Podiatrist Tested

Shoe Width Chart: What 2E and 4E Actually Mean (2026)

D, 2E and 4E for men and women: how many millimetres a width step actually adds, and which brands widen the shoe rather than just the upper.

Written and medically reviewed by · Last reviewed 16 October 2026

By Tom Biernacki, DPM, FACFASDouble board-certified foot & ankle surgeonUpdated 16 Oct 2026

On this page

Spec analysis — not yet tested

Testing status: the width letters and measurements on this page are the brands’ own published figures, attributed where they come from. We have not yet measured internal shoe widths ourselves; when we do, the measured numbers will be added here and to each shoe review — see How We Test.

The short answer

A width letter is not a measurement. It is a brand’s label for a fit, and the brands do not agree on what it means or how much extra room it buys you. D is standard for men and wide for women; B is narrow for men and standard for women; 2E is wide for men and extra-wide for women; 4E is extra-wide for men and, at most brands, does not exist for women at all. The same letter is therefore two different shoes depending on whose foot it is meant for. And a wide letter does not promise a wide toe box: the New Balance 990v6 is sold up to 6E, yet the pair the lab measured has the narrowest toe box at the big toe of the 34 on our toe box width chart, 67.3 mm.

The more useful thing to know is what changes inside the shoe when you go up a width, and here the brands are refreshingly honest once you read the fine print. Brooks states that its narrow, medium and wide versions of a model are built on the same footbed — only the upper changes — and that only the extra-wide gets a genuinely wider platform. ASICS says the difference between its widths is “usually only a couple of millimetres”. New Balance is the one major brand that publishes actual figures, and its own chart puts about 3–4 mm between one width and the next. So if your forefoot needs a centimetre more room, moving from D to 2E in the same model will not get you there. You need a different last, not a different letter — which is the subject of our wide toe box guide.

Watch: How To BEST Measure Shoe Size [Foot Size & Width] Kids & Adults!Measuring your own width before you trust a letter on the box.Michigan Foot Doctors · general education, not a diagnosis · editorial policy

Shoe width chart by size, men’s and women’s

These are New Balance’s own published figures, and the only full width chart from a major brand given as measurements rather than letters. Each figure is the width of foot, across the ball, that a shoe of that size and width letter is built to fit. New Balance publishes centimetres; they are shown here in millimetres, so 10.6 cm reads as 106 mm.

To use it, measure your foot standing, at its widest point (how to do that is further down this page), find your length in the first column, and read across to the width your measurement sits closest to. Other brands publish letters only, and their letters do not line up exactly with New Balance’s; the brand table below shows where they differ.

Men’s: foot width in millimetres

US men’s sizeB (narrow)D (standard)2E (wide)4E (extra wide)
69397101104
6.59598102105
79699103106
7.597100104107
898101105108
8.599102106109
9100104107110
9.5101105108111
10102106109113
10.5103107110114
11104108111115
11.5105109113116
12106110114117
12.5107111115118
13108112116119
13.5109113117120
14110114118121
15113116120123
16115118122125

Women’s: foot width in millimetres

US women’s size2A (narrow)B (standard)D (wide)2E (extra wide)
578818588
5.579838689
680848790
6.581858892
782868993
7.583879094
884889295
8.585899396
986909497
9.587919598
1088929699
10.5899397100
11909498101
11.5929599102
129396100103
12.59497101104
139598102105

Source: the New Balance size and width guide, checked 3 October 2026. New Balance lists men’s sizes in half sizes to 13.5, then 14, 15 and 16. To convert to inches, divide by 25.4: 106 mm is 4.17 in.

Shoe width chart by size, for men and women

A width letter is not a fixed measurement: it grows with the length of the shoe. A men’s 2E fits a foot 105 mm (4.13 in) across at size 8 and 116 mm (4.57 in) across at size 13. The two tables below are New Balance’s own foot measurements for every US size it charts, the only brand chart we have found that publishes width as a measurement rather than a letter. Measure the widest part of your foot, find your length, and read across.

