CS2 Float Value Explained: How It Affects Your Skin's Price
What is CS2 float value and how does it affect how much your skin is worth? A complete guide to float ranges, wear tiers, and which skins are most float-sensitive.
Two CS2 knives. Same skin, same wear tier label, listed five seconds apart on the same platform. One is priced at $800. The other at $1,400. The only difference: their float values.
Float is one of those CS2 mechanics that sounds technical but is genuinely important if you're trying to understand what your skins are worth, or trying to sell at the right price rather than underselling by accident. This guide explains what float value actually is, which skins it affects most, and how to check it before you sell.
What Is Float Value?
Every CS2 skin has a float value — a number between 0.00 and 1.00 that represents how worn the skin looks in-game. It's assigned at the moment a skin drops or is unboxed and is permanently fixed. You cannot buff, trade, or change a skin's float.
- 0.00 → cleaner (near-pristine, minimal scratches and wear)
- 1.00 → more worn (significant scratches, paint loss, aged appearance)
Float value is what sits beneath the wear tier label. Factory New, Minimal Wear, Field-Tested, Well-Worn, and Battle-Scarred are the five wear tiers, each mapping to a specific float range. But within any given tier, there's still variation. Two Factory New skins can have floats of 0.001 and 0.069 — both called "Factory New," but visually different.
Float Ranges by Wear Tier
| Wear Tier | Float Range |
|---|---|
| Factory New (FN) | 0.00 – 0.07 |
| Minimal Wear (MW) | 0.07 – 0.15 |
| Field-Tested (FT) | 0.15 – 0.38 |
| Well-Worn (WW) | 0.38 – 0.45 |
| Battle-Scarred (BS) | 0.45 – 1.00 |
Not every skin can drop in every wear tier; the available range depends on the specific skin's design parameters. Some skins only drop in FT, WW, and BS; others can be FN through BS. When checking a skin's value, verify which tiers are actually available for that item.
Check your skin's value now. Load your CS2 inventory on RapidSkins for live prices →
How Much Does Float Actually Affect Price?
The honest answer: it depends entirely on the skin and its tier.
High-impact: Knives, gloves, and covert rifles
For top-tier items, float difference within the Factory New range (0.00–0.07) is real money. A Karambit | Fade at 0.001 float is visually cleaner than the same skin at 0.065, and the difference is visible in-game, and the market prices it accordingly. The gap can be 20–60% on the same finish and wear tier.
Examples of float-sensitive skins:
- Karambit, Butterfly Knife, M9 Bayonet in all finishes
- AWP | Dragon Lore
- M4A4 | Howl
- AK-47 | Case Hardened (where float interacts with pattern index)
Low-impact: Common and mid-tier skins
For Consumer Grade, Industrial Grade, and most Mil-Spec skins, float has minimal price impact. The base value is too low ($0.10–$5) for float premiums to materialise in practice. A Factory New Blue Gem sticker (Consumer Grade) at 0.001 float is not meaningfully more valuable than one at 0.069.
The Field-Tested zone: where floats get interesting again
At the Field-Tested boundary (0.15–0.38), lower floats are generally better, but the visual threshold matters more than the number. For some skins, 0.16 FT and 0.37 FT look noticeably different. For others, the visual wear is consistent across the FT range and float has minimal pricing impact.
Float and the Case Hardened Pattern Interaction
The AK-47 | Case Hardened is the most well-known example of float and pattern working together. The skin's blue/gold colour distribution is controlled by the pattern index (seed), not float alone, but float still matters for the cleanliness of whichever pattern you have.
A Blue Gem pattern (Pattern 661) at 0.001 FN is the gold standard. A Blue Gem at 0.065 FN is still extremely valuable but commands a lower price. For non-Blue-Gem patterns where the value ceiling is $20–$50, float within FN range has minimal practical impact.
The takeaway: for any Case Hardened item, check the pattern index before worrying about float.
How to Check Your Skin's Float Value
Method 1: In-game inspect Open your CS2 inventory, right-click any skin, and select Inspect. The float value appears in the item description panel under the skin name.
Method 2: CSFloat browser extension The CSFloat inventory extension displays float values directly in your Steam inventory without opening the game, which is useful if you're checking multiple items at once.
Method 3: Steam inventory inspect link Every CS2 skin has an inspect link. Paste it at ByMykel's CS2 inspect API or similar community tools to retrieve float and pattern data.
Method 4: RapidSkins sell page When you load your inventory on RapidSkins, live pricing already accounts for float and wear in the quoted price. You don't need to manually look up each float to understand the real-money value; the price shown is what the item is actually worth on the current market. Once you're ready to sell, RapidSkins pays out via PayPal, Bitcoin, and more.
When Float Doesn't Tell the Full Story
Float value is one factor — not the only one. A lower float doesn't automatically mean higher value if:
- The pattern index is poor (Case Hardened, Fade percentage, Doppler phase)
- Applied stickers have been scraped; removing valuable stickers destroys value, regardless of float
- StatTrak status is absent; a non-ST knife at 0.001 is still worth less than the same knife in StatTrak
- The skin itself is low-tier, where float premium never materialises
Check the full picture before assuming a low float means a high price, especially on skins where pattern and sticker value dominate.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is float value in CS2? Float value is a number between 0.00 and 1.00 assigned to each CS2 skin at the moment it drops or is unboxed. It represents the skin's level of wear. Lower numbers mean less wear. Float is permanent and cannot be changed.
Does a lower float always mean a higher price? Not always. For high-tier skins (knives, gloves, covert rifles), a lower float within Factory New adds meaningful value. For common and mid-tier skins, the visual difference is negligible and float premiums don't materialise in practice.
How do I check my skin's float value? Inspect the skin in CS2 (right-click → Inspect), use the CSFloat browser extension, or load your inventory on RapidSkins where float-adjusted pricing is shown automatically.
What float range is Factory New? Factory New skins have floats between 0.00 and 0.07. Within this range, lower is visually cleaner, and for premium skins, 0.001 vs 0.065 can represent a significant price difference.