Go bag statistics combine practical supply targets with survey evidence about household readiness. Official guidance commonly starts with water, food, communication, medical supplies, and documents. Survey results show that preparation is widespread but uneven: in FEMA’s 2024 National Household Survey, 69% of respondents said they had assembled emergency supplies, while only 34% of respondents with supplies said their kit would last more than two weeks.
Contents
- Core go bag quantities
- Recommended contents
- Medical, infant, and accessibility needs
- Household preparedness statistics
- Preparedness by housing and information source
- Knowledge, confidence, and preparedness behavior
Core go bag quantities
Water is one of the clearest numerical benchmarks. Ready.gov says a basic disaster supply kit should include one gallon of water per person per day for several days. The same Ready.gov emergency supply checklist calls for at least a three-day supply of non-perishable food. These are baseline kit figures for short-term disruption, not a forecast of how long every emergency will last.
The Red Cross separates evacuation supplies from supplies stored at home. Its Be Red Cross Ready guidance recommends one gallon of water per person per day, with a three-day supply for evacuation and a two-week supply for home. It also recommends three days of easy-to-prepare, non-perishable food for evacuation and two weeks of food for home.
| Preparedness item | Evacuation or basic target | Home target | Source label |
|---|---|---|---|
| Water | 1 gallon per person per day for 3 days | 1 gallon per person per day for 2 weeks | Red Cross Be Red Cross Ready |
| Easy-to-prepare food | 3 days | 2 weeks | Red Cross Be Red Cross Ready |
| Prescription medications and medical items | 7 days | 7 days | Red Cross Be Red Cross Ready |
The Red Cross also recommends a seven-day supply of medications and medical items. This is longer than the basic three-day food and evacuation benchmark, so a go bag planned around medical continuity needs a separate medication check rather than treating all supplies as a single three-day category.
For a household, the water target scales with the number of people. Ready.gov’s one-gallon-per-person-per-day figure means the quantity depends on household size and the planned duration. The supplied guidance does not establish a different gallon amount for children, pets, or special medical circumstances, so those needs should be handled as additional requirements rather than assumed to fit the basic household estimate.
Recommended contents
Ready.gov’s emergency supply checklist describes a go bag as more than food and water. Communication and lighting supplies include a battery-powered or hand-crank radio with NOAA Weather Radio and tone alert, a flashlight, extra batteries, and a cell phone with chargers and a backup battery. Local maps are also listed, giving the kit an offline navigation resource when normal services are unavailable.
Signaling and air protection are separate functions. Ready.gov recommends a whistle for signaling for help and a dust mask to help filter contaminated air. The list also includes plastic sheeting and duct tape for sheltering in place. A wrench or pliers can help turn off utilities, while a manual can opener supports access to canned food without relying on electricity.
Sanitation and personal hygiene supplies are another distinct group. Ready.gov lists moist towelettes, garbage bags, and plastic ties for sanitation and personal hygiene. Additional items include feminine supplies, personal hygiene items, hand sanitizer, toilet paper, disinfectant, and a toothbrush, toothpaste, and deodorant. These details matter because a bag can meet a food target while still being incomplete for daily hygiene.
Clothing and shelter items extend the kit beyond immediate evacuation. Ready.gov lists a sleeping bag or warm blanket for each person and a complete change of clothing, including a long-sleeved shirt, long pants, and sturdy shoes. Additional checklist items include rain gear, gloves, a tent, and a fire extinguisher. Matches in a waterproof container, a compass, a signal flare, and another whistle are also listed as possible additions.
The checklist includes household records and practical items as well. Ready.gov recommends important family documents in a portable waterproof container and separately identifies family documents and records as an additional item. Cash and change, mess kits, paper cups, plates, disposable utensils, and paper towels can support a household when card payments, kitchens, or regular services are disrupted.
Children and pets change the contents of a go bag. Ready.gov says additional items can include books, games, puzzles, or other activities for children, including a favorite stuffed toy. It also lists pet food, water, and supplies, as well as pet supplies more generally. A family should therefore treat the general checklist as a starting point and add items tied to the people and animals who may evacuate.
Medical, infant, and accessibility needs
Medical continuity has longer time horizons in several official recommendations. CDC guidance for emergency kits for people with disabilities says to include at least one week’s supply of prescription medications and a cooler for refrigerated medications. The Red Cross also recommends seven days of medications and medical items, providing a matching seven-day benchmark for many households.
