Measure Your Feet at Home: Length, Width, and Why Your Size Changed After 40
Ask a man over 40 his shoe size and he answers with the number he settled on in his twenties. Every pair since has fit a little differently, and he has put that down to the brand.
The size did not stay put. Feet lengthen and widen with age, slowly enough that nobody notices the year they crossed a line. In the studies pooled by a 2018 review, between 63 and 72 percent of people were in shoes that did not match the length or width of their feet, and the mismatch was tied to corns, calluses, and toe deformities.
The measurement takes ten minutes and a sheet of paper; the fit rules matter more than the number. If your feet have started hurting for no clear reason, why your feet hurt after 40 covers the bigger picture; the shoe is often part of it.
Why the size you wore at 25 is wrong now
Ligaments loosen. The bands holding the foot's bones in an arch lose elasticity with age, and under body weight the foot spreads: longer and wider, though no bone grew.
Arches lower. A 2007 comparison of young and older adults found the older feet flatter, with a stiffer big-toe joint and more bunions and toe deformities. A lower arch is a longer foot.
Weight. More load, more spread, felt at the ball first.
Swelling by evening. Feet swell through the day, by up to about 8 percent according to AAOS. A shoe that fits at 9 a.m. can be tight by 6 p.m.
One foot is bigger. Almost always, often by close to half a size. Buy for the larger one.
A man not measured since his twenties has probably gained half a size in length and, more often overlooked, a width letter. The APMA tells older adults to get measured every time they shop.
How to measure your feet at home
You need paper larger than your foot, a pen, a ruler, a hard floor, and a wall; carpet gives a wrong number.
- Wait until evening, when the foot is at its largest.
- Wear the socks you will wear with the shoes. A dress sock and a hiking sock are close to a quarter size apart.
- Put the paper on the floor, one edge against the wall, and stand on it, heel to the wall. Sitting, the foot is shorter and narrower.
- Mark the heel and the longest toe. Pen straight up, not angled under the foot. The longest toe is not always the big toe; on many men it is the second.
- Mark the widest point at the ball, the bony bump behind the big toe on the inside and the one behind the little toe on the outside.
- Do the other foot, same wall, same socks, weight even.
- Measure. Heel mark to toe mark is length; inside mark to outside mark is ball width. Use the larger foot's numbers.
If you traced the outline, subtract about 1/8 inch for pen width. Do not add toe room; the scale already includes it.
Turning the numbers into a size
US men's sizes step by about a third of an inch, roughly 8.5 mm, per full size. This is the standard Brannock scale; brand charts drift from it by up to half a size.
| Foot length | US men's size | |---|---| | 9 2/3 in (24.5 cm) | 7 | | 10 in (25.4 cm) | 8 | | 10 1/3 in (26.2 cm) | 9 | | 10 2/3 in (27.1 cm) | 10 | | 11 in (27.9 cm) | 11 | | 11 1/3 in (28.8 cm) | 12 | | 11 2/3 in (29.6 cm) | 13 |
Between rows, round up: a 10.5-inch foot is a 9.5, not a 9.
Width letters. B is narrow, D is standard (most shoes), 2E is wide, 4E extra wide. Each step is about 3/16 of an inch across the ball; at a men's 10, a D is roughly 4 inches there.
Width depends on length. A 4-inch ball is a D on a 10 and closer to a 2E on an 8, because a shorter last is proportionally narrower. If your width runs above D for your length, buy a wider shoe, not a longer one; sizing up for width leaves the heel slipping.
The fit rules in the store
The number gets you to the shelf; these decide whether the shoe goes home.
Half an inch in front. About a thumb's width between your longest toe and the end of the shoe, standing. AAOS says 1/2 inch, from the longest toe, not the biggest.
Widest to widest. The ball of your foot sits at the widest part of the shoe; if it does not, the shoe is the wrong length for your proportions.
Heel that stays. A little lift in a stiff new dress shoe is normal; a heel that pumps is a shoe too long or too wide at the back.
Pull the insole out and stand on it. Any part of your foot hanging over the edge is a part the shoe will press on. It is the fastest width check there is.
Lace and walk a couple of minutes on a hard floor. Pressure at the little toe or the top of the foot shows up walking, not standing.
Shop late in the day. Same reason you measured late.
Do not count on break-in. Leather gives a little in width and nothing in length. AAOS's rule: do not buy a shoe that needs stretching or pads to fit.
Why the number on the box keeps changing
A shoe is built on a last, the foot-shaped form the upper is stretched over, and every brand carves its own. Two size 10s from different companies can differ by a quarter inch in length and more in the toe box.
Dress shoes and running shoes size differently on purpose. A running shoe carries extra length so the foot can slide forward on impact, which is why many men wear a half size up in a runner. A dress shoe is built close on a tapered toe, so one in your measured size will usually need a width up. What decades in dress shoes does to your feet covers the cost of that shape.
Treat the printed size as the brand's estimate, and buy the shoe that fits, whatever the box says.
What a Brannock fitting adds
The metal plate with sliding bars is a Brannock device, and a store that still uses one is worth finding. It reads heel-to-toe length, heel-to-ball length, and width against length, so the letter comes out right. Heel-to-ball is the number paper cannot give you: a man with a long arch and short toes can need a longer shoe than his toes suggest, so the shoe flexes where his foot does.
Fit and the problems this site covers
Bunions. A toe box that narrows toward the tip pushes the big toe inward at every step. Width is the fix. See bunions in men over 40.
Hammer toes. Curled toes need depth; a shallow toe box rubs the knuckles raw. NIDDK notes that bunions or hammer toes often call for extra-wide or deep shoes.
Black toenails. A nail that turns dark after a long walk or run has been hitting the front of the shoe: a length problem, sometimes lacing.
Calluses. A callus forms where the shoe presses, so its location names the fault: under the ball, the foot is sliding forward; on the little toe, too narrow; at the heel, slipping.
Ball-of-foot pain. A narrow shoe squeezes the metatarsal heads together, and a lowered arch already puts more load there. Ball-of-foot pain in men over 40 covers the rest.
Numbness. Tingling between the third and fourth toes that comes on in one pair of shoes is usually a squeezed nerve; the first test is a wider shoe. Numbness and tingling in the feet sorts the shoe cause from the ones that need a doctor.
With diabetes, reduced sensation means a tight shoe can rub a sore you do not feel; diabetic foot care covers why every new pair gets checked.
The size that fits the problem
- Bunion: same length, one width up, round or square toe box.
- Hammer toes: deep toe box, often one width up.
- Black toenails: a half size longer, laced firmly at the ankle.
- Callus under the ball: a firm insole that stops the slide, ball at the widest point.
- Callus on the little toe: one width up.
- Callus at the heel: too long or too wide at the back; go down, not up.
- Ball-of-foot pain: one width up, cushioned forefoot, a shoe that flexes at the ball.
- Numbness between the toes: one width up; if two weeks does not settle it, a doctor's question.
- Diabetes: measured at every purchase, deep and wide, no seams over the toes.
Bottom line
Measure both feet, standing, late in the day, in the socks you will wear, and buy for the larger foot in length and width. The chart finds the shelf; the fit rules pick the shoe. Expect the width to have moved more than the length. Calluses mark where past shoes pressed; calluses and corns in men over 40 shows how to read them.
