How Many Cups in a Pound of Flour and Sugar?
One pound of all-purpose flour is about 3¾ cups when spooned and leveled; a pound of granulated sugar is just over 2¼ cups. The chart converts 1, 2, 4 and 5 lb packages of five baking staples into US cups.
- 5 min read
- Updated 2026-11-03
Printable chart
Use your browser’s Print command for this chart and your scaled ingredient list.
| Ingredient | 1 lb (454 g) | 2 lb (907 g) | 4 lb (1,814 g) | 5 lb (2,268 g) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| All-purpose flour, spooned and leveled (120 g per cup) | 3.8 | 7.6 | 15.1 | 18.9 |
| Bread flour, spooned and leveled (120 g per cup) | 3.8 | 7.6 | 15.1 | 18.9 |
| Granulated sugar (198 g per cup) | 2.3 | 4.6 | 9.2 | 11.5 |
| Brown sugar, packed (213 g per cup) | 2.1 | 4.3 | 8.5 | 10.6 |
| Powdered sugar, unsifted (113 g per cup) | 4.0 | 8.0 | 16.1 | 20.1 |
Calculated from 453.6 grams per pound and the cup weights in our ingredient weight chart. Scooped, sifted or loosely packed cups change the count.
Scale your ingredients
To check whether one bag covers a big bake, paste the recipe into the scaler below and set the multiplier; it starts at 2 for a double batch. Add up the flour or sugar cups in the result and compare the total with the bag sizes in the chart.
Why a pound of sugar is fewer cups than a pound of flour
Cups measure space and pounds measure weight. Granulated sugar packs about 198 grams into a cup, while spooned flour holds about 120, so the same pound fills fewer cups of sugar. Powdered sugar is light and airy, so a pound fills about 4 cups, and packed brown sugar comes in just over 2 cups per pound. Every number here uses the same weights as our ingredient weight chart, which rounds the values in King Arthur Baking’s ingredient weight chart, so the numbers match that chart. Our cups of flour and cups of sugar pages use slightly rounder weights (125 grams for all-purpose flour, 200 for granulated sugar, 220 for packed brown sugar and 120 for powdered), which works out to about 3.6, 2.3, 2.1 and 3.8 cups per pound. Both are common conventions; when a recipe gives its own gram weights, use those.
Worked example: four batches from one bag
Say a cookie recipe uses 2¼ cups of flour and 1 cup of granulated sugar, and you plan four batches. Flour: 2¼ × 4 = 9 cups, about 1,080 grams. A 5 lb bag holds about 18.9 cups, so it covers the flour with roughly 9.9 cups to spare. Sugar: 4 cups is about 792 grams, and a 4 lb bag holds about 9.2 cups, leaving about 5.2. Enter 4 in the scaler above to get every other ingredient for the four batches.
Scooped flour gives fewer cups
The flour rows assume you spoon flour into the cup and level it. Dipping the cup into the bag packs in more, so each cup weighs more and a pound gives fewer cups. If you always scoop, weigh one of your own cups and divide 454 by that weight: at 140 grams a cup, a pound is about 3.2 cups. The flour measuring guide explains the spoon-and-level method.
Check the label for your brand’s own number
The nutrition panel lists a serving as a household measure plus its weight in grams; a flour bag might show ¼ cup (30 g). Multiply up to get that maker’s cup weight: 30 × 4 = 120 grams. If it differs from the chart, divide the package’s net weight in grams by that cup weight for a brand-specific count. Net weight is the figure to shop by, because bags settle and cups vary.
Converting a recipe the other way
If a recipe gives pounds and you measure in cups, multiply the pounds by the chart’s 1 lb figure: half a pound of powdered sugar is about 2 cups. For single-ingredient conversions in grams, use cups of flour in grams or cups of sugar and butter in grams.
Frequently asked questions
How many cups are in a 5 lb bag of flour?
About 18.9 cups of all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled at 120 grams per cup. Scooped cups give fewer.
How many cups are in a 4 lb bag of sugar?
About 9.2 cups of granulated sugar, at 198 grams per cup.
How many cups are in a 1 lb box of powdered sugar?
About 4 cups, unsifted. Sifting adds air, so the same pound fills a little more.
How many cups are in a 2 lb bag of brown sugar?
About 4.3 cups, firmly packed.
Is a pound of flour the same number of cups as a pound of sugar?
No. A pound of all-purpose flour is about 3.8 cups, but a pound of granulated sugar is only about 2.3 cups.