Your dress size from height & weight
No tape measure handy? This estimates your size from the two numbers you do know. It's a starting point, not a verdict — the page shows its working and tells you exactly where it can be wrong.
Estimate my size
Estimate · ±1 sizeWhat this estimate can and can't do
What it can do
Put you in the right neighbourhood. If you genuinely don't know whether you're a 6 or a 16, height and weight answer that reliably. It's also the right tool for buying a gift when measuring the recipient isn't an option.
What it can't do
See your shape. Height and weight can't tell a bust-led body from a hip-led one, can't see muscle, pregnancy or post-partum change, and can't know your fit preference. Any of those can move you a full size from the estimate — which is why the real measurement calculator exists.
The model, in the open
Height + weight → BMI
Your two numbers combine into body mass index, the standard height-to-weight ratio used in body-measurement research.
BMI → estimated waist
Waist circumference is the measurement that tracks BMI most closely in large anthropometric surveys. The model predicts your waist from your BMI using that average relationship.
Waist → bust & hips
Average proportions add about 7.5″ from waist to bust and about 10″ from waist to hips. "Average" is doing real work in that sentence — it's the step where individual bodies diverge most.
Match to the chart
All three estimated measurements go through the same standard chart as the main calculator, largest measurement governing — and the result is reported with a ±1 size range, because that's the honest precision.
Estimated US size by height and weight
The estimator's answers laid out as a grid — handy for a fast look-up. "Plus" means the estimate lands past the standard chart, where the plus calculator takes over.
| Height ↓ · Weight → | 100 lb | 120 lb | 140 lb | 160 lb | 180 lb | 200 lb | 220 lb | 240 lb |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4′10″ | 4 | 12 | 16 | 20 | Plus | Plus | Plus | Plus |
| 5′0″ | 2 | 10 | 16 | 18 | Plus | Plus | Plus | Plus |
| 5′2″ | 0 | 8 | 12 | 16 | 20 | Plus | Plus | Plus |
| 5′4″ | 00 | 4 | 10 | 16 | 18 | Plus | Plus | Plus |
| 5′6″ | 00 | 2 | 8 | 12 | 16 | 20 | Plus | Plus |
| 5′8″ | 00 | 0 | 6 | 10 | 16 | 18 | 20 | Plus |
| 5′10″ | 00 | 00 | 4 | 10 | 12 | 16 | 18 | Plus |
| 6′0″ | 00 | 00 | 0 | 6 | 12 | 14 | 18 | 20 |
Three estimates, traced
Three bodies this estimate misreads
The pear and the apple
The model assumes average distribution — roughly ten inches from waist to hips. A hip-led body breaks that assumption downward (the estimate runs big) and a waist-led body breaks it upward. If you know your shape is pronounced either way, shift the estimate a size toward it.
Muscle
Weight-based models can't tell muscle from fat, and muscle takes up less room per pound. Regular lifters and athletes routinely measure a size smaller than this page predicts. Expect the estimate to run about a size generous.
Life stages
Pregnancy makes the whole exercise meaningless for dresses, obviously — but less obviously, the post-partum months and the menopause years both redistribute weight toward the waist in ways a height-and-weight snapshot can't date. Measure when it matters.
None of this makes the estimator useless — it makes it a first draft. Its job is to get you to the right rail in the shop and the right neighbourhood online. The measurement calculator then does the precise work in thirty seconds, with a tape that cost less than the return postage on a wrong-size dress.
Before you ask
How accurate is a dress size estimated from height and weight?
Why does the calculator use my waist to estimate size?
I lift weights / carry muscle — will this work for me?
What if the estimate lands above the standard chart?
Does height change my dress size?
Keep going
Size Converter
Convert any dress size between US, UK, EU, AU and Canadian sizing instantly.
Wedding Dress Size
Bridal sizes run about two sizes small. See your bridal size before you book the fitting.
Prom Dress Size
Junior and formal sizing explained, with measurement tips for a first formal dress.
Plus Size Calculator
Sizes 14W–32W from your measurements, with the plus chart and fit notes that matter.
Kids Dress Size
Children's dress sizes by age, height and weight — for girls and toddlers.
Weight Loss & Sizes
How many dress sizes will you drop? An honest estimate for your goal weight.
Full Size Chart
Every size in US, UK, EU and AU — with cm, plus and petite tables included.
Built by a person, checked against sources
Ian Welkins
I build small, single-purpose calculators and check every number they print. This one exists because dress sizing is a mess of unregulated charts — the least I could do was gather the published ones in one place and show the working.
Found a chart that disagrees with ours? That's exactly what the report-an-error page is for — corrections get checked and the page gets updated.
Methods & sources
- ASTM D5585Standard tables of body measurements for adult female misses figure type
- ISO 8559Size designation of clothes — anthropometric survey definitions
- Published brand charts (consensus)Cross-checked across major retailers' published size charts; where brands disagree, the median value is used and the variance disclosed