What Are the Army Height and Weight Requirements?

The United States Army has height and weight requirements that every soldier must comply with. While these physical requirements differ depending on a few factors, there are certain basic guidelines that need to be met.

What Are the Army Height and Weight Requirements?

The United States Army has a height and weight chart that’s used to determine if a soldier is physically fit enough to be an active duty member of the U.S. Army. The chart correlates the height and minimum/maximum weight standards to the age and sex of the soldier.

Army Height and Weight Standards

For both men and women, height and weight are correlated and determined through the Army’s standard-based chart. Height and weight were originally used to determine a candidate’s physical capabilities. As malnourishment was so common and can signal an underlying illness like tuberculosis or a parasitic disease, the army introduced height and weight requirements to recruit healthy soldiers. Due to an overall greater access to food, we are seeing the pendulum swing, and now the height and weight standards are used to maintain an overall max weight of soldiers in the U.S. Army.

Knowing what the average height of males and females in the country are helps put this Army’s standards chart into perspective. The average male in the United States is 5’9” while the average female is 5’4”. As the chart lists height in inches, keep in mind that 5’9” is equivalent to 70 inches while 5’4” is 64 inches.

Army Height and Weight Requirements for Men

To meet the basic requirements for the U.S. Army, men must be between 5’0” and 6’8”. There are waivers that a prospective soldier can request, but those are given on a case-by-case basis.

Height in Inches	Weight Minimum	Weight Maximum Age 17-20	Weight Maximum Age 21-27	Weight Maximum Age 28-39	Weight Maximum Age 40+
67”	121 lbs	165 lbs	169 lbs	174 lbs	176 lbs
68”	125 lbs	170 lbs	174 lbs	179 lbs	181 lbs
69”	128 lbs	175 lbs	179 lbs	184 lbs	186 lbs
70”	132 lbs	180 lbs	185 lbs	189 lbs	192 lbs
71”	136 lbs	185 lbs	189 lbs	194 lbs	197 lbs
72”	140 lbs	190 lbs	195 lbs	200 lbs	203 lbs
73”	144 lbs	195 lbs	200 lbs	205 lbs	208 lbs

Army Height and Weight Requirements for Women

Women in the U.S. Army must be between 4’10” and 6’8”. The chart below outlines the height and weight correlations for women between five feet tall and 5’6”.

Height in Inches	Weight Minimum	Weight Maximum Age 17-20	Weight Maximum Age 21-27	Weight Maximum Age 28-39	Weight Maximum Age 40+
60”	97 lbs	128 lbs	129 lbs	131 lbs	133 lbs
61”	100 lbs	132 lbs	134 lbs	135 lbs	137 lbs
62”	104 lbs	136 lbs	138 lbs	140 lbs	142 lbs
63”	107 lbs	141 lbs	143 lbs	144 lbs	146 lbs
64”	110 lbs	145 lbs	147 lbs	149 lbs	151 lbs
65”	114 lbs	150 lbs	152 lbs	154 lbs	156 lbs
66”	117 lbs	155 lbs	156 lbs	158 lbs	161 lbs

Other Health and Physical Fitness Requirements

Aside from height and weight requirements, the U.S. Army has multiple different ways it judges if a soldier is fit enough. The U.S. Army has been testing soldiers’ fitness abilities for nearly 200 years.

Army Physical Fitness Test

Implemented in 1980, the Army Physical Fitness Test, or APFT, is in the process of being phased out to address areas of short fails that were outlined in recent reports. It is being replaced with the Army Combat Fitness Test (ACFT). Currently, the APFT consists of three events: push-ups, sit-ups, and a two-mile run.

The Army’s Holistic Health and Fitness System (H2H)

The U.S. Army has a Holistic Health and Fitness System, known as H2H, that outlines what they want out of its soldiers. The H2H was introduced in 2020 in an effort to make more soldiers prepared for deployment after a study conducted in 2020 found that 58,400 troops were not ready for immediate deployment due to one or more deficiencies.

To address this, the U.S. Army released the H2H to address these areas of concern. Areas that were just accepted as being a part of army life, like sleep deprivation, are now areas in which the army is taking a more proactive approach in addressing for the better. The H2H outlines five areas of focus: mental readiness, sleep readiness, spiritual readiness, physical readiness, and nutritional readiness.

The Army Combat Fitness Test (ACFT)

In addition to the H2H, the U.S. Army has physical fitness requirements that all soldiers are required to follow to ensure that they are combat-ready. Beginning at basic training and recurring every year they are in service, a soldier goes through the Army Combat Fitness Test (ACFT). An enlisted soldier will go through this test twice a year, beginning at basic training and during initial training when pursuing commissions as an officer. Army Reserve and National Guard members complete the ACFT once a year.

The ACFT consists of six events: three maximum repetition deadlifts, standing power throw, hand-release push-up arm extension, sprint-drag-carry, plank, and a two-mile run. With this test, an age and gender-normed scale is used for scoring. A minimum score of 360 points is needed to pass this test, and there is a maximum score of 600. 

Would You Make the Cut?

Now that we know what the height and weight standards for the army are, are you curious to see where you would stand? Check out our army body fat calculator to see what shape you are in and whether you’d be considered fit to join the army. If you are still a bit too young for that, you might use a height calculator to estimate your future adult height and maintain a fit body to make sure you make the cut.