Women’s Shoe Size Chart: US, UK, EU and Russian Sizes in Inches and cm

This women’s shoe size chart converts a US women’s size into UK, EU and Russian sizes and into foot length: US women’s 7 is UK 5, EU 37½ and Russian 37, for a foot of 9.3 in (23.7 cm). The chart runs from US women’s 4 to 13½, and below it is how to read it, how the scales differ and what to do about width and heel height.

How to read the women’s shoe size chart

Each row of the chart is one foot length. From the left come the US women’s size, then UK, EU and Russian, and in the last two columns the foot length in centimetres and inches. Rows go up in half sizes of the Russian scale, from Russian 33 to 45, which covers feet from 8.3 to 11.4 in (21.0 to 29.0 cm).

The chart is easiest to read from the foot length. Measure standing, in the evening, both feet, and take the larger figure. Then find the row with the same or the next longer length and read the size you need. A foot of 9.4 in (24.0 cm) falls on the row of US women’s 7½, UK 5½, EU 38 and Russian 37½.

The chart is a starting point for the first try-on. Brands build their size charts with different room beyond the toes, and the same number from two brands can differ by up to half a size. If a seller publishes its own chart with foot or insole length, it is more precise than any general one.

Women’s shoe sizes in inches and cm

In practice the most useful conversion is from the US women’s size to the foot it fits. From the chart:

• US women’s 5 — foot 8.7 in (22.0 cm);
• US women’s 6 — 8.9 to 9.1 in (22.7 to 23.0 cm);
• US women’s 7 — 9.3 in (23.7 cm);
• US women’s 7½ — 9.4 to 9.6 in (24.0 to 24.3 cm);
• US women’s 8 — 9.7 in (24.7 cm);
• US women’s 9 — 10.0 in (25.3 cm);
• US women’s 10 — 10.4 in (26.3 cm);
• US women’s 11 — 10.6 to 10.7 in (27.0 to 27.3 cm).

Some US sizes cover two rows because the US half size, 4.23 mm, is coarser than the Russian and EU half size, 3.33 mm. Two neighbouring feet can then share one US number.

To measure, stand on a sheet of paper with the heel against a wall, mark the farthest point of the longest toe and measure the distance with a ruler. Do it in the evening, when the foot is larger than in the morning, and on both feet.

Foot length and insole length are different. The insole is longer by an allowance that the Russian last standard GOST 3927-88 calls functional room, plus decorative length for the toe shape. For a women’s last the minimum functional room is 5 mm, for a men’s last 10 mm. Measuring the insole of an old pair and treating it as the foot is a common cause of a full-size error.

US women’s to UK and EU shoe size conversion

UK sizes count in barleycorns, a third of an inch or 8.47 mm. The US women’s scale is the UK one shifted by two: US women’s 7 is UK 5, US women’s 9 is UK 7. SATRA, the British footwear research body, gives the same example, a women’s UK 5 sold in the United States as a 7, and notes that some years ago it was called a 6½.

EU sizes use the Paris point, two thirds of a centimetre or 6.67 mm, counted from the last length. Because the step differs from the US one, the gap between US women’s and EU is not constant. US women’s 7 is EU 37½, US women’s 9 is EU 40, US women’s 11 is EU 42½: the difference grows from 30½ to 31½ along the chart.

Russian sizes use the same Paris point step as EU, counted from the foot plus 1 cm. Across the women’s chart the EU size is half a size larger than the Russian: Russian 36 is EU 36½, Russian 38 is EU 38½, Russian 40 is EU 40½. A woman who wears Russian 37 should look for EU 37½, and if the style has no half sizes, try 37 and 38.

The safest way to link any two of these numbers is through inches or centimetres. If a product description gives the insole length, compare it with your foot plus about 1 to 1.5 cm for a closed shoe.

Women’s vs men’s shoe sizes: the one-size difference

For the same foot, US men’s sizes are UK plus one and US women’s sizes UK plus two. That leaves a one-size gap between women’s and men’s US numbers: a foot of 9.3 in (23.7 cm) is UK 5, US women’s 7 and US men’s 6; a foot of 10.0 in (25.3 cm) is UK 7, US women’s 9 and US men’s 8.

Reference tables also show a gap of 1½. That is a second American women’s scale, common in shops, where the women’s numbers are shifted further. Boxes do not always say which scale was used, so on unisex trainers the difference between the women’s and men’s number can be either 1 or 1½.

