What is the best font for an ATS resume?

Any standard font works, because an ATS reads the text in your file, not how it looks. Calibri, Arial, Georgia, Cambria, Garamond and Times New Roman all extract identically. The fonts that cause ATS problems are icon fonts used for contact details and some downloaded display fonts that turn into gibberish when text is extracted from a PDF.

Is Times New Roman a bad font for a resume?

No. It parses perfectly and no recruiter will reject you for it. It's just a little dated and narrow, and it can look like a default nobody changed. Georgia or Cambria give you a serif font with more presence while staying just as safe.

Should I use a serif or sans-serif font on my resume?

Sans-serif fonts such as Calibri and Arial are the safer default because they stay crisp at small sizes on screens. Serif fonts such as Georgia and Garamond are a good choice too, especially in traditional fields like law, finance and academia. Neither helps with ATS parsing. Pick one and use it throughout.

Can I use more than one font on a resume?

You can, but you rarely should. One font in two or three sizes, plus bold, gives you all the hierarchy a resume needs. If you do pair fonts, limit it to one for headings and one for body text. Never use more than two.

Is Calibri still a good font for a resume?

Yes. Microsoft 365 now defaults to Aptos, but Calibri is still installed almost everywhere and is one of the most readable fonts at 10 to 11pt. Being common isn't a drawback on a resume. You want the content to be what stands out.

What font should I use on my resume if I write it in Google Docs?

Arial, Georgia, Lato, Roboto or Open Sans all work well and are built into Google Docs. Export the finished resume as a PDF before sending it, so the font and layout arrive exactly as you designed them, whatever the recruiter's computer has installed.

What font size goes with the best resume fonts?

10 to 12pt for body text, adjusted for the font. Calibri, Arial and Georgia look right at 10.5 to 11pt. Garamond has smaller letters and usually needs 11.5 to 12pt. Set your name at 18 to 24pt and section headings at 12 to 14pt.

Resume Templates

Best Font for a Resume: 8 Safe Picks, and the Ones to Avoid (2026)

By RoySeptember 25, 20268 min read

Tagsresume formatting resume templates ats resume resume tips

People spend more time choosing a resume font than it deserves, and then make the one font mistake that actually costs them: picking something the reader's computer doesn't have. Here is the short list, the size each font needs, and the few choices that genuinely cause problems.

The best resume fonts, in one table

Safe resume fonts and the body size each one needs

Font	Style	Body size	Best for
Calibri	Sans-serif	10.5–11pt	The safe default. Installed on almost every Windows and Mac machine with Office.
Arial	Sans-serif	10–11pt	Installed everywhere. Slightly wide, so it fits fewer words per line.
Aptos	Sans-serif	10.5–11pt	Microsoft 365's current default. Modern and readable, but missing on older Office installs.
Helvetica	Sans-serif	10–11pt	Clean and neutral. Standard on Mac, not on Windows, so send it as a PDF.
Georgia	Serif	10.5–11pt	The most readable serif on screen. Good for law, academia, writing roles.
Garamond	Serif	11.5–12pt	Elegant and compact. Its small letters need a bigger size to look like 11pt.
Cambria	Serif	11pt	Built for screens, installed with Office. A sturdy serif alternative to Times.
Lato / Roboto	Sans-serif	10.5–11pt	Good picks if you write in Google Docs. Export to PDF before sending.

Times New Roman isn't on the list because it's fine rather than good. It parses perfectly and nobody will reject you for it, but it's narrow and it looks like a default nobody changed. If you want a serif, Georgia or Cambria does the same job with more presence.

Does the font you choose affect ATS parsing?

For any normal font, no. An applicant tracking system reads the text in your file, not the way the letters look. A resume in Calibri and the same resume in Georgia produce identical extracted text. There is no font that "scores higher" with an ATS, and any tool that tells you otherwise is guessing.

Fonts cause parsing trouble in three specific cases:

Icon fonts. Phone, email and LinkedIn icons in many templates are characters from an icon font such as Font Awesome. A parser reads each one as a random letter or a blank box, so your contact line can come out as Ǝ (555) 010-2233 ✉ name@email.com. Use plain words ("Phone:", "Email:") or nothing at all.
Decorative and display fonts in PDFs. Some downloaded fonts don't tell the PDF which letter each shape represents. The resume looks perfect, but copy-paste (and the ATS) gets gibberish. If you can't select and paste your own text cleanly out of the PDF, neither can the parser.
Ligatures. A few fonts merge "fi" and "fl" into single shapes. Most parsers handle this, but occasionally "certified" extracts as "certi ed". It's rare with the fonts in the table above.

The quickest test takes ten seconds: open your PDF, select all, copy, and paste into a plain text editor. If the text comes out clean and in order, your font is fine. Our free resume checker extracts the text the way an ATS would and shows it to you alongside any issues. It needs no signup.

Serif or sans-serif: which is better for a resume?

Sans-serif is the safer default. Serif is a legitimate choice, not a mistake. Most resumes are read on a screen first, and clean sans-serif fonts like Calibri and Arial hold up well at small sizes on any display. Serif fonts like Georgia and Garamond read as more traditional, which suits law, finance, academia and publishing.

