Think about it. Hanging clothes takes up maybe a little more than 2'-0". I usually allow 3'-0" minimum between the hanging clothes, so that is 7'-0" (7'-1" stud to stud). Do you want less or more than 3'-0" to view the clothes to make the determination of what to wear?

Luckily, we are not clothes horses. I figured 7 ft would be optimal. I guess if we did just shelving on one side (instead of hanging) it could be narrower.

The master closet is currently similar to what would be a reach in with bifold doors or sliders. Except this closet has a traditional door on it, making one have to walk sideways along the wall down the clothes. Door can't be made any wider because it is between the gas chamber and the shower.

If you were hanging clothes on both sides, 7 foot is the absolute minimum. Six will work if one side is just shelving.

My DH's closet is 7'6" wide. I just measured and the minimum I would shrink it down to is 6'8" . So 22+36+22 and that is using men's clothing in a section that included suit jackets, which are the widest thing you would hang.

My one DD just measure her's and it is 5 ft 8in, Silly girl first said it was her wingspan. She does not have a lot of clothes and admits that hers could be too tight if it were packed with clothes. I was thinking wider than her dimension. We will have to see what comes to be with this house.

Does it need to be clothes on both sides? The door has to be in the middle? Do they dress in the closet, or just keep stuff in there? Just hanging clothes? what about shelves, drawers, hooks? for undies, accessories, socks, some sweaters? Robes?

It does not need to have clothes on both sides. The area will be a rectangle so the door could be towards one side. I was just trying to get the most bang for our buck. We need to see how long the office is that would be sacrificed.

Here's the walk-in for one of our bedrooms--5'6" wide, adequate for clothes on one side.

More clothes could be accommodated in the same space with several doors opposite the bed. I lived in a Long Island 1920s Gold Coast mansion where that was the common setup for the secondary bedrooms. (But then they didn't have televisions hanging opposite the bed.)

If you're willing to delete rods with their 22" depth requirements you can get down to 5' or less using vertical organizers and even wall anchored chain to hook hangers on.

The above would be turned sideways.

Many are shown using a rod which is only one mounting option. If you want the least width you have to get rid of using a rod as part of storage until the end wall if at all.

Oh no, @Mark Bischak, Architect, everybody knows DD means designated driver.

Our walk-in closet is 6' wide, with hanging on the back and one side, and 14" deep shelves/drawers on the other side, with the door on the short end. There is room for both hubby and me to get clothes, or for one of us to get dressed (of course we get along pretty well, and don't mind if we bump into each other).

All of the hanging clothes are double rods; I hang dresses in the guest room closet.

Ann, that looks really nice and I especially like the laundry baskets. Great idea!

This is ours. We don’t have shelving on both sides. Measurements are hard to read but it’s small and works.

You are asking about minimum width, not best practices, Pinterest-ready, or anything else. The answer to that question is functionally to allow 24" for hanging clothes and 24" for walking in front of those clothes.