Kids’ Shoe Size Chart by Age and Foot Length

A kids’ shoe size chart links a child’s foot length to the number on the box: a foot of 5.9 inches (150 mm) is a US kids’ 8, a UK 7½ and an EU 24½. The chart below covers feet from 100 to 230 mm; after it come average foot lengths for boys and girls by age, growing room and how often to re-measure.

How to use the kids’ shoe size chart

The chart starts with foot length in millimetres and inches, then gives the US kids’ size, the UK children’s size, the European size and the Russian size. Each row is 10 mm, or about 0.4 inch, of foot.

The order is simple. Measure both of the child’s feet, take the larger number and find it in the chart. A foot of 130 mm (5.1 in) is a US 5½, 170 mm (6.7 in) a US 10½, 220 mm (8.7 in) a US 3Y. If the length falls between two rows, take the next row up.

The sizes in the chart are worked out from the foot with the toe allowance already included, so read the chart by the foot length itself. Adding a size on top of it means a gap of well over a centimetre in front of the toes.

US toddler, little kid and big kid sizes

American children’s sizes run from 0 to 13½, and then start again at 1 with a Y, for youth or big kid sizes. On the chart a foot of 190 mm (7.5 in) is a US 12½, and the next row, 200 mm (7.9 in), is already a 1Y.

Shops usually group these into toddler sizes in the single digits, little kid sizes up to 13½, and big kid sizes from 1Y. The groups describe a range of numbers; the number itself still comes from foot length.

British children’s sizes follow the same pattern: the children’s scale ends at 13½ and the next size is an adult 1. Both scales count in thirds of an inch, and the US children’s scale starts about a quarter of a size higher, so after rounding a US kids’ size is either the same number as the UK children’s size or half a size up: UK 9 is US 9, UK 10 is US 10½, and UK 13½ is US 1Y.

The European size is a single scale for children and adults, so it simply keeps rising: EU 24½ for a 150 mm foot, EU 32 for 200 mm, EU 36½ for 230 mm.

Kids’ shoe size by age chart

The table by age is built from two studies. The average foot at age one comes from Müller and colleagues, 2012: 7,788 children aged 1 to 13, with a foot of 13.1 cm in the youngest group. Ages 3 to 18 come from Wu and colleagues, 2024, who measured 3,490 children in China. Sizes are read from the same grid as the chart above.

Each figure is an average for the age group, and the spread around it is wide. At age three the standard deviation for boys is 1.2 cm, so two children in three have a foot between 13.6 and 16.0 cm. On the chart that is US 6½ to US 9, two and a half sizes.

Size by age therefore works as a first estimate: to find the right section of a catalogue, or to choose a gift when the child is not there. For a purchase, the foot is measured.

Why age is only a rough guide to shoe size

Age predicts foot length poorly, for three reasons.

• Spread within an age. At ten, boys in the Chinese sample averaged 22.0 cm with a deviation of 1.5 cm. Two classmates can easily wear US 1½Y and US 5Y.
• Differences between populations. In the Müller sample thirteen-year-olds averaged 24.4 cm, a US 6Y. In the Wu sample the average at thirteen was 25.2 cm for boys and 23.3 cm for girls. Averages from different countries differ by a size or more.
• Growth spurts. Feet grow unevenly; in a peak year a child can go up two or three sizes, and in the next year hardly change.

An example. A five-year-old has a left foot of 16.5 cm and a right foot of 17.0 cm. The larger figure, 6.7 inches, gives US 10½, UK 10, EU 27½. Sizing by the left foot would give US 9½, and the right foot would be short of room. The age table for a five-year-old boy shows US 10½, for a girl US 10: close this time, yet another five-year-old can easily wear a US 9 or US 11½.

Kids’ shoe size in inches: converting foot length

One full US or UK size is a barleycorn, a third of an inch or about 8.5 mm. A half size is a sixth of an inch, about 4.2 mm. So a child whose foot grows a centimetre a year moves up a little more than one full size a year.