Measure both feet standing, at the end of the day, across the widest part of the forefoot, and use the larger number; the step-by-step is further down this page. If you land between two columns, take the wider one. Feet swell through the day, and a shoe that is snug at breakfast pinches by evening, worst of all over a bunion.

Shoe width chart by size: line charts of New Balance’s published foot widths. Men’s sizes 6 to 16: B narrow from 93 to 115 mm, D standard 97 to 118 mm, 2E wide 101 to 122 mm, 4E extra-wide 104 to 125 mm. Women’s sizes 5 to 13: 2A narrow 78 to 95 mm, B standard 81 to 98 mm, D wide 85 to 102 mm, 2E extra-wide 88 to 105 mm.
Every US size New Balance charts, one line per width letter; a width step is 3 to 4 mm at any size. Chart: Podiatrist Tested.
US men’s sizeB — narrowD — standard2E — wide4E — extra-wide
693 mm · 3.66 in97 mm · 3.82 in101 mm · 3.98 in104 mm · 4.09 in
6.595 mm · 3.74 in98 mm · 3.86 in102 mm · 4.02 in105 mm · 4.13 in
796 mm · 3.78 in99 mm · 3.90 in103 mm · 4.06 in106 mm · 4.17 in
7.597 mm · 3.82 in100 mm · 3.94 in104 mm · 4.09 in107 mm · 4.21 in
898 mm · 3.86 in101 mm · 3.98 in105 mm · 4.13 in108 mm · 4.25 in
8.599 mm · 3.90 in102 mm · 4.02 in106 mm · 4.17 in109 mm · 4.29 in
9100 mm · 3.94 in104 mm · 4.09 in107 mm · 4.21 in110 mm · 4.33 in
9.5101 mm · 3.98 in105 mm · 4.13 in108 mm · 4.25 in111 mm · 4.37 in
10102 mm · 4.02 in106 mm · 4.17 in109 mm · 4.29 in113 mm · 4.45 in
10.5103 mm · 4.06 in107 mm · 4.21 in110 mm · 4.33 in114 mm · 4.49 in
11104 mm · 4.09 in108 mm · 4.25 in111 mm · 4.37 in115 mm · 4.53 in
11.5105 mm · 4.13 in109 mm · 4.29 in113 mm · 4.45 in116 mm · 4.57 in
12106 mm · 4.17 in110 mm · 4.33 in114 mm · 4.49 in117 mm · 4.61 in
12.5107 mm · 4.21 in111 mm · 4.37 in115 mm · 4.53 in118 mm · 4.65 in
13108 mm · 4.25 in112 mm · 4.41 in116 mm · 4.57 in119 mm · 4.69 in
13.5109 mm · 4.29 in113 mm · 4.45 in117 mm · 4.61 in120 mm · 4.72 in
14110 mm · 4.33 in114 mm · 4.49 in118 mm · 4.65 in121 mm · 4.76 in
14.5111 mm · 4.37 in115 mm · 4.53 in119 mm · 4.69 in122 mm · 4.80 in
15113 mm · 4.45 in116 mm · 4.57 in120 mm · 4.72 in123 mm · 4.84 in
15.5114 mm · 4.49 in117 mm · 4.61 in121 mm · 4.76 in124 mm · 4.88 in
16115 mm · 4.53 in118 mm · 4.65 in122 mm · 4.80 in125 mm · 4.92 in

Foot width at the widest part of the foot, from New Balance’s Men’s Size & Width Tool (US men’s running sizes), read 2 October 2026. New Balance gives centimetres; the millimetres and inches are our conversion. Its chart stops at 4E, though it sells 6E in a few models.

Women’s fittings use the same letters one step narrower: a women’s B is the standard width and a women’s D is a wide.