When shopping on American sites, keep the UK number in mind: it is the same for both sexes, and the women’s and men’s US numbers are counted from it differently. If a listing says “US” with no note, the insole length shows which scale it means.

EU and Russian sizes are shared by women and men and depend only on foot length. What differs is the last: a women’s last is narrower across the ball and built for a heel.

Women’s shoe width chart

Size describes length; width, or fitting, describes the girth across the ball, the widest part of the foot at the base of the toes. Two feet of the same length can differ noticeably in girth, and the size number will not show it.

The Russian last standard GOST 3927-88 sets twelve fittings for women’s lasts. For the base last number 240, girth across the ball rises from 215 mm at fitting 1 to 248 mm at fitting 12, about 3 mm per fitting, and the tread width across the ball from 74.5 to 85.5 mm. Each last number is made in three fittings: narrow, medium and wide.

In the United States width is marked with letters. B is the standard women’s width and D the standard men’s, with neighbouring letters 3/16 in, about 4.8 mm, apart. British makers use C to H, with F most often treated as average and E by some. Mondopoint uses no letters: 280/110 means a foot 280 mm long and 110 mm wide.

A women’s foot differs from a men’s foot of the same length. In an analysis of 1.2 million foot scans from North America, Europe and Asia, men’s feet were significantly wider than women’s in the 245 to 280 mm length classes in North America and Europe. The same study found at least three widths per length were needed to fit 90 per cent of customers, while shops usually offer one.

If a pair fits in length but presses across the ball, the next size will not help: it adds length and barely changes girth. In the GOST 3927-88 tables the next last number, 5 mm longer, adds only 3 mm of girth across the ball.

Heel height and women’s shoe fit

A heel changes the last. GOST 3927-88 divides lasts by heel height into groups: no heel, low 5 to 25 mm, medium 30 to 45 mm, high 50 to 70 mm and extra high above 70 mm.

The higher the heel, the narrower the tread of the last across the ball. A note to the women’s table of the standard reduces the tread width by 2 mm for a 30 to 40 mm heel and by 4 mm for a heel of 50 mm or more. On a high heel the foot slides forward and rests on the ball, and the last is built for that.

So a size chosen from stiletto court shoes does not carry over to ballet flats or low boots, and the reverse. A woman who wears US women’s 7½ in flats may need the same number with a different fit on a high heel, or the neighbouring half size.

High heels are also linked with foot shape. In a Polish study of 150 women aged 30 to 40, those who had worn heels of about 10 cm at work for five years or more had a flatter transverse arch and more frequent deviation of the big toe than women who wore flats or heels of about 4 cm. The authors describe an association; the study does not prove the cause.

Small and large women’s shoe sizes

The shop range for women usually runs from Russian 35 to 41, which is US women’s 5½ to 10, for feet from 8.8 to 10.4 in (22.3 to 26.3 cm). A shorter or longer foot falls outside it, and the choice comes down to a few styles.

Small sizes, Russian 33 to 35, are US women’s 4 to 5½, for feet from 8.3 to 8.8 in (21.0 to 22.3 cm). Large sizes, Russian 41 to 45, are US women’s 10 to 13½, for feet from 10.4 to 11.4 in (26.3 to 29.0 cm).

Feet of different lengths are a separate case. If the left and right differ by half a size or more, two rows of the chart apply. A ready-made pair is built on lasts of one number, so it is too long or too short for one foot. Made to measure, each shoe is built on its own last, with no upper limit on the difference.

Women’s shoes made to your foot size

Sergey Grechushkin’s bespoke shoe workshop in Moscow makes women’s and men’s shoes for Russian sizes 33 to 52, feet from 8.3 to 13.3 in (21.0 to 33.7 cm). A size from the chart is not needed: the shoemaker measures both feet, including length and the girths across the ball, over the instep and around the heel, and builds a last for the foot and for the heel height of the chosen style.

The first visit is the measuring at the workshop, and the consultation is free. The lasts take about six weeks, then one to three fittings of a trial pair, and the first pair is ready in about ten weeks. A repeat pair on the existing last takes from four weeks without new measuring; you come in only to try the trial pair.

A women’s pair costs from 100,000 roubles, and boots and over-the-knee boots also from 100,000 roubles. The final price is given after measuring and choosing the style and leather. The workshop near Taganskaya metro in Moscow works by appointment only, from 10:00 to 20:00.