How to Choose the Best Font for Your Resume (Style & Size)

While content is the core of your resume, typography is the medium that delivers it. Selecting the right font is a subtle but critical design decision that shapes how hiring managers perceive your professionalism. A clean, legible typeface keeps the focus entirely on your achievements, whereas a poorly chosen font can distract the reader or even break automated tracking systems. This guide will walk you through selecting the ideal typeface and font sizing to ensure your resume stands out for the right reasons.

Many job seekers view font choice as an afterthought. However, professional typography acts as a silent advocate, presenting your credentials in a clean, structured, and easy-to-read format. If you want layout, styling, and font choices that parse cleanly, use an ATS-safe template instead of picking a typeface in a blank document.

Below, we cover the top resume fonts, compare serif versus sans-serif styles, outline which typefaces to avoid, and provide sizing rules for maximum impact.

The best font choices for a professional resume

While there is no single "perfect" typeface, the best fonts share three core qualities: high readability, standard cross-platform compatibility, and a neutral, professional aesthetic. Here is a quick reference list of top-tier fonts for resume writing:

• Arial
• Calibri
• Cambria
• Garamond
• Georgia
• Helvetica
• IBM Plex Sans
• Lato
• Open Sans
• Roboto
• Source Sans Pro
• Times New Roman
• Trebuchet MS
• Ubuntu
• Verdana

A professional font ensures that your text remains clean and scannable. Crucially, standard fonts are easily parsed by Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS), preventing parsing errors that could hide your resume from hiring managers.

Cohesive typography is also essential for your cover letter. If you are preparing both documents, you can use our cover letter builder to match your fonts and design styles seamlessly.

Serif vs. Sans-Serif: Which should you choose?

Understanding the difference between these two primary font families is the first step in refining your resume design:

• Serif Fonts: These letters feature small decorative projections (serifs) at the ends of their strokes. Serif typefaces like Georgia or Times New Roman project authority, tradition, and credibility, making them popular in academic, legal, and financial sectors.
• Sans-Serif Fonts: These fonts feature clean, geometric strokes without any decorative flourishes. Typefaces like Arial or Helvetica are modern, minimalist, and highly readable on digital screens, making them the standard choice for technology, startup, and creative roles.

Both styles are acceptable as long as the specific font you choose remains legible. When in doubt, print your resume or view it as a PDF on different devices to test readability.

Top 15 resume fonts compared

To help you decide, let's explore the characteristics, pros, and cons of the top 15 typefaces for professional resumes. Here's the quick-reference version — the full breakdown with live samples follows below.

1. Arial

Arial is a highly reliable sans-serif font that is universally installed on all operating systems. Its clean lines make it incredibly easy to scan quickly. The only downside is its ubiquity—because it is so common, it won't make your resume look unique, but it guarantees safe parsing.

2. Calibri

Calibri has been Microsoft Word's default body font for years. It is a soft, modern sans-serif that is exceptionally easy to read on computer monitors. However, like Arial, it can look somewhat generic due to how frequently it is used by default.

3. Cambria

Designed specifically for screen readability, Cambria is a robust serif font that looks excellent even at small sizes. It is a fantastic choice if you want a traditional feel that still looks sharp digitally. It may, however, feel a bit too formal for creative roles.

4. Garamond

Garamond is a elegant, classic serif font with centuries of design heritage. It is highly space-efficient, allowing you to fit more text on a single page without looking crowded. Note that it can sometimes appear slightly thin or hard to read on lower-resolution screens.

5. Georgia

Georgia is a rich, modern serif font designed to be readable on low-resolution computer monitors. It is slightly thicker and more impactful than Times New Roman. It remains a popular, elegant choice, though it may feel familiar to recruiters who review many resumes.

6. Helvetica

Favored by graphic designers worldwide, Helvetica is a clean, neutral sans-serif that offers excellent readability. It is modern, elegant, and professional. Because it is highly popular, it may not stand out uniquely, but it always looks clean.

7. IBM Plex Sans

Developed by IBM, this modern sans-serif balances clean engineering lines with friendly, legible letterforms. It looks sharp and contemporary, giving your resume a unique look without sacrificing readability. As a newer typeface, it is highly distinctive.

8. Lato

Lato is a warm, modern sans-serif font that was built for screen legibility. It has friendly curves but retains a highly professional structure. While it looks great, it is not always a default system font, so you should export your resume as a PDF to preserve it.

9. Open Sans

Open Sans is a neutral, highly legible sans-serif typeface that is heavily used in digital interfaces. It looks clean, friendly, and works beautifully at all sizes, making it particularly popular for tech and creative resumes.