US women’s size2A — narrowB — standardD — wide2E — extra-wide
578 mm · 3.07 in81 mm · 3.19 in85 mm · 3.35 in88 mm · 3.46 in
5.579 mm · 3.11 in83 mm · 3.27 in86 mm · 3.39 in89 mm · 3.50 in
680 mm · 3.15 in84 mm · 3.31 in87 mm · 3.43 in90 mm · 3.54 in
6.581 mm · 3.19 in85 mm · 3.35 in88 mm · 3.46 in92 mm · 3.62 in
782 mm · 3.23 in86 mm · 3.39 in89 mm · 3.50 in93 mm · 3.66 in
7.583 mm · 3.27 in87 mm · 3.43 in90 mm · 3.54 in94 mm · 3.70 in
884 mm · 3.31 in88 mm · 3.46 in92 mm · 3.62 in95 mm · 3.74 in
8.585 mm · 3.35 in89 mm · 3.50 in93 mm · 3.66 in96 mm · 3.78 in
986 mm · 3.39 in90 mm · 3.54 in94 mm · 3.70 in97 mm · 3.82 in
9.587 mm · 3.43 in91 mm · 3.58 in95 mm · 3.74 in98 mm · 3.86 in
1088 mm · 3.46 in92 mm · 3.62 in96 mm · 3.78 in99 mm · 3.90 in
10.589 mm · 3.50 in93 mm · 3.66 in97 mm · 3.82 in100 mm · 3.94 in
1190 mm · 3.54 in94 mm · 3.70 in98 mm · 3.86 in101 mm · 3.98 in
11.592 mm · 3.62 in95 mm · 3.74 in99 mm · 3.90 in102 mm · 4.02 in
1293 mm · 3.66 in96 mm · 3.78 in100 mm · 3.94 in103 mm · 4.06 in
12.594 mm · 3.70 in97 mm · 3.82 in101 mm · 3.98 in104 mm · 4.09 in
1395 mm · 3.74 in98 mm · 3.86 in102 mm · 4.02 in105 mm · 4.13 in

From New Balance’s Women’s Size & Width Tool, read 2 October 2026, with the same conversion.

Is a 4.5-inch foot wide? It depends on its length. 4.5 inches is 114 mm: on New Balance’s chart that is just past a 4E at men’s size 10 (113 mm), a 2E at size 12 and a standard D at size 14. For a woman it is wider than the 2E at every size New Balance charts, which is the point at which a men’s shoe in the matching length is worth trying.

2E vs 4E: the difference in millimetres

4E is the next width up from 2E. For men, 2E is wide and 4E is extra wide; for women, 2E is already extra wide, and a women’s 4E is made mainly by therapeutic brands such as Propet, Dr. Comfort, Apex and Orthofeet. On New Balance’s published chart — the only major brand chart given in millimetres — a men’s 10 in 2E is built for a foot 109 mm across the ball and a 4E for 113 mm, so 4E adds about 4 mm over 2E and about 7 mm over a standard D.

Compare2E4E
Men’s sizingWideExtra wide
Women’s sizingExtra wideMainly therapeutic brands
Foot width it fits, men’s 10 (New Balance)109 mm113 mm
Extra room over a standard D (106 mm)About 3 mmAbout 7 mm

Where the extra room goes matters as much as how much there is. Brooks builds its wide (2E) on the same footbed as its standard width and changes only the upper; its extra-wide (4E) is the first width with a wider platform. So if what you feel is bone against the side of the shoe rather than fabric across the top of the forefoot, moving from D to 2E in a Brooks may not solve it, while the 4E — or a brand that widens the last at every letter, as New Balance does — will.

The width letters, by brand and sex

Read across the row for your sex. The letters run narrow to wide left to right.