Landmarks from the chart in inches:

• 4.7 in (120 mm): US 4½, UK 4, EU 20;
• 5.9 in (150 mm): US 8, UK 7½, EU 24½;
• 6.7 in (170 mm): US 10½, UK 10, EU 27½;
• 7.9 in (200 mm): US 1Y, UK 13½, EU 32;
• 9.1 in (230 mm): US 4½Y, UK 4 adult, EU 36½.

An insole is longer than the foot by the toe allowance. Measuring the insole of an old pair instead of the foot makes the chart show a size too many.

Boys’ and girls’ shoe sizes: is there a difference?

There is one chart for both: a foot of 200 mm is a US 1Y for any child. What differs is how long the foot tends to be at each age.

Up to about nine or ten the averages almost match. At six, boys average 17.9 cm and girls 17.8 cm, both a US 11½. The gap opens in adolescence: at eleven, boys average US 5Y and girls US 4Y.

According to Wu, foot growth peaks at about nine in girls and about eleven in boys. Girls reach 99% of their final foot length at about thirteen, boys at about fourteen, two years before they stop growing in height.

After thirteen the average girl’s foot barely changes: 23.3 cm at thirteen, 23.1 at fourteen, 23.5 at fifteen. Boys keep growing longer, from 25.2 cm at thirteen to 25.8 cm at fifteen. The final averages in the sample are 23.5 cm for girls and 25.9 cm for boys.

How much growing room in kids’ shoes

NHS children’s services give the same reference: about a centimetre, roughly 0.4 inch, between the longest toe and the end of the shoe. The Gloucestershire service speaks of one centimetre for growth; the Suffolk podiatry service says at least 1 cm.

A pair that is too big causes its own problems: the heel slips, the child grips with the toes, the toe catches on stairs. Frequent checks keep growing room more reliably than buying a size up.

Before school age the foot grows by about a centimetre a year: in the Wu averages a boy’s foot goes from 14.8 cm at three to 17.9 cm at six. That uses up the built-in room in roughly a year.

How often to measure a child’s feet

NHS leaflets set the interval by age.

• First shoes and toddlers: every six to eight weeks, according to the First Shoes leaflet of the Gloucestershire health service.
• From age four: every 10 to 12 weeks, the interval the Suffolk podiatry service gives.
• Before every new pair, even if the last check was recent.

Measuring at home: the child stands on a sheet of paper with the heel against a wall and weight on both feet. Mark the tip of the longest toe, which is not always the big toe, and measure from the wall to the mark to the nearest millimetre. Measure each foot and size by the larger. Suffolk advises measuring standing and buying shoes in the afternoon.

With a small child who will not stand still, repeat the measurement two or three times and take the average. If the figures disagree, check that the toes are not curled and the heel is touching the wall.

Signs to re-measure early: the upper is worn through over the big toe, the toes show red marks, or the child takes the shoes off at every chance.

Teen shoe sizes: when the kids’ chart runs out

The chart on this page ends at a 230 mm foot, US 4½Y. Many children pass it between eleven and thirteen and move to adult ranges. A youth size runs about half a size below the US men’s size for the same foot, and a US women’s size is higher still: the average final girl’s foot of 23.5 cm is a US 5Y, or a US women’s 7, and the average final boy’s foot of 25.9 cm is an 8Y, or a US men’s 8½.

Bespoke shoes for children are made mostly for teenagers, on lasts built to each foot after the foot is measured, with one to three fittings in a trial pair. If the feet differ in length, the pair is made on two lasts, with no upper limit on the difference. Making to measure makes most sense once the foot has nearly stopped growing.

A pair on an individual last costs from 100,000 roubles; the first pair takes about ten weeks and a repeat pair on the saved lasts from four weeks. The consultation is free. The measuring visit is in Moscow, near Taganskaya metro, by appointment between 10:00 and 20:00.