 50 and 60-count bakers, the plate-filling potato that carries a price. Family and casual dining lean on the 70 and 80-count, the workhorse entree baker. Quick-serve, cafeteria and side-dish use runs to the 90 and 100-count and smaller. One field of russets is sorted across the whole ladder, and each count finds a different buyer at a different price. That is the same crop priced several ways, not a market being noisy. ## Why we normalize per hundredweight [Chart: Russet carton counts, Upper Valley / Twin Falls-Burley (ID) (norkotah), per cwt](https://therussetreport.com/pack/carton-counts) ([data](https://therussetreport.com/pack/carton-counts.md) — chart image: https://therussetreport.com/charts/pack/carton-counts/chart.png) A carton price alone hides the size story, so this site also puts every count on a per-hundredweight basis. A 50 lb carton is half a hundredweight, so the per-cwt figure is just the carton price doubled, which lets a 40-count carton, a 50 lb sack and a per-cwt tote line up on one scale. The chart above is that spread for the headline russet district, drawn per cwt, so the gap between the big bakers and the small stock reads as a curve rather than getting buried in cartons of different sizes. ## Worked example: two counts, normalized [Table: Russet potato carton counts](https://therussetreport.com/pack/carton-counts) ([data](https://therussetreport.com/pack/carton-counts.md)) Take the count spread table above and read two rungs. Each row shows the count, the range per hundredweight and the range per 50 lb carton, quoted the way USDA published it. Pick the lowest count and the highest count on the table. The per-cwt column already does the normalizing for you, so the difference between them is the count premium, the extra buyers pay for size, stated per hundredweight instead of per box. That premium is the number the trade actually discusses when it talks about counts. The Russet Report quotes each count as USDA publishes it, per 50 lb carton, and shows the per-hundredweight conversion beside it so the counts compare cleanly. We do not forecast the count spread. ## Related data + guides - [Russet potato carton counts](https://therussetreport.com/pack/carton-counts) - [Russet potato prices](https://therussetreport.com/variety/russet) - [Cartons, sacks and consumer bags](https://therussetreport.com/guides/cartons-sacks-and-consumer-bags-pack-economics) - [How to read a potato report](https://therussetreport.com/guides/how-to-read-a-usda-potato-price-report) - [Glossary](https://therussetreport.com/glossary) ## Common questions ### What does the count mean on a box of potatoes? The count is how many potatoes fill a 50 lb carton. A 70-count carton holds about seventy potatoes, so each one averages a bit over 11 ounces. A lower count means fewer, bigger potatoes. ### Why does a 40 count potato cost more than a 90 count? A 40-count carton holds forty big bakers while a 90-count holds ninety smaller ones in the same 50 pounds. Big bakers are scarcer and command a premium, so the low counts cost more per carton and per hundredweight. ### What size is a 70 count potato? A 70-count russet averages around 11.5 ounces, by the Idaho Potato Commission's size guide, the standard entree baker. Counts range from 40 at the big end near 20 ounces down to 100 or more at the small end near 8 ounces. ### How do you compare a carton price to a sack price? Put both on a per-hundredweight basis. A 50 lb carton and a 50 lb sack are each half a hundredweight, so double the package price to compare them, or read the per-cwt figure this site prints beside each quote. --- Canonical URL: https://therussetreport.com/guides/carton-counts-explained