Best King Size Pillows 2023

A good night’s sleep depends in part on a great pillow. For side sleepers especially, the extra real estate on a king size pillow—a full 10 inches longer than standard pillows—can make for a more comfortable night, no matter how many times you roll from one side to the other. But you don’t have to snooze on your side to love king pillows. However you prefer to sleep, there’s a king size pillow with the precise balance of support and comfort you deserve. The key is finding one that ticks all the boxes for you, from fill and construction to firmness and loft.

The best king size pillows provide extra room for a comfortable night of sleep. Slip Silk Pillow Case

Best King Size Pillows 2023 - Forbes Vetted

Our pick for the best king size pillow overall, the Luxome Layr, makes it easy. It can be completely adjusted to meet your preferred height and firmness, with removable layers made in a variety of materials, so you can mix and match until you create the pillow of your dreams. Don’t want to mess with adding or removing inserts? No problem. We found seven other king size pillows worth considering.

Fill material: Down alternative, gel-infused shredded memory foam | Cover fabric: Viscose from bamboo

With its customizable layers, the Layr pillow from Luxome is our top all around choice because it’s designed for complete adjustability—including height and firmness. That means it can accommodate sleepers with varying needs and preferences, which is quite the feat.

The king pillow comes pre-configured with a soft, squishy down alternative layer on one side and a gel-infused shredded memory foam layer on the other. You can adjust the filling in these layers or switch out one side with the included solid memory foam layer if you prefer something a little firmer. Both the viscose pillow cover and the inserts are machine washable, and Luxome offers a 30-day guarantee.

Fill material: Down alternative | Cover fabric: Polyester

This budget-friendly set of king pillows from Amazon Basics comes in two density options: soft for stomach and back sleepers or medium for back and side sleepers. The plush down alternative fill may be a good option for those with allergies who need to avoid down and feathers but don’t want to give up the soft, airy feel of these materials. They’re made in an Oeko-Tex Standard-certified factory, which ensures they meet high safety and environmental standards, and they can be machine washed. Plus, you get the set of two king pillows in either density for around $40.

Fill material: Organic cotton, microfiber, shredded natural latex | Cover fabric: Organic cotton

Saatva’s latex pillow has a supportive shredded natural latex core and a surrounding fill layer made with super fine fibers that gives it a soft, downy feel. The pillow is available in both standard and high lofts, and it’s the latter that’s designed for side sleepers (or anyone who prefers a higher, plusher pillow). But no matter which loft you choose, the latex in this king size pillow makes it feel buoyant and responsive, with high breathability and great pressure relief. One thing to keep in mind—the shredded latex core can’t be washed, so make sure to remove that part before machine washing the rest.

Fill material: Memory foam | Cover fabric: Polyester

While memory foam has a reputation for sleeping hot, the Tempur-Cloud cooling pillow is specifically designed to help you stay cool at night. Two layers of cooling gel sandwich the medium-feel Tempur Material in the middle of this king pillow, with options for high and low profiles to accommodate different sleep styles. That means all of the contouring, pressure-relieving benefits of memory foam without the hot, sweaty scalp. Keep in mind, Tempur-Pedic doesn’t accept returns on pillows, but they do offer a 5-year warranty.

Fill material: Shredded memory foam | Cover fabric: Polyester

This king size pillow is a bestseller at Coop Sleep Goods. The fill material is a blend of shredded memory foam and microfiber, which strikes a nice balance of support and comfort and delivers a medium-firm feel. But the real pain-relief magic is in the personalization. Add or remove fill to perfectly accommodate your sleep position, which can help reduce neck strain and support neutral alignment to keep aches and pains at bay. The Original is CertiPur-US and Greenguard Gold certified, meaning it’s free of harmful chemicals, and each one ships with an extra bag of fill.

Fill material: Shredded gel-infused memory foam, latex | Cover fabric: Organic cotton

The combination of shredded memory foam and latex in Saatva’s Cloud pillow gives sleepers the best of both worlds: contouring support that responds to movement for perfect alignment in any position. Latex is temperature neutral and the shredded fill also boosts breathability, making this a good pick for hot sleepers, too. Saatva uses CertiPur-US certified memory foams, which means these king pillows are free of harmful chemicals. While the pillow itself is spot clean only, the organic cotton cover can be zipped off and machine washed. Saatva offers a 45-day window for returns.

Fill material: RDS certified down | Cover fabric: Cotton

With Parachute’s down pillow, stomach, back, side and combination sleepers alike can find the support they need and still enjoy the signature airiness of down. The king pillow comes in three densities (soft, medium and firm, along with a gusseted option specifically for side sleepers), and the company uses down certified by the Responsible Down Standard. That means the down and feathers in these pillows come from geese raised in compliance with strict animal welfare standards. The fill is primarily down clusters, with a small percentage of down and feather fibers, making it supremely soft. Depending on your choice of density, these pillows run the gamut from squishy to fluffy, with varying loft.

Fill material: Down, duck feather, lyocell | Cover fabric: Cotton

This pillow is tops Vetted’s list of the best hotel pillows. The Ritz-Carlton Hotel has earned its five-star reputation, and its signature king pillow likewise delivers on luxury. It’s made with down, feathers and lyocell fibers in a three-chamber design: inner chambers of supportive duck feathers are wrapped with down and lyocell for a soft-to-the-touch feel. It helps ensure the fluffy fill stays evenly distributed and maintains its airy loft without bunching. Another bonus? The Ritz-Carlton pillow is machine washable.