BrandMen: narrowMen: standardMen: wideMen: extra-wideWomen: narrowWomen: standardWomen: wideWomen: extra-wide
New Balance2A / BD2E4E and 6E4A / 2ABD2E
BrooksBD2E4E2ABD2E
ASICSBD2E4E2ABD2E
HOKA—D2EX-Wide (4E at retailers; limited models)—BDX-Wide (2E at retailers; limited models)
Saucony—D2EExtra Wide (some models)—BDExtra Wide (some models)
Propet, Dr. Comfort, Apex, Orthofeet—D2E4E, 6E—BD2E, 4E
Altra, Topo—one width, foot-shaped last———one width, foot-shaped last——

Designations are as published by each brand; availability varies by model, and a brand offering 4E on paper may offer it on only two shoes. HOKA prints no letters on its product pages at all, so its X-Wide letters are the ones retailers list; what HOKA says its Wide and X-Wide add is covered on its own page. The last row is the point most people miss: Altra and Topo do not sell widths because their standard last is already shaped like a foot rather than a wedge.

Scale diagram: a men’s D-width forefoot about 100 mm across, with the 3–4 mm a width step adds drawn to the same scale beside it, and the 10 mm a genuinely wide forefoot needs shown as roughly three width steps
Drawn to scale, one width step is a sliver against the width of a forefoot. Diagram: Podiatrist Tested

What a width letter actually buys you

This is where the letter system stops being useful and starts being misleading, and it matters clinically, because most people buying a wide shoe are buying it for a bunion, a neuroma or a forefoot that swells.

  • Brooks states plainly that narrow, medium and wide shoes in the same model are built on the same footbed; the difference is how much upper material there is. Only the extra-wide gets both a wider footbed and more upper. In other words a Brooks 2E is a roomier upper on the same platform, and the 4E is the one that changes the shoe underneath you.
  • ASICS says the difference between narrow, standard, wide and extra wide is “usually only a couple of millimetres”, concentrated in the forefoot, and proportional to shoe size.
  • New Balance publishes a width chart in millimetres. At a men’s 10 it lists 102 mm for narrow (B), 106 mm for medium (D), 109 mm for wide (2E) and 113 mm for extra-wide (4E); at a women’s 8, 84 mm (2A), 88 mm (B), 92 mm (D) and 95 mm (2E). That is roughly 3–4 mm per step.
  • Therapeutic brands — Propet, Dr. Comfort, Apex, Orthofeet — carry 4E and 6E as a matter of course and build the extra width into the last, because their customers have feet that need it. They also publish the least data of anyone about anything else.

Add those up and a realistic expectation is: one width letter buys you 3–4 mm at the ball of the foot, and sometimes only upper volume rather than platform. Two letters — D to 4E — buys you closer to 7 mm. If the bump on the side of your foot needs more than that, no letter is going to help.

The published numbers, where they exist

Only New Balance publishes width in millimetres, so this is the one brand where a foot measurement can be matched to a letter with any confidence. Figures are New Balance’s own published width chart.

Width (men)Foot width at men’s 10Width (women)Foot width at women’s 8
B — narrow102 mm2A — narrow84 mm
D — standard106 mmB — standard88 mm
2E — wide109 mmD — wide92 mm
4E — extra-wide113 mm2E — extra-wide95 mm

These are foot widths the shoe is built to accommodate at one size, not measurements of the shoe. Every other major brand publishes letters only.

Which widths each reviewed shoe actually comes in

Every shoe reviewed on this site, with the widths its maker publishes. They are reproduced exactly as published rather than converted to a single scale, because — as the table above shows — a letter does not mean the same thing at every brand, and a conversion would be our inference rather than the manufacturer’s statement. Where a brand publishes nothing, the source column says so.

