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Is a women's size 9 shoe big?

A US women's size 9 fits a foot of about 24.6 cm (9.7 in), longer than 68% of women's feet. In EU sizing that is 38, in UK 7.5.

Percentile
68%
of women have smaller feet than a women's 9
US women's 9 = 24.6 cm

US women's 9 by group

Foot length

Share of adults with feet shorter than 24.6 cm
GroupMeanSmaller than you1 in X
Women (about US women's 8.5)24.0 cm68%1 in 3
Men (about US men's 10.5)26.5 cm7%1 in 15

The same foot in other systems

Same conversion as the shoe size test; brands differ by up to half a size
SystemSize
US women's9
US men's8
UK7.5
EU38
Foot length24.6 cm
Foot length9.7 in

Percentile is the share of the group with shorter feet than this size fits. “1 in X” counts the rarer side: people at or beyond this value above the median, at or under it below. The size is converted to foot length in cm, then compared with a normal distribution of foot lengths.

What this means

  • The average man's foot is 26.5 cm, about a US men's 10.5. The average woman's is 24.0 cm, about a US women's 8.5. A women's 9 is 0.6 cm longer than the women's mean.
  • Measured against men, the same foot is longer than 7% of them. In US men's sizing it is about 8.
  • Shoe sizes are not standardised. The same foot gets different numbers from different brands, usually by half a size, sometimes a whole one.

Questions

Is a women's size 9 big?
A US women's 9 fits a foot of about 24.6 cm, which is longer than 68% of women's feet. That is about average.
What is a US women's 9 in EU and UK sizes?
A US women's 9 is about EU 38 and UK 7.5, for a foot of 24.6 cm (9.7 in). In US men's sizing the same foot is about 8. Brands round differently, so try before you trust.
How rare is a size 9 foot?
About 1 in 3 women have feet this long or longer. Among men it is 1 in 15.

Source: Foot length distributions: Jurca et al., Footwear Science 2019; Wunderlich and Cavanagh, Med Sci Sports Exerc 2001. Sizes converted with the same formula as our shoe size test. Percentiles on this page are our estimate from a normal distribution with the stated mean and SD.

Pick EU, US or UK, slide to your size, see the percentile.

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