--- title: Woman's Clothing Size Averages Size 16 description: American women are on average between a misses size 16-18, or what is considered a plus-size 20W, according to a new study in the International Journal of Fashion Design, Technology and Education. canonical: https://time.com/4508623/woman-clothing-size-16-average/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-09-26T21:18:06.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T09:03:27.367Z og:title: The Average American Woman Wears a Size 16, Study Says og:description: But it's difficult to nail down a woman's size og:url: https://time.com/4508623/woman-clothing-size-16-average/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfef2e2c5014b9738/6988a7928e06016dd34679d1/womens-clothes-rack-average-size.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5016 og:image:height: 2822 og:image:alt: Clothes Rack In Fashion Boutique og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Average American Woman Wears a Size 16, Study Says twitter:description: But it's difficult to nail down a woman's size twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfef2e2c5014b9738/6988a7928e06016dd34679d1/womens-clothes-rack-average-size.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Average American Woman Wears a Size 16, Study Says > Sponsored content. 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Worth Your Time is TIME's culture newsletter, published Tuesdays and Saturdays to 40,000 subscribers as of August 2026. #### Who writes TIME's culture recommendations? Culture editor Eliza Berman writes Worth Your Time, drawing on TIME's critics and culture desk. #### Is Worth Your Time free? Yes. It is a free newsletter available at time.com/newsletters. by [Lindsay Kimble / People](https://time.com/author/people/) ## Lindsay Kimble / People Contributor Sep 26, 2016 9:18 PM UTC  Sabina Diethelm / EyeEm—Getty Images/EyeEm by [Lindsay Kimble / People](https://time.com/author/people/) ## Lindsay Kimble / People Contributor Sep 26, 2016 9:18 PM UTC American women are on average between a misses size 16-18, or what is considered a plus-size 20W, according to a new study in the [_International Journal of Fashion Design, Technology and Education_](http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17543266.2016.1214291?scroll=top&needAccess=true&journalCode=tfdt20). University of Washington researcher Deborah A. Christel and Susan C. Dunn of Washington State University compared publicly available data – along with waist measurements of over 5,500 women above the age of 20 collected by the CDC – to women’s Misses’ clothing sizing standards set by the American Society for Testing and Materials, reported [Forbes](http://www.forbes.com/sites/metabrown/2016/09/26/analytics-and-fashion-that-fits-the-average-american-woman/#4a45539e692d). Christel and Dunn concluded that women’s waist size has grown by 2.6 inches over the past 21 years. Forbes notes, however, that it is difficult to nail down women’s sizing, as there is no public source for the body measurements necessary to fit clothing. Further, the research doesn’t necessarily account for body shape, waist to hip ratios – and the total lack of standard sizing. Industry standards for clothing sizes are voluntary, said Forbes. “I understand that all research has its limitations,” Christel told Forbes. “Time and page space in journals also provides limitations in research and reports.” She adds, “We wanted to use publicly available data that was collected in a reliable scientific manner. Also, every clothing company has its own sizing chart and we recognize that we are making a generalization based on two very specific data sets. We used the measurement that made the most sense to us and that was agreed as acceptable by peer reviewers in our discipline.” The study results come as [Refinery29](http://www.refinery29.com/67-percent-project-plus-size-body-image/) launches the 67 Percent Project. The project is based on the data that 67 percent of women in the United States wear a size 14 or higher. _Orange is the New Black_ actress Danielle Brooks, who is an ambassador for the project, said in an Instagram video, “67 percent of women are plus size, but only two percent of them are seen in media, magazines and the plethora of other things we see every day. It is time for all of us to be seen, to be heard.” Refinery29, in conjunction with the project and partnership with Getty Images, is [making stock imagery](http://www.gettyimages.com/photos/67percentcollection) of plus-size women available for free for use across blogs and major outlets. _This_ [_article_](http://www.people.com/article/average-womens-clothing-size-16?xid=socialflow%5Ftwitter%5Fpeoplemag) _originally appeared on_ [_People.com_](http://people.com) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4508623/woman-clothing-size-16-average/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4508623/woman-clothing-size-16-average/"},"headline":"The Average American Woman Wears a Size 16, Study Says","datePublished":"2016-09-26T21:18:06.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T09:03:27.367Z","description":"But it's difficult to nail down a woman's size","url":"https://time.com/4508623/woman-clothing-size-16-average/","keywords":["motto"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfef2e2c5014b9738/6988a7928e06016dd34679d1/womens-clothes-rack-average-size.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lindsay Kimble / People"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfef2e2c5014b9738/6988a7928e06016dd34679d1/womens-clothes-rack-average-size.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Clothes Rack In Fashion Boutique","caption":"Clothes Rack In Fashion Boutique","creditText":"Sabina Diethelm / EyeEm—Getty Images/EyeEm","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/motto/","name":"motto"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4508623/woman-clothing-size-16-average/","name":"The Average American Woman Wears a Size 16, Study Says"}}]}] ```