ShoeWidths, as publishedSource
Altra Paradigm 8M/W: Regular, Wide (2E)Manufacturer
Altra Torin 8Regular; a wide (2E) option is listed at retailAltra (published) for Regular; Running Warehouse listing for the 2E
Altra Torin 9M/W: Regular, Wide (2E)Manufacturer
ASICS GEL-CUMULUS 28M/W: Standard, 2E, 4EManufacturer
ASICS Gel-Kayano 32Medium, Wide, X-Wide (men)Manufacturer
ASICS GEL-NIMBUS 28M: D/2E/4E · W: 2A/B/DManufacturer
ASICS GT-2000 15M: D/2E/4E · W: 2A/B/DManufacturer
Brooks Addiction Walker 2M: B/D/2E/4E · W: 2A/B/D/2EManufacturer
Brooks Adrenaline GTS 24Narrow, Medium, Wide, X-WideManufacturer
Brooks Adrenaline GTS 25Narrow, Normal, Wide, X-WideBrooks (published); same list as this review’s spec table
Brooks Beast GTS 26 (Ariel GTS 26)M: D/2E/4E · W: B/D/2EManufacturer
Brooks Ghost 17Narrow, Medium, Wide, X-WideManufacturer
Brooks Ghost 18Narrow, Normal, Wide, X-WideManufacturer
Brooks Ghost Max 4M: D/2E/4E · W: B/D/2EManufacturer
Brooks Glycerin 23M: D/2ERunning Warehouse listing, men’s; Brooks publishes no width list for this model
Dansko XP 2.0Regular and Wide by styleManufacturer
HOKA Arahi 8M/W: Regular, Wide, X-WideManufacturer
HOKA Bondi 9M/W: Regular, Wide, X-WideManufacturer
HOKA Bondi SRRegular, WideManufacturer
HOKA Clifton 10Regular, Wide, X-WideManufacturer
HOKA Clifton 11Regular, Wide, X-WideHOKA
HOKA Gaviota 6M/W: Regular, Wide, X-WideManufacturer
HOKA Mach 7Regular and WideHOKA (published); same list as this review’s spec table
HOKA Transport 2Medium, WideManufacturer
KURU ATOM 2M: D/2E/4E · W: B/D/2EManufacturer
New Balance 928v3Multiple widths offered; New Balance does not publish a single listManufacturer
New Balance Fresh Foam X 1080v15M: D/2E/4E · W: B/D/2ENew Balance (published); same list as this review’s spec table
New Balance Fresh Foam X 1540v4M: D/EE/4E/6EManufacturer
New Balance Fresh Foam X 860v15M: B/D/2E/4E · W: 2A/B/D/2EManufacturer
New Balance Fresh Foam X 880v15M: B/D/2E/4E · W: 2A/B/D/2EManufacturer
New Balance Fresh Foam X More v6M: D/2E/4E · W: B/D/2EManufacturer
New Balance Made in USA 990v6M: B/D/2E/4E/6ENew Balance (published); same list as this review’s own text
On Cloudmonster 3M: D/2E · W: DManufacturer
On Cloudrunner 2Not published by On; one width (D) listed at retailOn publishes none; Running Warehouse listing, men’s D only
OOFOS OOahh SlideOne width only, whole sizesManufacturer
Orthofeet CoralW: A/B/D/2EManufacturer
Saucony Guide 19M/W: Regular, Wide, Extra WideManufacturer
Saucony Ride 19M: D/2E · W: B/DManufacturer
Saucony Triumph 24Regular and WideSaucony (published); same list as this review’s spec table
Skechers Aero BurstMedium only in the lace-up (style 246210); Medium and Wide in the Slip-ins build (style 246215)Manufacturer
Skechers GO WALK Arch Fit 2.0Standard and Wide by style; X-Wide offered on some stylesManufacturer
Skechers Hands Free Slip-insNot published at point of saleManufacturer
Vionic Walk MaxD, E (men’s 7-14)Vionic

43 shoes. Widths are recorded per model at the time of review; makers change width availability between versions, so check the listing before you buy.

Width is not the same as toe box shape

We now have the measurement that makes this concrete. Our toe box width chart lists 34 shoes measured at the big toe, in millimetres, by a lab that cuts them in half — and the result is uncomfortable for width letters: the 23 shoes sold in a 4E or X-Wide fitting average less room at the big toe than the 11 that are not. The letter is doing its job across the ball of the foot. It is simply not the dimension a bunion, a bunionette or a clawed toe is pressing against.

