Military H&W CalculatorAbout This Site
An independent reference for the Army body composition standards, built because the July 2026 policy change left most of the internet out of date.
Last reviewed:
What This Site Is
This is a free, independent reference and calculator for the Army's height, weight and body composition standards. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or an official publication of the U.S. Army or the Department of Defense.
It exists because of a specific problem. On 7 July 2026, Army Directive 2026-13 replaced the height and weight tables and the tape test with a single waist-to-height ratio — but only for people already serving. Applicants at MEPS are still screened the old way. Most sites covering this picked one standard and presented it as the standard, which leaves whichever half of the audience they ignored with the wrong answer. This site runs both.
Where the Figures Come From
Every number on this site traces to a primary source, and those sources are linked on each page rather than listed once and forgotten:
- Army Directive 2026-13 — the 0.550 waist-to-height threshold, measurement frequency, confirmation procedure and the rescission of prior methods.
- AR 600-9, Appendix B — the weight-for-height screening table, the maximum allowable body fat percentages, the circumference formulas and the rounding rules.
- DoD Instruction 6130.03 — the accession medical standards that still govern applicants at MEPS.
- Army Public Affairs — the 7 July 2026 announcement, including the 180-day review and the pause on separations.
The calculators run the official formulas directly rather than approximating them. The circumference equations were checked against the worked examples published in AR 600-9 itself.
What This Site Cannot Tell You
Your unit's measurement is the one that counts
Nothing here is an official measurement, medical advice, fitness advice or career advice. A self-check at home uses your tape, your technique and your reading. An official assessment uses trained measurers, a calibrated procedure and a confirmation test. Treat the numbers here as planning information and confirm anything career-affecting with your chain of command or your recruiter.
Standards change, sometimes quickly — this one changed twice in eighteen months. Pages carry a last-reviewed date for that reason. If you spot something out of date or wrong, tell us.
How This Site Is Funded
This site is free to use and carries advertising. Advertising revenue pays for hosting and for the time spent keeping the standards current. Advertisers have no input into the content, and no figure on this site is influenced by them.
Where a product is recommended, any affiliate relationship is disclosed on the page where the recommendation appears.
If You Need Real Support
Military OneSource offers free, confidential fitness and nutrition coaching to service members and their families, around the clock. That is a far better resource than any calculator when the question is what to actually do next.
Start here
If you came looking for the tool rather than the background, the calculator itself is on the front page.