Spawn Chunk Calculator
Enter your world spawn coordinates and version to see which chunks stay loaded, what ticks in each ring, and the block ranges to build your always-on farms in.
spawnChunkRadius gamerule (default 2 → 3×3 entity-ticking)
Gamerule, 0–32 (default 2)
Not sure where your world spawn is? A compass points to it, the seed map’s spawn marker shows it, and Java stores it in level.dat as SpawnX / SpawnZ.
Spawn chunk and loaded areas
- Spawn chunk (chunk X, Z)
- 0, 0
- spawnChunkRadius
- 2
- Entity ticking · 3×3 chunks (48×48 blocks)
- X -16 to 31, Z -16 to 31
- Block ticking · 5×5 chunks (80×80 blocks)
- X -32 to 47, Z -32 to 47
- Border · 7×7 chunks (112×112 blocks)
- X -48 to 63, Z -48 to 63
Fully loaded: entities, mobs, redstone, random ticks (crops, fire) and chunk ticks all run. (chunks -1..1, -1..1)
Redstone, fluids and scheduled ticks run, but entities are not processed and mobs do not spawn naturally. (Also called “lazy” chunks.) (chunks -2..2, -2..2)
Loaded but nothing ticks; blocks and entities can still be read or changed by commands. (chunks -3..3, -3..3)
Preview
- Entity ticking — 3×3 chunks (48×48 blocks)
- Block ticking — 5×5 chunks (80×80 blocks)
- Border — 7×7 chunks (112×112 blocks)
- Spawn chunk
How it works
Chunk load levels
Since 1.14, Java loads chunks through “tickets”. A ticket has a level; each chunk further from the ticket gets a level one higher. Level 31 and below is entity ticking (everything runs), level 32 is block ticking (redstone, fluids and scheduled ticks, but no entity processing and no natural mob spawning), level 33 is a border (loaded, nothing ticks), and 34+ is unloaded.
Java 1.14 – 1.20.4
The spawn chunk held a permanent ticket of level 22 (radius 11). Counting outward: chunks within 9 of it are level ≤ 31 → a 19×19 entity-ticking square; distance 10 is level 32 → a 21×21 block-ticking square; distance 11 is level 33 → a 23×23 border. The centre is the chunk containing the spawn point, i.e. floor(spawnX / 16), floor(spawnZ / 16).
Java 1.20.5 – 1.21.8
Snapshot 24w03a added the spawnChunkRadius gamerule (default 2, range 0–32) and shrank the default to 3×3. The ticket radius is the gamerule + 1, so entity ticking covers (2R−1)², block ticking (2R+1)² and the border (2R+3)² chunks; 0 disables spawn chunks entirely.
Before 1.14
A chunk was a spawn chunk when its centre block lay within 128 blocks of the spawn point — usually 16×16 chunks, occasionally 17 on an axis. Entities were only processed when every chunk within 32 blocks of them was loaded, so in practice only the inner 12×12 chunks processed entities, and random ticks only ran near players.
Java 1.21.9 and newer, and Bedrock
Java 1.21.9 (25w31a) removed spawn chunks and the gamerule; use /forceload. Bedrock Edition never had spawn chunks — use /tickingarea.
FAQ
What are spawn chunks?
In Java Edition (up to 1.21.8) the chunks around the world spawn point stayed loaded even with no player nearby, so farms, redstone clocks and item transport there kept running as long as the world was open. Which chunks, and what actually ticks in them, depends on the version — this calculator shows the exact ranges.
How big are the spawn chunks?
Java 1.14–1.20.4: a 19×19 chunk (304×304 block) entity-ticking area, inside a 21×21 block-ticking ring and a 23×23 border, all centred on the chunk containing the spawn point. Java 1.20.5–1.21.8: the spawnChunkRadius gamerule (default 2) gives a 3×3 entity-ticking area, 5×5 block-ticking and 7×7 border. Before 1.14 it was the 16×16 chunks (256×256 blocks) whose centres lie within 128 blocks of spawn, with entities only processed in the inner 12×12.
Do spawn chunks still exist in the latest version?
No. Java Edition 1.21.9 (snapshot 25w31a) removed spawn chunks and the spawnChunkRadius gamerule. To keep an area loaded, use /forceload add <from> <to>, which needs operator permission. Bedrock Edition never had spawn chunks; use /tickingarea instead.
Do crops grow and mobs spawn in spawn chunks?
Only in the entity-ticking area: there, entities, mob spawning, random ticks (crops, saplings, fire) and redstone all run. In the block-ticking ring redstone, fluids and scheduled ticks work but entities are frozen and mobs don't spawn. Border chunks are loaded but nothing ticks. Note that in 1.21.5+, random ticks only happen in entity-ticking chunks.
How do I change or disable spawn chunks?
On Java 1.20.5–1.21.8 run /gamerule spawnChunkRadius <0–32>; 0 disables them completely and 32 loads a huge 67×67 area (which costs a lot of server performance). On older versions the size is fixed, but you can move the spawn point with /setworldspawn. On 1.21.9+ use /forceload.