Printable head measuring tape
A tape you can print, check and cut in a few minutes: 0 to 72 cm with inches on the other edge, made for measuring your head for a hat. Free, no sign-up.
By Fitness Hats Editorial Team, published October 14, 2026
Check the print before you cut
Print at 100% (some printers call it “Actual size”), never “Fit to page”. Then check both marks on the sheet:
- The card box. Lay any bank or ID card on it. Cards are made to one standard size, 85.6 by 53.98 mm (ISO/IEC 7810 ID-1), so the card should cover the box exactly.
- The 10 cm bar. If you have a ruler, it should read exactly 10 cm.
If either is off by more than a millimeter, your printer scaled the page. Reprint at 100%. It matters: shrink the page by just 3 percent and a 58 cm head reads about 1.7 cm small, more than the 1 cm between 7 1/4 and 7 3/8 on New Era's 59FIFTY fitted chart.
Cut, join, measure
- Cut out the three strips along the solid lines.
- Cut strip 2 exactly on its top edge, which is the 24 cm mark. Glue or tape it over the shaded tab at the bottom of strip 1, with the cut edge on the line. Join strip 3 (48 cm) to strip 2 the same way.
- Wrap the tape around your head where a hat sits: about half an inch (1.3 cm) above your eyebrows and the tops of your ears, around the fullest part of the back of your head. Snug, not tight.
- Read the number where the 0 end meets the tape. Measure twice; if the readings differ, measure again and use the number that repeats.
- Enter it in the hat size chart calculator to see your size in each brand.
Where exactly the tape goes, with each brand's own instructions: how to measure your head for a hat. Brand charts list the head size each hat is made for, so measure your head, not an old hat.
Frequently asked questions
Can I print the A4 file on US Letter paper, or the other way round?
Yes. Everything on the sheet sits inside both paper sizes with a 12 mm margin, so either file prints at the right scale on either paper as long as you print at 100%. Use the one that matches your paper to avoid a warning from your printer.
How accurate is a printed tape?
As accurate as the print. That is why the sheet has two checks: a box exactly 85.6 by 53.98 mm, the size of every bank card (ISO/IEC 7810 ID-1), and a 10 cm bar. If both match, the marks are within about a millimeter. Joining the strips adds a little error, so line each cut edge up carefully and measure your head twice.
What if I have no printer?
Wrap a piece of string or a phone charging cable that does not stretch around your head where a hat sits, pinch the point where it meets the end, then lay it flat along a ruler or a metal tape measure. New Era suggests the same string method on its own sizing page.
Why not just use any online ruler?
A ruler on a screen is drawn at whatever size the screen happens to show it, which is rarely true to scale. Paper with a known-size check is easier to trust.
Keep going
- How to Measure Your Head for a Hat
Where the tape goes, how snug to pull it and how to read it, with or without a tailor’s tape, then turn the number into your size in any brand.
- Hat Size Chart and Calculator: Your Size in Every Brand
Enter your head in cm or inches, or the size you wear, and see your US hat size and your size on 33 brand charts, each with its source and date.
- Hats for Big Heads: Which Brand Charts Go Up to Your Size
Enter your head size and see which brands publish a hat size that covers it, the largest size each chart lists, and the source page for every number.
- Hat Size Converter: Your Size in Every Brand, CSV and PDF
Pick the hat you wear and see the matching published size on every other brand chart, then download the full cross-brand table as CSV or a printable PDF.