Women's Pants Size Conversion Chart
It’s impossible to find your pants size as a woman. Reading the label is hard enough. Sometimes, the sizes look like waist measurements. Other times, the sizes go all the way from 00 to 24. Even then, your pants size isn’t the same in each brand.
That’s why our readers have been asking us to make a women’s pants size conversion chart. That way, you’d be able to tell which pants size best fits your waist.
We’ve been measuring hundreds of jeans over the past year, so we thought it’d be easy. It turns out, making a pants size conversion chart is hard.
We found some surprising things while making the size chart:
Converting between your waist measurement and women’s pant sizes is hard because women’s waistbands don’t always change by the same amount between sizes.
Our conversion chart is only a best guess because the waistband on pants in the same size from two different brands can vary by up to four inches.
The true waist measurement on a pair of pants varies a ton because there are too many women’s body shapes -- such as apple shaped, pear shaped, and hourglass shaped. That’s why it’s impossible to standardize women’s pants sizes.
Women's Pant Size Conversion Chart
| US Size | Misses Size | Waist Measurement | Men's Size |
|---|---|---|---|
| 23 | 000 | 23" | |
| 24 | 00 | 24" | |
| 25 | 0 | 25" | |
| 26 | 2 | 26" | 26 |
| 27 | 4 | 27" | 27 |
| 28 | 6 | 28" | 28 |
| 29 | 8 | 29" | 29 |
| 30 | 10 | 30" | 30 |
| 31 | 12 | 31.5" | 31-32 |
| 32 | 14 | 33" | 33 |
| 33 | 16 | 34.5" | 34-35 |
| 34 | 18 | 36.5" | 36-37 |
| 35 | 20 | 38.5" | 38-39 |
| 36 | 22 | 40.5" | 40-41 |
| 37 | 24 | 42.5" | 42-43 |
There isn’t a standard way of labelling women’s pants sizes. In the US, there are three main sizing systems:
US Waist Size. Women’s US waist sizes look like men’s waist sizes. The size is a larger number like 27, 28, 29, or 30. US waist size numbers increase by one between sizes.
Misses Size. Misses sizes typically range from 000 to 24. Unlike women’s US sizes, misses size numbers increase by two between sizes.
General Size. Sometimes, pants sizes are labelled by small, medium, or large, like you would normally see on a shirt.
You can find the size of the pants you are wearing by looking at the tag on the back of the waistband. Some pants, like Levi’s 711 or Levi’s 720, are labelled with a US waist size and a Misses size.
The purpose of a pants size is to tell you how big the waistband on the pants are. The bigger the size, the bigger the waistband measurement. Each size is made to best fit someone with a particular natural waist measurement. The reason women’s pants sizes are complicated is because there isn’t a simple way to tell what type of waist the pants should fit best from the labelled size.
By contrast, men’s waist sizes for pants are more straightforward. On men’s pants, the waist size is the first number on the size tag, like the 36 in 36x32. Unlike women’s pants, men’s waist sizes tell you exactly which natural waist measurement -- in inches -- that the pants are designed for. For example, men’s pants with a 36 waist size are supposed to fit someone with a 36” natural waist.
On average, there’s a way to tell what waist measurement a pair of women’s pants will fit best by the labelled size. We’ve provided a size conversion chart that does that above. The conversion isn’t as easy as you’d expect because women’s pants have size breaks.
Size Breaks in Women's Pants
It is easy to convert from a US women’s waist size to your average waist measurement for smaller sizes. The US waist size is exactly the natural waist measurement -- in inches -- that the pants are made for. So a women’s size 27 -- a misses size 4 -- should best fit someone with a 27” natural waist. This means that the waistband on women’s pants changes by an inch between sizes, for small sizes.
Past some size, women’s pants have a “size break”. Size breaks work by changing the waistband measurement by more than an inch between sizes. Size breaks help brands cover more shoppers in their sizing range without leaving anybody in between sizes.
Size breaks work differently in every brand. However, most brands put a size break in between size 30 and 31. Most of the time, the first size break works by changing the waistband by one and a half inches between sizes instead of an inch. For brands that cover an extended sizing range, they may put in more size breaks. Typically, this happens between size 33 and size 34. Sizes change by 2” between sizes after the second size break.
Size breaks make women’s pants sizes confusing. It might look like your US waist size tells you what natural waist the pants are designed to fit best. Because of size breaks, it doesn’t if you are past a size 30.
Moreover, men’s pants don’t have size breaks. That’s because brands stop producing odd sizes for men’s pants past some size, usually size 36. It’s a different way of achieving the same goal as size breaks in women’s clothing.
Pants Sizes aren't Standardized
There isn’t a standard size 10. That’s because most pants are worn below your natural waist. Because your body gets wider below the natural waist, the waistband needs to be bigger to fit around your belly. But, everybody has a different body shape, so it’s impossible to know precisely how much wider the waistband should be.
Each brand targets a different average customer. That’s why one brand’s size 10 might fit like another brand’s size 12 around the waist.
The waistband measurement on women’s pants varies more than men’s does within a size. We know because we measured them. Here’s a bar chart of the waistband measurements on men’s and women’s pants for a size 30.
Most men’s pants are 31” or 32” around the waistband on a size 30. For women, the waistband measurement is anywhere from 30” to 33”.
Women’s pants sizes are less standard than men’s because women have more body shapes. It’s easier to predict how men’s bodies change from waist to hip. It’s harder to predict for women because they have a bigger range of hip-to-waist ratios.
Women's Pant Length Size Conversion
| US Length Size Name | US Length Size | Length Measurement (Inseam) |
|---|---|---|
| X-Short/Petite | XS/P | 26" |
| Short | S | 28" |
| Regular | R | 30" |
| Tall/Long | T/L | 32" |
| X-Tall/X-Long | XT/XL | 34" |
Women’s pant length sizes are labelled by letters or names. By contrast, men’s pant lengths are labelled by the inseam measurement. The inseam measurement is how long the pants are from the crotch to the leg opening. Pants without a label are usually “Regular” length. Regular length pants are typically 30” long.
Like women’s waist sizes, length sizes vary from brand to brand and style to style. Bootcut pants are typically longer than what they are labelled, while crop or ankle pants are typically a few inches shorter.
How to Find Your Pants Size
Our size conversion chart isn’t perfect. In fact, it can be off by up to four sizes, depending on the brand. That’s why we’re launching a new site soon that will let you see people in your size review clothes. If you want to be the first to know when we launch in your size, leave your email below.