10. Roboto

Roboto features a geometric, clean structure that makes it highly readable on mobile screens and monitors. It is a modern sans-serif that is perfect for software engineering, product, and tech roles, though it may feel too tech-focused for traditional fields.

11. Source Sans Pro

Created by Adobe, Source Sans Pro is a clean, modern sans-serif designed for user interfaces. It stands out slightly more than Arial or Helvetica, giving your document a fresh feel while maintaining a professional tone.

12. Times New Roman

Times New Roman is the classic, academic serif font. It is highly formal, traditional, and universally recognized. While it is always safe, some recruiters may find it outdated or overused, and it can be slightly harder to read on screen compared to Georgia.

13. Trebuchet MS

Trebuchet MS is an elegant, geometric sans-serif that was designed for screen readability. It has a slightly more casual, friendly personality. Its narrow character width can help save horizontal space, though some find it slightly tight.

14. Ubuntu

Ubuntu is a distinct, modern sans-serif font with rounded edges, designed specifically for screen legibility. It looks sharp and contemporary. Because it is not universally installed, you must export your resume as a PDF to ensure formatting stays intact.

15. Verdana

Verdana features wide letter spacing and open counters, making it incredibly easy to read even at small sizes. However, because it is quite wide, it can cause your resume to run onto a second page if you have a lot of content.

Three rules for selecting your resume font

When selecting a typeface, use these three guidelines to make your decision:

• Readability is key: Ensure the font remains legible in body paragraphs and bullet points. Avoid typefaces where letters blend together or look cluttered.
• Check print and digital: The majority of applications are reviewed on screens, but your resume may still be printed for interviews. Verify that your font choice looks excellent on both mediums.
• Match your target industry: Tailor your choice to your field. Startups and tech companies prefer modern sans-serifs like Roboto or Open Sans. Conservative industries like banking, law, or administration favor classic fonts like Calibri, Arial, or Georgia.

Resume fonts you should avoid

Unusual, overly decorative, or script fonts distract the reader and look unprofessional. Furthermore, complex fonts can confuse ATS software, leading to parsing errors. Skip these fonts entirely when writing your resume:

• Bradley Hand
• Brush Script
• Century Gothic
• Comic Sans
• Courier
• Curlz MT
• Impact
• Mistral
• Papyrus
• Trajan

Learn more about formatting rules in our guides on how to make an ATS-friendly resume and resume mistakes that get you rejected.

How to choose the right font size

Once you select a font family, you must apply the correct size hierarchy. For body text, the ideal range is 10 to 12 points.

Avoid shrinking your font size below 10 points to squeeze extra content onto a single page. Squinting to read tiny text is frustrating for recruiters and leads to quick rejections. Instead, refer to our resume length guide for 2026 to keep your writing concise.

For section headings, use a size between 14 and 16 points. Your name at the top of the page should be the largest element, ranging from 18 to 24 points. Setting a clear visual hierarchy helps recruiters scan your qualifications in seconds. Check our resume header guide for contact info layout tips.

Why professional typography matters

Selecting a font might seem like a minor detail, but it has a significant cumulative impact on your application. Before a recruiter reads a single word, they form an initial impression based on the visual layout, formatting, and typography.

A clean, readable font demonstrates attention to detail and care in your work. It makes reading effortless, allowing the recruiter to focus entirely on your experience and qualifications.

FAQ

What is the best font size for a resume?

Body text should stay between 10 and 12 points. Section headings work well at 14 to 16 points, and your name at the top of the page should be the largest element on the page, typically 18 to 24 points.

Do ATS systems care about which font I use?

Yes, indirectly. ATS software doesn't reject a resume for using a specific typeface, but it can fail to parse unusual, script, or heavily stylized fonts correctly. Sticking to a standard font like the ones in the comparison table above keeps your formatting intact when it's scanned.

Is Times New Roman outdated for a resume?

It's not wrong, but it's the most overused serif font on resumes today. Georgia or Cambria give you the same traditional, professional feel with a design that looks slightly more modern on screen.

Should I use a serif or sans-serif font?

Either is acceptable as long as it's legible. Serif fonts like Georgia or Cambria tend to read as more traditional and are common in academic, legal, and financial resumes. Sans-serif fonts like Roboto or Open Sans read as more modern and are common in tech and creative resumes.

What font should I avoid on a resume?

Skip decorative, script, or novelty fonts like Comic Sans, Papyrus, Curlz MT, or Brush Script. They read as unprofessional and are more likely to cause ATS parsing errors than a standard typeface.