The commonest mistake in this whole subject. Width is how far apart the sides of the shoe are at the ball of the foot. Shape is where the widest point sits and whether the toe box tapers toward the big toe. A wide shoe with a tapered toe box still pushes the big toe sideways; it just does it with more room around the joint. For a bunion or a hammertoe, the shape is usually the more important of the two, which is why patients often do better in a standard-width Altra or Topo than in a 4E of a conventionally shaped trainer.

Practical version: if the pressure is on the side of your foot, you need width. If the pressure is on the ends or tops of your toes, you need shape and depth. Our wide toe box guide covers shape, and our bunion guide and Morton’s neuroma guide cover which combination each condition needs.

How to measure your own foot width

  1. Do it at the end of the day, standing, with the sock you normally wear. Feet spread under load and swell across the day; a seated morning measurement will send you a size too narrow.
  2. Stand on a sheet of paper with your weight evenly on both feet and trace around one foot, keeping the pencil upright.
  3. Measure straight across the widest part of the tracing — the ball of the foot, from the base of the big toe to the base of the little toe.
  4. Do the other foot too. A 3–5 mm difference between feet is ordinary; fit the larger one.
  5. Compare against the New Balance table above, adjusting for your size — every size up adds roughly 2 mm to each width band. If your measurement lands between two letters, take the wider one.
Three steps to measure foot width at home: measure at the end of the day standing in your usual sock, trace one foot and measure straight across the ball of the foot, and measure both feet, fitting the larger one.
Measuring foot width at home. Do it at the end of the day, standing.

If your measured width is more than about 8–10 mm beyond the standard for your size, letters will not solve it and you are looking for a foot-shaped last or a therapeutic shoe.

When you need width, and when you need something else

SituationWhat to buy
Pressure on the side of the foot at the big-toe joint (bunion)Width and shape: a foot-shaped last first, a wide letter second. See our bunion guide.
Burning between the third and fourth toes (neuroma)Width at the ball of the foot plus a cushioned stack; avoid thin soles. See our neuroma guide.
Toes rubbing on the top of the shoe (hammertoes)Depth, not width. A deeper toe box or a therapeutic shoe; extra width alone does nothing.
Feet that swell across the day or with heatA width up, plus adjustable closures — laces or straps that open right down to the toes.
Diabetes, neuropathy, or a history of ulcersA therapeutic last with 4E/6E availability and seamless linings; not a standard trainer in a wide letter. See our diabetic shoe guide.
A rigid, deformed or collapsed foot (Charcot)Custom or therapeutic footwear with a moulded insert. See our Charcot guide.
Room needed for a custom orthoticVolume, not width. A removable factory insole and enough depth — check the Orthotic Volume Rating in each review.

What the research actually supports — and where it stops

Everything above this heading is fitting practice — the allowances shoe fitters, podiatrists and this chart have used for decades. This is the part with published evidence behind it, and the part that is still tradition.

In 2026 a Foot in Diabetes UK review in the Journal of Foot and Ankle Research asked a question nobody had put this bluntly before: are footwear fit guidelines science, or are they tradition? Petra Jones and seven co-authors searched the peer-reviewed literature for studies that actually tested the fit rules — how much length beyond the longest toe, how much width, how much depth — in people with diabetes, and graded what they found. The title they gave it is Science or Tradition?, and the answer is uncomfortable for anyone publishing a fit chart, including us.

What it found
  • Getting the size wrong is clearly harmful. Across four studies, wearing the wrong shoe size raised the odds of a diabetic foot ulcer by between 1.7 and 10.4 times — the one part of fitting with solid evidence behind it, graded low to moderate certainty.
  • The specific allowances are not well evidenced. The recommended length, width and depth figures — the numbers this chart and every other chart prints — came out at very low to low certainty. They are reasonable, widely agreed, and thinly tested.
  • Four things have never been studied at all. The review found no studies on toe-box shape, heel width, heel height or alternatives to laces. Not weak evidence — an empty set.
  • So the rule that survives is the simple one. Get the size right and get it measured; treat the millimetre-level allowances as sensible convention rather than proven thresholds.

