There isn’t a standard way of labelling women’s pants sizes. In the US, there are three main sizing systems:
US Waist Size. Women’s US waist sizes look like men’s waist sizes. The size is a larger number like 27, 28, 29, or 30. US waist size numbers increase by one between sizes.
Misses Size. Misses sizes typically range from 000 to 24. Unlike women’s US sizes, misses size numbers increase by two between sizes.
General Size. Sometimes, pants sizes are labelled by small, medium, or large, like you would normally see on a shirt.
You can find the size of the pants you are wearing by looking at the tag on the back of the waistband. Some pants, like Levi’s 711 or Levi’s 720, are labelled with a US waist size and a Misses size.
The purpose of a pants size is to tell you how big the waistband on the pants are. The bigger the size, the bigger the waistband measurement. Each size is made to best fit someone with a particular natural waist measurement. The reason women’s pants sizes are complicated is because there isn’t a simple way to tell what type of waist the pants should fit best from the labelled size.
By contrast, men’s waist sizes for pants are more straightforward. On men’s pants, the waist size is the first number on the size tag, like the 36 in 36x32. Unlike women’s pants, men’s waist sizes tell you exactly which natural waist measurement -- in inches -- that the pants are designed for. For example, men’s pants with a 36 waist size are supposed to fit someone with a 36” natural waist.
On average, there’s a way to tell what waist measurement a pair of women’s pants will fit best by the labelled size. We’ve provided a size conversion chart that does that above. The conversion isn’t as easy as you’d expect because women’s pants have size breaks.
It is easy to convert from a US women’s waist size to your average waist measurement for smaller sizes. The US waist size is exactly the natural waist measurement -- in inches -- that the pants are made for. So a women’s size 27 -- a misses size 4 -- should best fit someone with a 27” natural waist. This means that the waistband on women’s pants changes by an inch between sizes, for small sizes.
Past some size, women’s pants have a “size break”. Size breaks work by changing the waistband measurement by more than an inch between sizes. Size breaks help brands cover more shoppers in their sizing range without leaving anybody in between sizes.
Size breaks work differently in every brand. However, most brands put a size break in between size 30 and 31. Most of the time, the first size break works by changing the waistband by one and a half inches between sizes instead of an inch. For brands that cover an extended sizing range, they may put in more size breaks. Typically, this happens between size 33 and size 34. Sizes change by 2” between sizes after the second size break.
Size breaks make women’s pants sizes confusing. It might look like your US waist size tells you what natural waist the pants are designed to fit best. Because of size breaks, it doesn’t if you are past a size 30.
Moreover, men’s pants don’t have size breaks. That’s because brands stop producing odd sizes for men’s pants past some size, usually size 36. It’s a different way of achieving the same goal as size breaks in women’s clothing.
Our size conversion chart isn’t perfect. In fact, it can be off by up to four sizes, depending on the brand. That’s why we’re launching a new site soon that will let you see people in your size review clothes. If you want to be the first to know when we launch in your size, leave your email below.