CDC guidance for cancer survivors says an emergency kit should include enough bottled water and food to last at least three days. It also says the kit should include enough medicine and medical supplies to last at least seven days, plus a survivorship care plan or doctor contact information and a medicine list. These figures distinguish general food continuity from medical continuity.
Infant supplies require recurring checks. CDC says emergency kits for pregnant women, infants, and children should be checked every six months. For families with infants, CDC says babies can require monthly formula checks to ensure enough formula for several days. The same CDC emergency list says families with infants should keep at least one large pack of diapers and at least two packs of baby wipes in the kit.
The Red Cross adds household-level readiness actions that support vulnerable members. It says one member of the household should be trained in CPR/AED use, and households should practice evacuating twice a year. It also recommends printing emergency contact cards at one per family member. These are measurable routines rather than items stored in a bag.
The Red Cross says an emergency preparedness kit should be kept in an easy-to-carry container that can be used at home or taken during evacuation. That container standard connects the supply list to the purpose of a go bag: supplies need to be accessible and portable when a household must leave quickly.
Household preparedness statistics
FEMA’s 2024 National Household Survey provides a snapshot of reported preparedness. Sixty-nine percent of respondents said they had assembled supplies for an emergency. Among respondents with supplies, 88% said their kit would last more than three days, while 34% said it would last more than two weeks.
Those results describe different thresholds. A household can report having supplies and report that those supplies last beyond three days without reaching the two-week benchmark. The figures therefore support a distinction between having a go bag and maintaining deeper household reserves.
FEMA also reported that 83% of Americans had taken at least three preparedness actions. Yet only 32% reported high preparedness confidence or efficacy. The combination suggests that reported action and reported confidence are not the same measure. A household may complete several actions while still feeling uncertain about its readiness.
Expectations about outside help were also measured. In FEMA’s 2024 survey, 71% expected help from friends or family in a disaster, and 52% expected help from the federal government. The survey also found that 53% were concerned about their own health or a family member’s health.
Cost and uncertainty appeared as barriers. FEMA reported that cost was a barrier for 26% of respondents, while 25% said they did not know what else to do to prepare. These figures make a staged approach useful: a household can begin with water, food, light, communication, medical needs, and documents, then build out specialized supplies over time.
Preparedness by housing and information source
FEMA’s 2024 National Household Survey reported a difference between homeowners and renters. Emergency supplies were reported by 73% of homeowners compared with 60% of renters. The figures describe survey responses, not an evaluation of the quality or duration of each household’s supplies.
Preparedness information also reached respondents through several channels. Seventy-eight percent said they had seen or heard preparedness information in the past year. The reported sources included the internet at 45%, social media at 36%, and television at 35%. Because respondents could encounter information through more than one channel, these percentages should not be treated as parts of a single 100% distribution.
An earlier FEMA national survey report provides historical context: in 2012, 52% of U.S. residents surveyed reported having supplies for a disaster, down from 57% in 2009. This legacy comparison should be read as a report of the earlier survey measurements, not as an independently verified reconstruction. It also should not be directly substituted for the 2024 survey’s methods or definitions.
Knowledge, confidence, and preparedness behavior
CDC’s MMWR findings connect preparedness knowledge with reported actions. Respondents with advanced preparedness knowledge had a 44% emergency-kit rate, compared with 17% among those with basic knowledge. The same comparison found a 9% written household disaster plan rate for advanced knowledge versus 4% for basic knowledge.
County emergency alerts showed another difference: the notification rate was 63% among respondents with advanced preparedness knowledge, compared with 41% among those with basic knowledge. CDC also reported that strong preparedness beliefs were associated with preparedness behaviors 7% to 30% higher than behaviors associated with weaker beliefs.
These findings do not establish that a particular item causes a particular outcome. They do identify measurable readiness gaps that a go-bag routine can address: build an emergency kit, write a household disaster plan, enroll in county alerts, and practice evacuation. The Red Cross benchmark of practicing twice a year gives the evacuation step a specific recurring schedule.
For a practical review, check the one-gallon-per-person-per-day water target, the three-day evacuation food target, the seven-day medication target, and the two-week home-reserve target separately. Then verify communication, lighting, sanitation, documents, clothing, infant or pet supplies, and accessibility needs. Those categories align the contents of a portable go bag with the time horizons and household readiness measures reported by Ready.gov, the Red Cross, CDC, and FEMA.