How to Measure Your Foot for Shoe Size
A shoe size is only as good as the measurement behind it. This takes about two minutes and needs only a piece of paper, a pencil, and a ruler or tape measure.
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Introduction (0:00)
How to measure your feet. Six steps, and a bonus tip.
Step 1: Tape paper to a hard floor (0:05)
Step 1: Tape paper to a hard floor. Carpet sinks under your heel and throws off the measurement. Use a hard, flat floor, and tape the paper down so it can’t slide while you stand on it.
Step 2: Wear what you’ll wear in the shoe (0:18)
Step 2: Wear what you’ll wear in the shoe. If you’ll wear the shoes with thick socks, measure with those socks on. Thick socks can add a few millimeters, enough to change your size.
Step 3: Stand flat-footed, weight balanced (0:30)
Step 3: Stand flat-footed, weight balanced. Put your full weight on the foot you’re measuring and stand the way you do day to day, heels down. Your foot flattens and spreads a little under that weight, so you get a truer size standing than with your foot in the air.
Step 4: Mark heel and longest toe (0:46)
Step 4: Mark heel and longest toe. Ask someone to mark the back edge of your heel and the tip of your longest toe. That might be your second toe. Have them hold the pen upright so each mark lands at the edge of your foot.
Step 5: Measure the distance between the marks (1:01)
Step 5: Measure the distance between the marks. Use a ruler or tape measure to record the straight-line distance between the two marks. That’s your foot length.
Step 6: Measure both feet and use the longer one (1:12)
Step 6: Measure both feet and use the longer one. Your left and right feet can differ in length. Size to the longer one so neither shoe pinches.
Bonus tip: Measure again later in the day (1:23)
Bonus tip: Measure again later in the day. Your feet swell a little as the day goes on, more after standing or exercise. Measure in the afternoon or evening to get the size your feet are for most of the day.
Find your size (1:38)
Now find your size. Enter your longer foot, 26.9 cm, at shoesizeit.com.
- Tape paper to a hard floor. Carpet compresses under your heel and skews the measurement, so use a hard, flat surface, and tape the paper down so it can't slide while you stand on it.
- Wear what you'll wear in the shoe. If you plan to wear the shoes with thick socks, measure with those socks on. Sock thickness can shift a measurement by a few millimeters, enough to change your size.
- Stand naturally, weight balanced. Stand on the paper with your full weight evenly balanced on the foot being measured, the way you'd stand normally, not on your toes. Feet flatten and spread slightly under load-bearing weight, so measuring while standing gives a truer size than measuring a foot held in the air.
- Mark heel and longest toe. Have someone else mark the very back of your heel and the tip of your longest toe on the paper. It isn't always the big toe. A pen held straight down keeps the marks accurate.
- Measure the distance between the marks. Use a ruler or tape measure to record the straight-line distance between the two marks. That's your foot length.
- Repeat for both feet, use the longer one. Most people have one foot slightly longer than the other, and sizing to the longer foot avoids a cramped fit.
Bonus tip: measure later in the day. Feet swell slightly over the course of a day, especially after standing or exercise. Measuring in the afternoon or evening gives a more realistic everyday size than a first-thing-in-the-morning measurement.
Measuring foot width
Length is only half the picture. To measure width, measure straight across the widest part of your forefoot, from one side to the other: a straight-line width, not a measurement taken around the foot. 14 brands publish real width fittings against that measurement, New Balance with a full numeric width chart for every size. The wide-feet guide shows how to tell whether your feet are wide, and which brands make wide fittings.
Now find your size
Enter your measurement in the calculator to see your size across 35 brands at once, or read it directly from a brand's own chart. New to the site? Watch how to use ShoeSizeIt.