Nike Sizing Guide: Do Nike Shoes Run True to Size?

Most Nike shoes fit true to size. If you know your measured Nike size, that number will work in the majority of the catalog, from the Pegasus to the Dunk Low to the Air Jordan 1. The trouble is the minority: a handful of very popular models break the rule, and they happen to be the ones people buy most often online.

The short list of exceptions: the Air Force 1 runs about half a size big, the SB Dunk Low runs about half a size small, and several slim Air Max models (95, 97, Plus) pinch wider feet. Below we go line by line so you know which group your next pair falls into before you order.

Start with your real Nike size, not the size on your current shoes

"Your size" is only useful if it comes from your foot, not from a pair you bought years ago. Nike builds its chart around foot length in centimeters, so the most reliable starting point is to measure heel to longest toe, standing, late in the day. Our guide on how to measure your feet walks through it in five minutes with a sheet of paper and a ruler.

Once you have a length, find it in the chart further down this page. If you land between two sizes, take the larger one for running shoes and most Air Max models, and consider the smaller one only for the roomy shapes we flag below. A shoe that is a little long can be fixed with lacing. A shoe that is short cannot be fixed at all.

If you have been measured on a Brannock device in a store, that number is a good reference too, as long as it is recent. Feet tend to lengthen and flatten slightly over the years, and many adults are still buying the size they were measured at as teenagers.

The Nike fit cheat sheet

Here is the whole brand on one screen. "Your size" means your measured Nike size from the chart.

Lifestyle and court classics

Air Force 1

The AF1 is the famous outlier. Its toe box is tall and round, the last is generous, and most wearers end up with close to a finger's width of empty space in front of the toes at their true size. Going half a size down fixes that for narrow and average feet. If your feet are wide, or you wear thick socks, staying at your true size is reasonable. Full details are in our Air Force 1 sizing guide.

Dunk and SB Dunk

The regular Dunk Low and Dunk High fit the way the chart says they will. The skate version is different: the SB Dunk Low adds a thick, puffy tongue and extra collar padding, and that stuffing eats up interior space. Half a size up is the common fix. Oddly, the SB Dunk High does not seem to need it. Our Dunk sizing guide covers the special releases that drift either way.

Blazer, Cortez and the retro runners

The Blazer Mid '77 is true to size in length but feels narrow and stiff at first, so wide feet often prefer half a size up. The Cortez is one of the slimmest shoes Nike makes; never size it down, and go up half if your forefoot is wide. Retro-running styles such as the P-6000 and the Vomero 5 sit right in the middle and are easy true-to-size buys.

The Air Max family

Air Max is where Nike sizing gets inconsistent, because each model was designed in a different era on a different last. The Air Max 1 and Air Max 90 are true to size for most people. The Air Max 95, Air Max 97 and Air Max Plus (TN) are true in length but narrow through the forefoot, so average and wide feet usually do better half a size up. The newer Air Max DN keeps a short, shallow toe box, and wide feet should go up there too.

Reports on the Air Max 270 are split: some wearers find it roomy enough to size down, others find the high heel pushes the foot forward and want more room. When reviewers disagree like that, true to size is the safest order. Model-by-model advice lives in our Air Max sizing guide.

Jordan Brand

Jordans use the same Nike size scale, and the Air Jordan 1 High and Mid are as consistent as Nike gets: order your size. The Jordan 1 Low OG is a touch longer, so narrow feet sometimes drop half a size. Among the numbered retros, the Jordan 4 and 9 are the ones that pinch the little toe, while the 5, 6, 10, 12 and 13 have a bit of extra room. Our Air Jordan sizing guide goes through the full run.

Performance shoes: running and basketball

Running

Nike's daily trainers are its most predictable shoes. The Pegasus, Vomero and Invincible all follow the chart, with a standard width and a forgiving engineered mesh upper. The Pegasus is also one of the few Nike models sold in wide and extra-wide versions, which is a better answer for wide feet than buying longer.

Race shoes are another story. The Vaporfly and Alphafly use thin, close-fitting uppers built for speed, and the forefoot is narrow. Length is still true to size, but if you normally fight with narrow toe boxes, try them on before committing. Sizing up a racer to gain width usually just adds slop at the heel.

Basketball

Performance basketball models are built to lock the foot down for cuts and landings, so they run snug on purpose. The common advice for LeBron and Kobe models is half a size up for everyday wear and true to size only if you play in them and want a tight, one-to-one fit. The Ja line is also known for a narrow forefoot. If you are wide or plan to wear thick basketball socks, go up.

Wide and narrow feet in Nike

Nike is not a wide-friendly brand overall. Compared with New Balance, which sells many models in several widths, Nike's default is a standard D width for men and B for women, and most lifestyle models come in that width only. Here is what those letters mean.

For wide feet, the practical strategy is to lean toward Nike's roomy shapes (Air Force 1 at true size, Dunk High, Air Max 90, Pegasus Wide) and go half a size up in the slim ones (Air Max 95 and 97, Jordan 4, Cortez, SB Dunk Low). For narrow feet, the reverse applies: the AF1 and the roomier Jordans are where a half size down makes sense.

Men's, women's and kids' sizing

Nike's men's and women's numbers sit 1.5 sizes apart. A men's 8.5 matches a women's 10, and both are an EU 42. To go from women's to men's, subtract 1.5. This matters because plenty of Nike and Jordan releases drop in women's sizing only, and they are unisex in practice.

Grade school sizes, labeled with a Y (3.5Y to 7Y), line up number for number with men's sizes, so a 6Y is the same length as a men's 6. Women subtract 1.5 from their usual size to find GS: a women's 7.5 is a 6Y. The adult conversions are in the chart below.

Nike size chart

These are the standard Nike conversions. The foot length column is the length Nike maps to each size, so compare it against your own measurement.

How to choose when you are still unsure

Go back to the cheat sheet and decide which of three groups your model belongs to. Roomy shoes (Air Force 1, Jordan 6, 10, 12 and 13) let narrow and average feet drop half a size. Snug shoes (SB Dunk Low, Air Max 95 and 97, Air Max Plus, Jordan 4 and 9, basketball models) reward average and wide feet with half a size up. Everything else, which is most of the catalog, should be ordered at your measured size.

If you already own a Nike shoe that fits well, use it as an anchor. A comfortable size 10 in Dunks means a 10 in Jordan 1s, a 9.5 in Air Force 1s, and probably a 10.5 in SB Dunk Lows. If you are switching from another brand, run the numbers through our brand size comparison tool rather than copying the size printed on your old pair.

And keep the box and tags until you have worn the shoes around the house for an evening. Ten minutes on carpet tells you more about length and width than any chart, and it keeps the return option open.