Updated June 2026. Reviewed by Maya Robinson, CPRW.
The best resume fonts are Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, Georgia, and Garamond. They are widely installed, parse cleanly through applicant tracking systems, and stay readable at small sizes. Use 10 to 12 point for body text and 14 to 16 point for your name and headings, and pick one font for the entire resume.
Choosing a resume font is not a style decision, it is a parsing decision. The wrong one can make an applicant tracking system read your name as broken characters and quietly cost you keyword matches. Below are the safe fonts, the exact sizes, and the ones that break ATS software.
Why Font Choice Is an ATS Problem, Not a Style Problem
Before a human sees your resume, an applicant tracking system converts the file into plain text it can search, and that conversion depends on the font. Standard fonts like Arial and Calibri have clean, well-defined shapes installed on virtually every system, so the parser reads them correctly. Decorative, condensed, or custom-embedded fonts can be misread, so your name, email, or a skill keyword gets stored as garbled text. The ATS does not flag the error. It files you with bad data, which lowers your match score and can drop you out of recruiter searches.
The Best ATS-Safe Resume Fonts
Any of these will parse cleanly and read well. Choose one and use it for the whole document.
| Font | Style | Best for | ATS-safe |
|---|---|---|---|
| Calibri | Sans-serif | Modern default, most roles | Yes |
| Arial | Sans-serif | Maximum reliability, never misread | Yes |
| Helvetica | Sans-serif | Clean, slightly more refined look | Yes |
| Georgia | Serif | Formal tone, screen-friendly | Yes |
| Garamond | Serif | Traditional, polished without looking dated | Yes |
| Cambria | Serif | Microsoft serif alternative to Georgia | Yes |
| Verdana | Sans-serif | High legibility at small sizes | Yes |
| Times New Roman | Serif | Safe but reads as dated to recruiters | Yes |
Serif fonts like Georgia and Garamond carry a more formal tone; sans-serif fonts like Calibri and Arial read as modern and clean. Both groups are ATS-safe, so the choice between them is genuine style.
The Exact Font Sizes and Spacing to Use
Here are the precise numbers most guides leave vague:
| Element | Size | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Body text | 10 to 12 pt (11 default) | Drop to 10 only to fit one page |
| Your name | 14 to 16 pt | Largest text on the page |
| Section headings | 12 to 14 pt, bold | Scannable, but smaller than your name |
| Bullets | 10 to 11 pt | Same family as body text |
| Line spacing | 1.0 to 1.15 | Tighter crowds text, looser wastes space |
| Margins | 0.5 to 1 inch | Never below 0.5 inch, parsers clip past that |
Going below 10 point body text to cram in more content backfires twice: it strains the recruiter who reads it and it raises the chance of a parser misreading cramped characters. If your resume will not fit, cut content rather than shrinking the font.
The Fonts That Break ATS Parsers
These are the fonts to keep off a resume entirely, and the reason for each:
- Script and handwriting fonts such as Brush Script or Lucida Handwriting. Their connected, irregular shapes are frequently parsed as wrong characters.
- Decorative and display fonts such as Papyrus, Impact, or anything novelty. They read as unprofessional to recruiters and unpredictably to parsers.
- Comic Sans. Universally read as unserious for a job application. Never use it.
- Condensed and ultra-thin fonts. Narrow letterforms blur together and are a common source of misread text.
- Custom or downloaded fonts not installed on the reader's system. When the font is missing, the file substitutes a different one, which can shift your layout or corrupt characters.
The single safest rule: if a font is not pre-installed on a standard work computer, do not use it on a resume.
Get a Resume That Parses Cleanly Every Time
Picking a safe font, setting the right sizes, and checking that the file parses correctly is easy to get wrong by hand. QuickResumeAI builds your resume on ATS-safe fonts with the correct sizing and spacing already applied, so the parser reads every word. Try QuickResumeAI.
For more on formatting and parsing, see our guides on the best resume format for ATS and how to make your resume ATS friendly. If your layout shifts after upload, see why your resume looks different when uploaded.