Neither choice helps you get past an ATS; the distinction is purely for the human reader. Pick one and use it for the whole page. Mixing a serif heading with a sans-serif body can work, but it's a design decision that's easy to get wrong, and a single font never is.

What font do recruiters prefer?

Recruiters don't prefer a font. They notice two things instead: whether the page is easy to skim in a few seconds, and whether anything looks off. Things that look off include a font that has been substituted, text that's too small, a novelty typeface, or three fonts on one page.

That's why "widely installed" matters more than "attractive". If you send a .docx in a font the recruiter's computer doesn't have, Word quietly swaps in something else. Line breaks move, your one-page resume can spill onto page two, and bullets can wrap badly. Sending a PDF locks the font in place. If you have to send a .docx, stick to Calibri, Arial, Cambria or Georgia. Our PDF vs DOCX guide covers when each format is the right call.

Which fonts should you avoid on a resume?

Script and handwriting fonts (Brush Script, Lucida Handwriting): hard to read at 11pt, and they look like a party invitation.
Comic Sans and Papyrus: they parse fine, but they signal that you didn't take the document seriously.
Display fonts (Impact, Bebas, anything condensed or all-caps by design): built for headlines, not bullet points.
Monospace fonts (Courier, Consolas): every character is the same width, so they waste a lot of horizontal space. The one exception is a small code snippet on a technical resume.
Icon fonts for contact details: see above. They're the most common way a font breaks parsing, because so many templates use them.
Anything you downloaded, if you're sending a .docx: the recipient probably doesn't have it installed.

Is Calibri still a good resume font in 2026?

Yes. Microsoft replaced Calibri with Aptos as the default font in Microsoft 365, but Calibri is still installed on nearly every Windows and Mac computer with Office, and it's still one of the most readable fonts at 10–11pt. The only thing people hold against it is that it's common. On a resume, being common is fine: you want the content to stand out, not the typeface.

Aptos is a reasonable modern choice if you write in Microsoft 365, with one caveat. Older Office versions don't have it, so send it as a PDF.

What is the best font for a resume and cover letter?

The same font you used on your resume. A matching font, size and header across both documents makes them read as one application. Calibri, Arial, Georgia and Garamond all work equally well for a cover letter. Because cover letters are paragraphs rather than bullets, a serif like Georgia can read slightly more comfortably at length.

What size should my resume font be?

It depends on the font, because the same point size looks different in different typefaces. Garamond at 11pt looks noticeably smaller than Arial at 11pt. Use the body sizes in the table above, then set your name at 18–24pt and section headings at 12–14pt. Our resume font size guide goes through every element, and the resume margins guide covers the spacing that goes with it.

Once the font is settled, it stops being the thing that decides whether you get an interview. What decides it is whether your resume matches the job description. The resume optimizer rewrites your bullets against a specific posting and keeps your formatting.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best font for a resume?: A plain, widely installed font: Calibri, Arial, Aptos or Helvetica for sans-serif, or Georgia, Garamond or Cambria for serif. All of them parse cleanly in applicant tracking systems and read well on screen and in print. If you can't decide, Calibri or Arial at 11pt is the safest choice.
What is the best font for an ATS resume?: Any standard font works, because an ATS reads the text in your file, not how it looks. Calibri, Arial, Georgia, Cambria, Garamond and Times New Roman all extract identically. The fonts that cause ATS problems are icon fonts used for contact details and some downloaded display fonts that turn into gibberish when text is extracted from a PDF.
Is Times New Roman a bad font for a resume?: No. It parses perfectly and no recruiter will reject you for it. It's just a little dated and narrow, and it can look like a default nobody changed. Georgia or Cambria give you a serif font with more presence while staying just as safe.
Should I use a serif or sans-serif font on my resume?: Sans-serif fonts such as Calibri and Arial are the safer default because they stay crisp at small sizes on screens. Serif fonts such as Georgia and Garamond are a good choice too, especially in traditional fields like law, finance and academia. Neither helps with ATS parsing. Pick one and use it throughout.
Can I use more than one font on a resume?: You can, but you rarely should. One font in two or three sizes, plus bold, gives you all the hierarchy a resume needs. If you do pair fonts, limit it to one for headings and one for body text. Never use more than two.
Is Calibri still a good font for a resume?: Yes. Microsoft 365 now defaults to Aptos, but Calibri is still installed almost everywhere and is one of the most readable fonts at 10 to 11pt. Being common isn't a drawback on a resume. You want the content to be what stands out.
What font should I use on my resume if I write it in Google Docs?: Arial, Georgia, Lato, Roboto or Open Sans all work well and are built into Google Docs. Export the finished resume as a PDF before sending it, so the font and layout arrive exactly as you designed them, whatever the recruiter's computer has installed.
What font size goes with the best resume fonts?: 10 to 12pt for body text, adjusted for the font. Calibri, Arial and Georgia look right at 10.5 to 11pt. Garamond has smaller letters and usually needs 11.5 to 12pt. Set your name at 18 to 24pt and section headings at 12 to 14pt.