What is the best font for a resume?

No single font is best, but the good ones share traits we can measure: lowercase letters at least half the em tall, even strokes, a normal width, and a bold and an italic for headings and dates. Google Sans, Inter and Lato are the most used fonts that pass every test; for a serif, Merriweather and Bitter.

What font size should a resume be?

10 to 12 points for the text, as Georgetown, Penn and UT Austin advise, with your name larger. The same size looks bigger in a font with tall lowercase letters: Merriweather at 10 pt is as big as Times New Roman at 12.4 pt, so 10 or 11 pt is plenty in it.

Should a resume font be serif or sans serif?

Either, if the letters are plain and big enough. Of the 76 fonts that pass our rule, 68 are sans serifs and 8 serifs, so going without serifs gives far more choice. Serif vs sans serif sets one word in both and measures what differs.

Can I use these resume fonts in Word?

Yes, once installed: none of them is one of Microsoft 365’s cloud fonts, so download yours from Google Fonts first. Then save the resume as a PDF, as Georgetown and Penn advise, and it keeps its font on a computer that lacks it; every licence here allows a font to be embedded in a PDF.

Are these resume fonts free?

Yes, with nothing to pay for a resume, a cover letter or any other use, commercial ones included: all 20 come under the SIL Open Font License. Each font’s page links its licence and says what it allows.

How do I add these fonts to Google Docs?

Open the font menu, choose More fonts and search for the name. All 20 picks are Google Fonts families, so Docs most likely has them: Google says most of its families can be added there. Google Sans is the most used of them.

Best fonts for a resume

Career centres ask for simple fonts at 10 to 12 points. By our measures the best fit are plain faces with large lowercase letters, steady strokes, a bold and an italic: Google Sans, Inter, Lato and Open Sans among sans serifs, Merriweather, Bitter and Noto Serif among serifs, all in Google Docs.

Pass the rule: 76 of 2,035; of all the fonts we measured
Shown: 20; the most used first, one of a family
Commercial use: 20 of 20; every licence here allows it
In Google Docs: 20 of 20; most likely, under More fonts; Slides too

01 / The picks

20 fonts for a resume

A plain serif or sans serif with an x-height of 50% of the em or more, contrast of 2.2 : 1 or less, a width from 44% to 58% of the em, 4 weights or more with italics, and in Google Docs.

Sans serifs

68 pass · 12 shown

Set the first 6 in your own words

Serifs

8 pass · 8 shown

Set the first 6 in your own words

02 / Size

One size, different letters

A point size measures the em, the box a letter is drawn in, not the letter: at one size, a font with a taller lowercase looks bigger.

Set the text at 10 to 12 points, as the career centres of Georgetown, Penn and UT Austin advise; UT Austin adds never to go below 10. Georgetown and Penn also ask for the resume as a PDF. Measured, at 10 pt Merriweather’s lowercase is as tall as Times New Roman’s at 12.4 pt, and even Work Sans, the shortest here, matches it at 11.2 pt.

The table gives the size at which each pick’s lowercase is as tall as Times New Roman’s at 12 pt.

Measured against Times New Roman

Times New Roman’s x-height, as our lab measured the font Windows comes with, is 44.7% of the em. A font with a taller lowercase reaches the same height at a smaller size.

Font	x-height	Same as Times New Roman 12 pt at
Google Sans	51.0%	10.5 pt
Inter	54.6%	9.8 pt
Lato	50.6%	10.6 pt
Open Sans	53.5%	10.0 pt
Poppins	54.8%	9.8 pt
Roboto	52.8%	10.2 pt
Archivo	52.6%	10.2 pt
Montserrat	52.5%	10.2 pt
DM Sans	52.6%	10.2 pt
Raleway	52.1%	10.3 pt
Work Sans	50.0%	10.7 pt
Plus Jakarta Sans	53.6%	10.0 pt
Merriweather	55.5%	9.7 pt
Bitter	53.2%	10.1 pt
Noto Serif	53.6%	10.0 pt
IBM Plex Serif	51.6%	10.4 pt
Roboto Serif	50.8%	10.6 pt
Literata	50.7%	10.6 pt
Aleo	50.7%	10.6 pt
Epunda Slab	50.0%	10.7 pt

x-height of each font’s regular style, measured by FontKind

03 / Questions

Resume fonts, answered

What is the best font for a resume?: No single font is best, but the good ones share traits we can measure: lowercase letters at least half the em tall, even strokes, a normal width, and a bold and an italic for headings and dates. Google Sans, Inter and Lato are the most used fonts that pass every test; for a serif, Merriweather and Bitter.
What font size should a resume be?: 10 to 12 points for the text, as Georgetown, Penn and UT Austin advise, with your name larger. The same size looks bigger in a font with tall lowercase letters: Merriweather at 10 pt is as big as Times New Roman at 12.4 pt, so 10 or 11 pt is plenty in it.
Should a resume font be serif or sans serif?: Either, if the letters are plain and big enough. Of the 76 fonts that pass our rule, 68 are sans serifs and 8 serifs, so going without serifs gives far more choice. Serif vs sans serif sets one word in both and measures what differs.
Can I use these resume fonts in Word?: Yes, once installed: none of them is one of Microsoft 365’s cloud fonts, so download yours from Google Fonts first. Then save the resume as a PDF, as Georgetown and Penn advise, and it keeps its font on a computer that lacks it; every licence here allows a font to be embedded in a PDF.
Are these resume fonts free?: Yes, with nothing to pay for a resume, a cover letter or any other use, commercial ones included: all 20 come under the SIL Open Font License. Each font’s page links its licence and says what it allows.
How do I add these fonts to Google Docs?: Open the font menu, choose More fonts and search for the name. All 20 picks are Google Fonts families, so Docs most likely has them: Google says most of its families can be added there. Google Sans is the most used of them.