How to measure your height at home
Stand barefoot against a wall, lay a flat book on your head and mark the wall under it, then measure from the floor to the mark. Write the conditions down with the number.
1Stand barefoot against a wall
Take off shoes, hats and hair accessories. Stand on a hard floor, not carpet, with your heels against a wall that has no baseboard. Keep your legs straight, arms down and eyes looking straight ahead.
2Lay a flat book on your head and mark the wall
Hold a hardback book or a stiff ruler flat on the top of your head, square to the wall, and lower it until it touches firmly. Mark the wall lightly under it. A helper does this best, with their eyes level with the book.
3Measure from the floor to the mark
Step away and run a metal tape straight up from the floor to the mark. Read it to the nearest 1/8 in or 0.1 cm, then measure once more to catch a slanted book or a misread tape.
Make the next measurement comparable
Use the same floor, method, footwear choice and posture when repeating the measurement. Take a second reading to catch a slanted book, a shifted mark or a misread tape. If the readings differ, check the setup rather than averaging away the problem.
If you want to compare an outfit or a posed character, include shoes or the pose deliberately and say so in the figure’s notes. Keep a barefoot value separate from a value with footwear.
Enter what you actually measured
Type the value and its units into the chart. Add a short note such as “barefoot, standing upright.” A person’s stated height, a roster listing and your measurement need not describe the same conditions.
The drawing scales the entered vertical height. It does not infer body proportions or diagnose growth, posture or health.
Try the same example
Enter your measured height. The names, units and values carry into the editable chart.
For the arithmetic alone, use the height difference calculator. For a different unit, use the height converter.
The next useful step
- How to measure your height with your phone
- Why height sources disagree
- Character height lineup: from notes to a scale chart
How the charts work explains the shared scale, source precision and custom inputs.