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How Big Is a Chipmunk? Size, Weight and Burrow Depth

An eastern chipmunk is 8–11 inches including tail and weighs about 3 ounces — but its burrow runs 10 to 30 feet. Sizes, and when they reappear in spring.

By Zakaria 4 min read Save to Pinterest — opens Pinterest in a new tab
An eastern chipmunk perched side-on atop a granite boulder, its stripes clearly visible
Photo: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service - Midwest Region, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
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About 8 to 11 inches nose to tail tip, and roughly 3 ounces for the eastern chipmunk — the species in most North American backyards. The animal is small. The burrow it digs is not, which is where most of the surprise lies.

Sizes by species

Common North American chipmunks
SpeciesTotal lengthWeightWhere
Eastern chipmunk8–11 in2.5–4.5 ozEastern US and Canada
Least chipmunk6.5–8.5 in1.1–1.8 ozWidest western range; smallest
Yellow-pine chipmunk7–9 in1.5–2.5 ozWestern mountains
Townsend’s chipmunk9–12 in2.5–4.5 ozPacific Northwest; largest
Siberian chipmunk7–10 in1.8–4 ozAsia; kept as a pet in places

Against a squirrel

Chipmunk vs grey squirrel vs ground squirrel
ChipmunkGrey squirrelGround squirrel
Length8–11 in17–20 in9–20 in
Weight~3 oz14–21 oz5–30 oz
Face stripesYesNoNo
Back stripesYes, boldNoSometimes, faint
TailSlim, held horizontalBushy, arched over backModerately bushy
HomeGround burrowTree drey or cavityGround burrow
Cheek pouchesLarge and obviousNoYes

The face stripes settle it. A chipmunk has dark and light stripes running through the eye and across the cheek; no squirrel does.

The tail is the other giveaway, and it is slimmer and flatter than people expect — held out behind rather than arched over the back.

The burrow is the disproportionate part

A three-ounce animal digs a system that would be respectable for something ten times its size:

  • 10 to 30 feet of horizontal tunnel, sometimes more
  • Chambers 2 to 3 feet below the surface
  • A nesting chamber, often with the food store kept underneath the bedding
  • Side tunnels and a second entrance as an escape route
  • An entrance hole about 2 inches across

No soil mound — that is the tell

Chipmunks carry excavated soil away in their cheek pouches and scatter it, specifically so the entrance is not advertised to predators. So a clean 2-inch hole with no mound is a chipmunk; a hole with a mound around it is more likely a vole, a mole or a crayfish.

That same set of pouches stretches to roughly three times the size of the head, which is how one animal moves dozens of seeds or several acorns in a single trip.

They do not really hibernate

The question “when do chipmunks come out of hibernation” has a slightly wrong premise built in.

True hibernators — groundhogs, some ground squirrels — drop their body temperature for months and live on stored fat. Chipmunks use torpor instead: bouts of a few days with the body temperature and heart rate down, then waking to eat from the food store in the burrow, then dropping back.

Which is why they cache so obsessively in autumn. They are not building fat reserves so much as stocking a larder they will wake up to use all winter.

In practice:

  • North: mostly below ground from late October or November, regular above-ground activity resuming March to early April
  • South: far less dormancy; active on and off all winter, with activity picking up as early as February
  • Any mild spell can bring them out at any point — a chipmunk on the patio in January is normal, not a sign something has gone wrong

Size tracks lifespan loosely across the small mammals in a garden — see how long chipmunks live.

What the size means practically

  • A 2-inch hole is all they need, and they will use gaps in foundations, under decks and beside patio edges.
  • Quarter-inch hardware cloth is the exclusion standard; anything larger they pass through or gnaw.
  • They undermine rather than gnaw. Patio bases, retaining walls and the soil under a shed slab are where damage actually shows up, from tunnelling rather than chewing.
  • They cannot reach most feeders, but they clean up what falls — spilled birdseed is the single biggest driver of high chipmunk density in a yard.
  • Three ounces makes them prey for hawks, owls, cats, foxes, snakes and weasels, which is why a typical wild life is only two to three years.

Common questions

How big is a chipmunk?

An eastern chipmunk, the common backyard species across most of the US and Canada, is about 8 to 11 inches long including a 3 to 4 inch tail, and weighs roughly 2.5 to 4.5 ounces — about the weight of a tennis ball. The western species are smaller, with the least chipmunk at 6.5 to 8.5 inches and under 2 ounces. That makes a chipmunk roughly a third the length and a tenth the weight of a grey squirrel.

How is a chipmunk different from a squirrel?

Size and stripes. A chipmunk is much smaller, has distinct dark and light stripes running over the face as well as the back, carries a slim tail held horizontally rather than a bushy one arched over the back, and lives in a ground burrow rather than a tree drey. Ground squirrels are the confusing middle case — they are larger, lack facial stripes, and have a less distinct pattern on the back.

When do chipmunks come out of hibernation?

Typically March or early April in the north, and as early as February further south, though the whole premise is slightly wrong — chipmunks do not truly hibernate. They enter torpor in bouts of a few days, wake to eat from a food store kept in the burrow, then drop back down. Mild winter spells bring them out above ground at any point, which is why people see one in January and assume something is wrong.

How deep is a chipmunk burrow?

Deeper and far longer than most people expect for the animal's size. A burrow system typically runs 10 to 30 feet horizontally with chambers 2 to 3 feet below the surface, including a nesting chamber, food storage and side tunnels. The entrance is a clean hole about 2 inches across with no soil mound, because the chipmunk carries excavated soil away in its cheek pouches specifically to hide the entrance.

How much can a chipmunk carry in its cheeks?

Enough to distort the head noticeably — the pouches stretch to roughly three times the size of the head, and a chipmunk can carry dozens of seeds or several acorns in one trip. Those pouches are also how burrow spoil is removed, which is why chipmunk holes have no mound of soil around them, unlike a mole or a vole hole.

How long do chipmunks live?

Two to three years in the wild is typical, with most of the losses in the first year to hawks, owls, cats, foxes, snakes and weasels. A few reach five to eight years where predation is low, and in captivity they have lived past ten. A high-density backyard population is usually a sign of concentrated food rather than of unusually long-lived animals.

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