Best Resume Fonts, Sizes and Margins (With Safe Defaults)

For most resumes, use one clean font at 10 to 12 points, margins of 0.7 to 1 inch, and spacing that leaves clear gaps between sections. The font itself matters less than whether it is readable on screen and in print, and whether it travels: a font the reader's computer does not have can be swapped for another and change your layout. Safe, common choices work in every case. The aim is for the content to be the first thing anyone notices.

Format decisions are small, but they are the ones that cost a resume attention when they go wrong.

Fonts that work

Choose from fonts installed on nearly every computer, so the document looks the same for everyone.

If you export to PDF, the font is embedded and travels with the file, which removes most of the compatibility risk. If you send a Word document, stick to the system fonts in the first two rows. See PDF or Word.

Avoid decorative or script fonts, which hurt readability. Avoid mixing more than two faces. A common approach is one font for everything, with bold for headings.

Sizes

Between fonts, the same point size looks different. Calibri at 11 is smaller than Arial at 11. Check the look of the page rather than the number.

Margins and spacing

• Margins of 0.7 to 1 inch on all sides. Anything under 0.5 inch can be clipped by printers.
• Line spacing of 1.0 to 1.15. Tighter is hard to read, and looser wastes space.
• A clear gap before each section heading and between roles. Use spacing, not blank lines.
• Left-aligned text. Justified text can create uneven gaps between words.

If your resume does not fit, cut content before cutting margins. Fonts below 10 points or margins below 0.5 inch signal a resume that was crammed rather than edited. See how long a resume should be.

Layout habits that help

• Use real bullet characters from your word processor, not typed symbols or images.
• Use a consistent format for dates, such as "Mar 2022 to Jun 2024".
• Align dates consistently, either all on the right or all beneath the title.
• Use bold for job titles or employers, but not both in every line, so the page has a hierarchy.
• Avoid text boxes, tables used for layout, and text in headers or footers. Some software skips them or reads them out of order. See ATS-friendly resumes.

Colour and graphics

Black text on a white background is the safest choice. One accent colour for headings is fine if it prints legibly in greyscale. Skip icons, skill bars, photos and logos unless the field expects them. They add little and can break parsing. For photos, see photos on resumes.

Test it before you send

1. Export to PDF and open it on a phone. Is the text readable without zooming?
2. Print it in black and white. Does the hierarchy still show?
3. Select all and paste into a plain text editor. Is the order right, with nothing missing?
4. Check the page break. Does a role split awkwardly across two pages?
5. Look at it from arm's length. Can you see where each section begins?

If it passes those five, the formatting is working for you. Layout choices are one part of a good resume; the resume writing guide covers the rest, and resume format explains how to organise the sections.

A starting template in words

Name at 16 points, bold. Contact line at 10 points. Section headings in bold capitals at 11 points with a thin rule beneath. Job titles in bold, employers in regular text, dates aligned to the right. Body text at 10.5 points in Calibri or Arial with 1.1 line spacing. Margins of 0.8 inch. That is plain, and plain is what you want when a stranger has 30 seconds to read it.

Common problems and fixes

Accessibility

Readable resumes also help people using screen readers and magnifiers. Use real headings from your word processor's style menu instead of bold text alone, since assistive software uses them to navigate. Keep the text in order from top to bottom, and give any link a readable label. If you add an image, such as a logo, add alt text, though most resumes are better without images. These habits also tend to help software that reads the document, so they pay off in more than one way.