The authors are direct about the limits. They searched English-language sources only and used broad terms that may have missed papers. Three of the four studies linking size to ulceration carried a high risk of bias. Most importantly for anyone reading this chart: every study in the review was in people with diabetes, a group whose feet lose protective sensation and whose stakes are much higher than average. Their findings about ulcer risk do not transfer to a general reader, and we are not claiming they do — what does transfer is the honest picture of how much evidence sits under the fit rules themselves.

We would rather print that than pretend the chart is something it is not. A width chart is a useful, consistent starting point for a measurement most people have never had taken. It is not a clinical threshold, and the research does not support treating it as one.

Source
  1. Jones PJ, Vlachopoulos C, Branthwaite H, Gohil K, Cassidy R, Morriss-Roberts C, Pankhurst C, Hill A. Science or Tradition? Strength of Evidence for Footwear Fit Guidelines From Peer-Reviewed Studies of People With Diabetes — A Foot in Diabetes UK Systematic Review. Journal of Foot and Ankle Research 2026;19(3):e70189. doi:10.1002/jfa2.70189

Frequently asked questions

What does 2E mean in shoe width?

For men, 2E is wide — one step above the D standard. For women, 2E is extra-wide, two steps above the B standard. It is the same letter describing two different shoes, which is why women who need room are often better served buying a men’s D or 2E in the same model, a size and a half down.

Is 2E wide or extra wide?

Both, depending on whose shoe it is. On a men’s shoe, 2E is wide: one step above the standard D. On a women’s shoe, 2E is extra wide: two steps above the standard B. If the box or listing does not say men’s or women’s, check the brand’s size chart before you assume.

What does D mean in shoe size?

D is a width, not a size. On a men’s shoe, D is the standard (medium) width, so most men’s shoes are a D whether or not the box says so. On a women’s shoe, D is wide. Many brands print M for medium instead of a letter: on a men’s shoe M means D, and on a women’s shoe it means B.

What does B mean in shoe width?

B is the standard (medium) width for women. On a men’s shoe, B is narrow, two steps below the standard D. So a women’s 8 B is an ordinary women’s shoe, and a men’s 10 B is a narrow one.

What does 4E mean in shoes?

4E, sometimes written EEEE, means extra wide. In men’s sizing it is the next width up from 2E: on New Balance’s chart it fits a foot about 4 mm wider than a 2E and about 7 mm wider than a standard D at the same length. In women’s sizing, 4E is uncommon outside therapeutic brands.

How much wider is 4E than 2E?

About 3–4 mm at the ball of the foot on New Balance’s published chart, and unstated elsewhere. Going from a standard D to a 4E buys roughly 7 mm in total. That is real, but it is far less than most people expect from a label that says “extra wide”.

What is the difference between 4E and 6E?

6E is the next fitting up from 4E and the widest most catalogues carry. It is sold mainly by New Balance, on a handful of models, and by therapeutic brands such as Propet, Dr. Comfort and Apex. New Balance’s published chart, the only one that gives millimetres, stops at 4E, but its steps are 3 to 4 mm each, so treat 6E as one more step of the same size. Like every width letter, it adds girth across the ball of the foot and the instep, not room at the toes.

Is a wide shoe actually wider, or just looser?

Depends on the brand and the letter. Brooks says its wide shoes use the same footbed as the standard with more upper material, and only the extra-wide widens the platform. ASICS describes a couple of millimetres. New Balance publishes millimetres and does widen the last. If the pressure you feel is bone against the side of the shoe rather than fabric across the top, you want a brand that widens the platform.

Do Altras and Topos come in wide?

