How to Measure Your Foot for Shoe Size

Shoe sizes are based on the length of your foot, so all you need is a sheet of paper, a pencil, a wall and a ruler. Measuring takes a couple of minutes and gives you a size you can use with any brand’s chart.

Measure your foot length

1. Tape a sheet of paper to a hard floor with one short edge touching a wall. Letter or A4 paper is long enough for feet up to about 11 inches (28 cm); use two overlapping sheets for bigger feet.
2. Put on the socks you’ll wear with the shoes.
3. Stand on the paper with your heel against the wall and your weight evenly on both feet.
4. Mark the tip of your longest toe with a pencil held straight up. It isn’t always the big toe. It’s easier if someone else marks it for you.
5. Measure from the wall edge of the paper to the mark with a ruler, to the nearest ⅛ inch or millimeter.
6. Repeat with the other foot and use the longer measurement.

No ruler? Use a printable ruler, or hold the paper against your screen with our inch ruler (calibrate it first). Then enter the length in the shoe size finder, which converts it to US, UK, EU and Japan sizes for men, women and kids.

Foot length to shoe size chart

US sizes step by ⅓ inch (8.5 mm) of foot length. Adult sizes come from the standard formula used across the US: men’s size ≈ 3 × foot length in inches − 22, and women’s ≈ 3 × foot length − 21. EU sizes measure the shoe’s last, which is about 2 cm longer than the foot, so EU ≈ 1.5 × (foot length in cm + 2).

Foot length	US men	US women	UK	EU
8.5 in (21.6 cm)	3½	4½	2½	35½
9 in (22.9 cm)	5	6	4	37½
9.5 in (24.1 cm)	6½	7½	5½	39
10 in (25.4 cm)	8	9	7	41
10.5 in (26.7 cm)	9½	10½	8½	43
11 in (27.9 cm)	11	12	10	45
11.5 in (29.2 cm)	12½	13½	11½	47
12 in (30.5 cm)	14	15	13	48½

If your length falls between two rows, round up. Brands differ by up to half a size, so when a brand publishes its own chart, trust that.

Measure your foot width

Width matters if shoes usually feel tight across the front of your foot. Measure the widest part, across the ball of the foot, while standing. US width letters depend on both length and width, and they’re not the same for men and women:

• Men: D is standard (medium), 2E is wide and 4E extra wide.
• Women: B is standard (medium), D is wide and 2E extra wide.

A men’s D and a women’s D are different widths, so a woman with a wide foot is often a women’s D. If standard widths pinch across the ball of your foot, try the next width up in the same length.

Tips for the right fit

• Measure in the afternoon or evening. Feet swell during the day.
• Measure every year or two. Many adults’ feet get longer and wider over time, and after pregnancy.
• Shoes for sport: runners often go up half a size, because feet swell on long runs.
• Kids: measure every few months. US kids’ sizes run from 0C to 13½C, then restart at 1Y for big kids; the shoe size finder handles both.

How stores measure feet

Shoe stores use a Brannock Device: a metal plate with a heel cup and sliding scales that reads length, width and arch length at once. The wall method above measures the same heel-to-toe length, so your result should match the store’s within about half a size.