Keep your waist to less than half your height. That single rule is what waist-to-height ratio comes down to, and it needs no arithmetic — but it is more useful as an actual measurement you can hold a tape against. The chart below turns the ratio into a target waist for every height.
Waist-to-height ratio chart
Each column is a threshold; each cell is the waist measurement that produces it at that height. The 0.50 column is the one that matters for most people — that is half your height, and staying under it is the goal.
| Height | 0.40 | 0.50 (target) | 0.52 (USMC) | 0.55 (Army) | 0.60 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5′0″ (152 cm) | 61 cm / 24″ | 76 cm / 30″ | 79 cm / 31″ | 84 cm / 33″ | 91 cm / 36″ |
| 5′2″ (158 cm) | 63 cm / 25″ | 79 cm / 31″ | 82 cm / 32″ | 87 cm / 34″ | 94 cm / 37″ |
| 5′4″ (163 cm) | 65 cm / 26″ | 81 cm / 32″ | 85 cm / 33″ | 89 cm / 35″ | 98 cm / 38″ |
| 5′6″ (168 cm) | 67 cm / 26″ | 84 cm / 33″ | 87 cm / 34″ | 92 cm / 36″ | 101 cm / 40″ |
| 5′8″ (173 cm) | 69 cm / 27″ | 86 cm / 34″ | 90 cm / 35″ | 95 cm / 37″ | 104 cm / 41″ |
| 5′10″ (178 cm) | 71 cm / 28″ | 89 cm / 35″ | 92 cm / 36″ | 98 cm / 39″ | 107 cm / 42″ |
| 6′0″ (183 cm) | 73 cm / 29″ | 91 cm / 36″ | 95 cm / 37″ | 101 cm / 40″ | 110 cm / 43″ |
| 6′2″ (188 cm) | 75 cm / 30″ | 94 cm / 37″ | 98 cm / 38″ | 103 cm / 41″ | 113 cm / 44″ |
| 6′4″ (193 cm) | 77 cm / 30″ | 96 cm / 38″ | 100 cm / 40″ | 106 cm / 42″ | 116 cm / 46″ |
Waist = ratio × height. Heights are exact conversions (5′0″ = 152.4 cm), figures rounded to the nearest cm and inch. For your own height rather than the nearest row, use the waist-to-height ratio calculator.
What each band means
| Ratio | NICE classification |
|---|---|
| 0.40 – 0.49 | Healthy central adiposity |
| 0.50 – 0.59 | Increased central adiposity |
| 0.60 or above | High central adiposity, further increased health risk |
Bands from NICE guideline NG246. Intended as a screen for adults with a BMI under 35, and not for use in pregnancy.
Notice there is no lower bound worth chasing. A ratio below 0.4 is not a better score — it simply falls outside what the guidance was written to assess, and at the extreme can indicate being underweight. The chart's 0.40 column is there to show where the healthy band starts, not to give you a target.
Why the military uses 0.55, not 0.5
The two numbers in the chart marked USMC and Army come from a different system. On 1 January 2026 the Department of Defense moved every service to a waist-to-height screen, and the Army implemented it on 7 July 2026 at below 0.55, retiring both the height and weight tables and the circumference tape test. The Marine Corps sets a stricter 0.52.
So the military threshold sits above the civilian rule of thumb. A soldier can clear the service standard at 0.54 while still being above the 0.5 that public-health guidance points at. That is not a contradiction: one is a fitness-for-service screen applied twice a year, the other a population-level health guideline. If you are checking yourself against the service standard specifically, the Army body fat calculator covers the current rules, including the branch thresholds and the assessment period.
How to measure so the number means something
- Find the midpoint between the bottom of your ribs and the top of your hips — for most people at or just above the navel.
- Against skin, not over clothing. A jumper can add several centimetres.
- Keep the tape level all the way round, and do not pull it tight enough to compress.
- Breathe out normally and measure at the end of the breath — not holding it in.
- Repeat the same way every time. Consistency matters more than precision, because you are watching a trend.
Because a ratio is one length divided by another, the units cancel. Measure both in centimetres or both in inches and you get the identical number — there is no conversion to get wrong.
Why this beats BMI for the question it answers
BMI compares total mass to height. It cannot distinguish muscle from fat, and it cannot tell where fat sits — which is why it reads high for muscular people and can read reassuringly normal for someone carrying significant weight around the middle with little muscle.
Waist-to-height ratio responds directly to abdominal fat, the deposit most closely associated with cardiometabolic risk. Ashwell and colleagues, reviewing more than 300,000 adults, found it a better screening measure than BMI for that risk, and Browning and colleagues proposed 0.5 as a boundary value that holds across populations without needing separate cut-offs by sex or ethnicity.
That said, it is a screen and not a diagnosis. A single circumference cannot describe a whole body: it says nothing about your cardiovascular fitness, your strength, your blood markers or your overall health. It is one useful number among several — see the BMI calculator and the waist-to-hip ratio calculator for the other common measures, and what is a good waist-to-height ratio for the interpretation in more depth.
This is general information rather than medical advice. If your ratio concerns you, or you are managing a health condition, speak with a qualified healthcare professional who can look at more than one measurement.
Sources: NICE Guideline NG246 — Overweight and obesity management (central-adiposity bands; screening for adults with BMI under 35, not for use in pregnancy); NHS — Obesity ("keep your waist to less than half your height"); Ashwell M, Gunn P, Gibson S — Obesity Reviews (2012) (better than BMI as a screening tool, 300,000+ adults); Browning LM, Hsieh SD, Ashwell M — Nutrition Research Reviews (2010) (0.5 as a suitable global boundary value); US Army — adoption of waist-to-height ratio (7 July 2026; below 0.55).