Mostly no, and they do not need to for the same reason. Both build a foot-shaped last as standard, with the widest point over the toes rather than behind them, so a standard Altra is often roomier at the toes than a 2E of a conventional trainer while being no wider at the midfoot. Some Altra models do offer a wide, but the shape is doing most of the work. Our zero drop guide covers the family.

What does wide fit mean in basketball shoes?

Usually very little. Most basketball shoes are sold in a single width, because they are built narrow and locked down on purpose for cutting and jumping, and a “wide” version, where one exists, is often a single model in a few colours. If you need genuine width on court, our guide to basketball shoes for wide feet covers the few that are actually made that way.

Should women buy men’s shoes for extra width?

It is a reasonable option when a woman’s foot is genuinely wide and the model tops out at 2E: buy the men’s version about one and a half sizes down. The trade-off is a slightly higher-volume heel and midfoot, which can slip. Lace it through the top eyelet with a heel lock before deciding it does not fit.

How do I know if my shoes are too narrow?

Look at the shoe, not the foot. ASICS’ own advice is the right test: visible stretching or bulging of the upper along the outside of the forefoot means the shoe is too narrow. Add to that a callus along the outer edge of the foot, numbness in the toes after twenty minutes, and a sock that shows pressure marks across the ball.

What we are testing next

Internal width is on the bench list: measured across the inside of the forefoot at a fixed landmark, with the sockliner in and out, at men’s 10 and women’s 8, for the standard and wide versions of the same model. That is the measurement that answers whether a 2E is really wider, and no brand publishes it. Those figures will appear here and in each review as they are taken.

Using this chart. Reproduce it wherever you like — an article, a newsletter, a lecture slide, a forum post — provided the image is unaltered and you credit Podiatrist Tested with a link to this page. No permission needed, no fee, and you are welcome to host the file yourself.

Credit line to copy: Chart: Podiatrist Tested — podiatristtested.com/shoe-width-chart/

The figures themselves are the brands’, and facts belong to nobody — we claim nothing over the numbers, only over the chart. If you want a different crop, a print-resolution file, or the underlying table as a spreadsheet, ask us and we will send it.

Browse the full list: 39 in a wide fitting · 27 in an extra-wide fitting · 14 in a narrow fitting. Each page shows the published drop, stack, weight, widths and price side by side. Not sure which of them is you? Answer four questions and we will narrow it to two or three.

Every figure on this page, and the rest of them. The shoe spec database holds the published numbers for every shoe on this site in one table — heel and forefoot stack, drop, weight, toe-box width, list price and the widths each is sold in — with the name of whoever published every one of them.

Citing this page

The width data here is the reason this site exists, and it is more use to you than to us sitting on one page. Quote any figure on it — in an article, a forum answer, a product page or a paper — on one condition: keep the source line attached to the number, because several of the figures are a manufacturer’s claim rather than an independent measurement and the difference is the point. A link back to this page is the cleanest way to do that. If you want to reproduce a chart itself rather than link to it, ask us first; we usually say yes. The full wording we suggest.

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Recently reviewed

Individual shoe pages state their evidence tier, published measurements and who should skip them.

Saucony

Saucony Endorphin Speed 5

Spec Analysis

Light plated neutral trainer. Saucony publishes both stack heights and they match its 8 mm drop — not yet tested.

$175Not scoredRegular / Wide
HOKA

HOKA Mach 6

Spec Analysis

Lower, firmer neutral HOKA. HOKA publishes a 5 mm drop and neither stack height — not yet tested.

Not scored
ASICS

ASICS Novablast 5

Spec Analysis

Bouncy high-stack neutral. ASICS publishes an 8 mm drop and neither stack height — not yet tested.

Not scoredStandard / Wide / Extra Wide

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We earn affiliate commissions from qualifying purchases. Our policy is to assess published evidence and fit needs rather than rank products by commission rate. Current reviews are specification analyses; see our method for their limits.

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