With dozens upon dozens of sleep stories under our belts, the Forbes Vetted team knows exactly how to research, compare and test sleep products. Our editors and writers have hands-on experience with many of the pillows included in this story, and we’re committed to helping Forbes Vetted readers find the best pillows, sheets, and mattresses to help you get your best sleep yet.

This list is the result of intensive research and product recommendations from the Forbes Vetted team. We started with a lengthy list of contenders and compared and contrasted them based on materials, loft and firmness, suitability for individual needs and preferences, prices, and any special characteristics. We also took a deep dive into customer reviews. All of the pillows that made the cut meet our high standards for quality, comfort and support.

Beyond checking that you’re getting the right size, shopping for a king size pillow isn’t any different than shopping for a standard or a queen pillow. That means factoring for your personal preferences in terms of materials and comfort, accounting for your preferred sleep position and being mindful of budget. Here’s what to keep in mind.

Measuring 20 x 36 inches, king pillows are sized for king and California king beds, but you’re free to use them on other mattress sizes as well. King size pillows work well side by side on queen mattresses, and both full and twin mattresses work well with a single king pillow.

The length of a king size pillow makes it a good choice for side sleepers—all that extra room gives them room to roll from side to side comfortably. But back and stomach sleepers can enjoy king size pillows too. The key is finding one with the appropriate loft and firmness to comfortably support you in these positions.

Since king pillows are just longer versions of standard pillows, you’ll have the same choice of materials. Most pillows can be generally grouped into four filling categories: down, down alternative, solid or shredded memory foam and latex. Depending on what you like in a pillow, these materials offer various benefits and drawbacks.

Down is soft and fluffy, but it can retain heat and generally comes with a higher price point. Down alternative, often made of polyester or microfiber, has the airiness and warmth of real down with a lower price tag. But over time, this fill may fall flat or become lumpy. Memory foam provides contouring support but there’s a tendency to feel “stuck” and heat retention can also pose an issue. There’s also off-gassing to consider. Latex, meanwhile, is supportive and temperature regulating, but it can be expensive and has a bouncier feel that may not appeal to everyone.

Loft describes the height of the pillow when your head rests on it, while firmness generally indicates how well the pillow maintains its shape under weight. Material choices dictate loft and firmness to some extent. It’s important to choose a pillow with a loft and firmness that accommodates both your preferred sleep position and your personal idea of comfort. Back and stomach sleepers, for example, need a pillow with lower loft than side sleepers. Firmer pillows, which are more resistant to pressure, tend to maintain loft better than softer alternatives.

Generally, you can expect to spend more on a king pillow because their size means they require more material to manufacture. Your choice of fill, firmness, the pillow’s construction, the brand and whether or not you’re buying during a sale will also affect the final price.

The cheapest synthetic king pillows can cost as little as $20 each, while many king pillows made with natural materials like down and latex tends to cost between $100 and $200. The most expensive king pillow on this list is the Temper-Cloud, which tops out at nearly $250.

It can be difficult to know whether a pillow is going to work for you until you get it home and actually sleep on it. Luckily, lots of brands offer trial windows that give you plenty of time to test out a pillow. As you shop, make sure you’re clear on what a particular brand offers.

Some pillows are designed to satisfy needs beyond comfort and support. Sleepers who tend to overheat at night might benefit from breathable materials or active cooling technology, like phase-change materials and gels. People with neck pain may want to consider materials that offer pressure relief, like latex and memory foam.

The only difference is the size. At 36 inches in length, king size pillows are longer than standard pillows by a full 10 inches. That makes them a better fit on king size beds and a good choice for people who have bigger bodies or tend to move around in their sleep. Side sleepers who flip from one side to the other may also appreciate a king size pillow’s extra room.

A pair of king size pillows is sized to fit the head of a king bed nicely, but it’s not a hard and fast rule. From an aesthetic standpoint, you may prefer to mix and match king size pillows with a pair of standard or queen pillows, along with a lumbar pillow. It’s really up to you.

I'm a reporter covering the intersection of sports, business and technology. My byline has appeared at CNBC.com, The Hockey News and Narratively. I started this journey covering a handful of New Jersey Devils stranded in Albany during the 2012 NHL Lockout, with stops on the beats of the Chicago Blackhawks, New Jersey Devils and New York Rangers. I graduated from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism where I specialized in Sports Media.

I’m a freelance writer specializing in travel, tech, and the outdoors, with work appearing in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, National Geographic, WIRED, Ars Technica, and The Daily Beast, among others. After receiving an undergrad in Marketing and a Master’s in Social Psychology, I worked in branding and then community development, overseeing food equity and justice initiatives across New York City. I solo bike toured Cuba and wrote the guidebook, Cuba by Bike. I started a small travel company (EscapingNY) and still lead tours in Cuba, Mexico, and Jordan. When I’m not hiking, biking, rafting, camping, or scuba diving, I’m usually doing puzzles and playing board games. You can find me on Twitter at @escapingnewyork and Instagram @escapingny.