Army Body Fat CalculatorArmy Body Fat Chart
This is the Army's body composition chart as it stands in 2026: for every height, the maximum waist that keeps a Soldier's waist-to-height ratio below 0.55 — the single standard set by Army Directive 2026-13. Find your height, read across, and you have your line. To check your own waist against it with the official recording rules applied, use the WHtR calculator.
The chart below is the canonical copy on this site, generated from the same rule as the official Figure B-1 screening table; the maximum waist page runs the same calculation for a single height.
How to read this chart
Each row is a height in whole inches, recorded the way the Army records it — in socks, no shoes, to the nearest half inch. The second column is the largest waist, in the half-inch steps waists are recorded in, whose ratio stays below 0.55 at that height. The third column shows the recorded ratio at exactly that waist, so you can see how close to the line the maximum sits: the values run from 0.541 to 0.549, never touching 0.550.
Two reading habits will keep you out of trouble. First, read the row for your recorded height, not your driver's-license height — a half inch of height is worth a quarter inch of waist, and at this boundary that matters. Second, treat the maximum as a line to stay under, not a number to aim at: an official measurement is three readings averaged, and a waist that lives exactly at the maximum will record over it on an ordinary day.
The 0.55 rule
The whole standard is one comparison: waist ÷ height, recorded to three decimal places without rounding, must be strictly below 0.55. Everything else about the old system — the age groups, the separate male and female tables, the screening weights, the body fat percentages — is gone, and nothing in this chart varies by age or sex: a 19-year-old woman and a 45-year-old man of the same height have the same maximum waist.
The 'without rounding' detail decides real cases. Because digits past the third decimal are disregarded, 0.5498 is recorded as 0.549 and meets the standard — an official example in the Army's own implementing guidance. Equally, a waist at exactly half of the 0.55 boundary height product (38.5 in at 70 in, for instance) records exactly 0.550 and fails. Half-inch steps and truncation, not the raw division, are what the chart encodes — which is why the maxima occasionally jump a full inch between rows (70 in → 38 in, 71 in → 39 in) where the boundary crosses two half-inch steps at once.
How the official measurement is taken
The chart assumes the official procedure (HQDA EXORD 182-26, Annex A); a home measurement taken differently is a guide, not a prediction:
1. Height in socks, without shoes, recorded to the nearest half inch. 2. Waist measured at the navel with a non-stretch fiberglass tape, held parallel to the floor, at the end of a normal breath out. 3. The waist is measured three times; each reading is rounded down to the nearest half inch. If one reading differs from the other two by more than an inch, an additional measurement is taken and the three closest are averaged. 4. The ratio is computed from the recorded figures and taken to three decimal places without rounding. 5. A reading at or above 0.550 is confirmed the same day by a different measurement team before any action follows.
Results are recorded on DA Form 5500 and in ATIS, and the measurement happens at least twice per calendar year. If your home number is anywhere near your row's maximum, technique is worth more than worry: bare skin, navel height, tape level all the way round.
Sources
This chart reproduces the maximum-waist screening table (Figure B-1) of HQDA EXORD 182-26, Annex A — the implementing guidance for the waist-to-height standard set by Army Directive 2026-13, announced in the Army.mil article "The full measure: The Army's new WHtR standard". Every value is also generated arithmetically from the 0.55 rule, and the two agree row for row. The Army Resilience Directorate's ABCP page is the official program page; AUSA and FEDweek coverage corroborates the directive.
Maximum waist by height — the WHtR chart
| Height (in) | Maximum waist (in) | Recorded WHtR at that waist |
|---|---|---|
| 58 | 31.5 | 0.543 |
| 59 | 32 | 0.542 |
| 60 | 32.5 | 0.541 |
| 61 | 33.5 | 0.549 |
| 62 | 34 | 0.548 |
| 63 | 34.5 | 0.547 |
| 64 | 35 | 0.546 |
| 65 | 35.5 | 0.546 |
| 66 | 36 | 0.545 |
| 67 | 36.5 | 0.544 |
| 68 | 37 | 0.544 |
| 69 | 37.5 | 0.543 |
| 70 | 38 | 0.542 |
| 71 | 39 | 0.549 |
| 72 | 39.5 | 0.548 |
| 73 | 40 | 0.547 |
| 74 | 40.5 | 0.547 |
| 75 | 41 | 0.546 |
| 76 | 41.5 | 0.546 |
| 77 | 42 | 0.545 |
| 78 | 42.5 | 0.544 |
| 79 | 43 | 0.544 |
| 80 | 43.5 | 0.543 |
Maximum recorded waist whose waist-to-height ratio stays below 0.55, by height — the screening table published as Figure B-1 of HQDA EXORD 182-26, Annex A. Waists are recorded in half-inch steps (each measurement rounded down), so the maximum is the largest half inch under 0.55 × height. Heights are recorded to the nearest half inch; the chart lists whole inches — for a half-inch height, take the maximum halfway between the neighboring rows or use the calculator.
Worked example — reading the chart
Reading the 69 in row. The chart gives a maximum waist of 37.5 in at 69 in. A Soldier of that height with a 37 in waist records 37 ÷ 69 = 0.536 — meets the standard. The same Soldier at 38 in records 38 ÷ 69 = 0.550 — does not meet it. One inch of waist crosses the line, which is why the measurement procedure (three readings, at the navel, tape parallel to the floor) matters as much as the number.
Related calculators
- Army Height and Weight CalculatorArmy height and weight calculator, 2026: the screening tables are gone — enter your height for your maximum waist under the WHtR standard, plus the chart.
- Army Body Fat Calculator for FemalesFemale Army body fat calculator for the 2026 standard: one WHtR threshold (below 0.
- Army Body Composition Program (ABCP) CalculatorABCP calculator under the 2026 WHtR standard: current ratio, target waist, inches to come down, how flagging and enrollment work, and the 180-day rule.
Found your row? Put your own numbers through the waist-to-height calculator to see your recorded ratio.
Frequently asked questions
What WHtR passes the Army standard?
Below 0.55. A recorded ratio of 0.549 meets the standard; 0.550 or above does not. The ratio is recorded to three decimal places without rounding, so the digits past the third are disregarded — 0.5498 records as 0.549 and passes.
Can I use centimetres instead of inches?
Yes — the ratio is unit-free. Measure waist and height in centimetres and divide; the answer is identical. The chart is printed in inches because the Army records in inches and half-inch steps, but any consistent pair of units gives the same ratio.
My height is a half inch — which row do I use?
Take the maximum for your height from the chart — every row already assumes half-inch recording. For a half-inch height (say 70.5 in), the maximum sits between the 70 in and 71 in rows (38 in and 39 in): the exact boundary is 0.55 × 70.5 = 38.775 in, so the maximum recorded waist is 38.5 in. The maximum waist calculator on the height and weight page applies the rule at any half-inch height directly.
Where did the body fat percentage chart go?
The old chart — maximum body fat percentages by age group and sex — belonged to the tape-test system and was rescinded with it on 7 July 2026. It is preserved, labeled as history, on the retired methods page, alongside the calculators that used it. This page's chart is the current one: maximum waist by height under the WHtR standard.
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Last verified: 26 October 2026