Summary of Significant Accounting Policies - Additional Information (Details) $ in Millions	3 Months Ended																12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2016 USD ($)		Sep. 30, 2016 USD ($)	[2]	Jun. 30, 2016 USD ($)	[3]	Mar. 31, 2016 USD ($)	[4]	Dec. 31, 2015 USD ($)		Sep. 30, 2015 USD ($)	[6]	Jun. 30, 2015 USD ($)	[7]	Mar. 31, 2015 USD ($)	[8]	Dec. 31, 2016 USD ($) a	Dec. 31, 2015 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2014 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2013 USD ($)
Summary of Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Research and development costs																	$ 13.3	$ 13.1	$ 12.3
Cash and cash equivalents	$ 239.3								$ 184.2								239.3	184.2	124.9	$ 191.0
Cash equivalents	178.4								140.9								178.4	140.9
Allowance for doubtful accounts	3.8								3.9								$ 3.8	3.9
Customer returns, allowances and earned discounts as a percentage of gross selling price																	1.00%
Reserve for customer accounts receivable, percentage																	1.00%
Reserve for customer deductions																	$ 6.3	6.4
Net income attributable to Packaging Corporation of America	110.6	[1]	$ 119.4		$ 115.9		$ 103.7		104.3	[5]	$ 127.8		$ 114.0		$ 90.8		449.6	436.8	392.6
Inventories	723.6								676.8								723.6	676.8
Retained earnings	1,447.1								1,317.3								1,447.1	1,317.3
Interest capitalization, construction in progress																	$ 2.5	$ 2.0	2.8
Intangible asset, useful life, in years																	12 years 10 months 25 days	13 years 2 months 40 days
Goodwill	737.9								544.0								$ 737.9	$ 544.0		$ 546.8
Deferred financing costs	12.4								12.3								$ 12.4	12.3
Area leased under timberland cutting rights (acres) | a																	75,000
Area leased where fiber farms are operated (acres) | a																	9,000
Software amortization expense																	$ 2.5	3.0	2.9
Minimum
Summary of Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Term of senior credit facilities and notes, in years																	5 years
Maximum
Summary of Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Term of senior credit facilities and notes, in years																	10 years
Foreign operations
Summary of Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Cash and cash equivalents	3.4								3.1								$ 3.4	$ 3.1
Customer relationships
Summary of Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Intangible asset, useful life, in years																	13 years 1 month 5 days	13 years 4 months
Customer relationships | Minimum
Summary of Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Intangible asset, useful life, in years																	10 years
Customer relationships | Maximum
Summary of Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Intangible asset, useful life, in years																	40 years
Trademarks and trade names
Summary of Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Intangible asset, useful life, in years																	10 years 5 months 30 days	12 years 5 months 33 days
Trademarks and trade names | Minimum
Summary of Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Intangible asset, useful life, in years																	3 years
Trademarks and trade names | Maximum
Summary of Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Intangible asset, useful life, in years																	20 years
Cutting Rights and Fiber Farms
Summary of Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Depletion expense																	$ 4.7	$ 7.0	$ 7.3
Other long-term assets
Summary of Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Net capitalized software costs	4.5								6.9								4.5	6.9
Other long-term assets | Cutting Rights and Fiber Farms
Summary of Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Long-term lease costs capitalization (Cutting rights and Fiber farms)	$ 43.9								40.2								$ 43.9	40.2
Adjustments for New Accounting Pronouncement | Other long-term assets
Summary of Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Deferred financing costs									(12.3)									(12.3)
Adjustments for New Accounting Pronouncement | Long-term debt
Summary of Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Deferred financing costs									$ (12.3)									$ (12.3)

[1] Includes $4.5 million of closure costs related to a corrugated products facility and a paper products facility ($2.9 million after-tax or $0.03 per diluted share), $2.7 million of costs related to ceased production of softwood market pulp operations at our Wallula, Washington mill and the permanent shutdown of the No.1 machine ($1.8 million after-tax or $0.02 per diluted share), and $1.2 million of acquisition-related costs for TimBar Corporation and Columbus Container, Inc. acquisitions ($0.8 million after-tax or $0.01 per diluted share).

[2] Includes $2.0 million of closure costs related to a corrugated products facility and a paper products facility ($1.4 million after-tax or $0.02 per diluted share) and $2.9 million of acquisition-related costs for TimBar Corporation and Columbus Container, Inc. acquisitions ($1.9 million after-tax or $0.02 per diluted share).

[3] Includes $1.7 million of closure costs related to a corrugated products facility and a paper products facility ($1.0 million after-tax or $0.01 per diluted share), $0.3 million of acquisition-related costs for TimBar Corporation ($0.2 million after-tax or $0.0 per diluted share), and $0.9 million related to our withdrawal from a multiemployer pension plan for one of our corrugated products facilities ($0.6 million after-tax or $0.01 per diluted share).

[4] Includes $2.8 million of closure costs related to a corrugated products facility and a paper products facility. ($1.9 million after-tax or $0.02 per diluted share).

[5] Includes $3.5 million of income from DeRidder restructuring ($2.2 million after-tax or $0.02 per diluted share) and $3.8 million of integration-related and other costs ($2.6 million after-tax or $0.03 per diluted share).

[6] Includes $3.8 million of income from DeRidder restructuring ($2.3 million after-tax or $0.02 per diluted share) and $2.4 million of integration-related and other costs ($1.7 million after-tax or $0.02 per diluted share). Also includes $6.7 million gain from the sale of our paper mill site at St. Helens, Oregon ($4.4 million after tax or $0.05 per diluted share).

[7] Includes $1.0 million of income from DeRidder restructuring ($0.7 million after-tax or $0.01 per diluted share) and $3.7 million of integration-related and other costs ($2.3 million after-tax or $0.03 per diluted share).

[8] Includes $10.3 million of DeRidder restructuring charges ($6.6 million after-tax or $0.07 per diluted share) and $3.5 million of integration-related and other costs ($2.2 million after-tax or $0.02 per diluted share). Also includes a $3.6 million tax credit from the State of Louisiana related to our capital investment and the jobs retained at the DeRidder, Louisiana mill.