Army Body Fat Calculator
With height 70 in, waist at the navel 36 in, body weight 185 lb, army body fat comes to 0.514 — waist-to-height ratio. It is reached in 7 steps, the last of which is 36 / 70, and each one is printed on the page with its numbers filled in. The formula is the one published by US Army, not an approximation fitted to it.
The Army’s waist-to-height assessment that replaced the tape test in July 2026, with the waist measurement the 0.55 standard allows at your height.
Formula and sources checked · How we check
Height 70 in, Waist at the navel 36 in, Body weight 185 lb, Sex Male
0.514
Waist-to-height ratio for the example below. Editing a field recomputes the calculator below; this figure holds the answer the page was loaded with.
It is written into the HTML rather than drawn by a script, so a search engine reading this page without running JavaScript still finds an answer.
- Waist-to-height ratio
36 / 700.514- The standard to stay under
0.55- Largest waist that passes at your height
0.55 * 7038.5 in- Inches under the limit
38.5 - 362.5 in- Passes the assessment (1 = yes)
1- Superseded one-site tape estimate
-26.97 - 0.12 * 185 + 1.99 * 3622.47 %- BMI, for reference
185 * 703 / (70 * 70)26.542
Worked example
A soldier 70 inches tall with a 36-inch waist has a ratio of 0.514, inside the 0.55 standard with 2.5 inches of margin — the largest waist that passes at that height is 38.5 inches. The tape test retired in July 2026 would have estimated the same body at 22.5% fat.
How to work it out yourself
- 1.Measure the waist horizontally at the navel, standing up straight with arms at your sides, and read the tape at the end of a normal breath out. Sucking in changes the number and not the outcome — the confirmation measurement is taken by a second team the same day.
- 2.Divide by your height in the same units. The ratio is unitless, so inches over inches and centimeters over centimeters give the same answer.
- 3.Under 0.55 passes. At 70 inches tall that is a waist of 38.5 inches or less, and the margin line above says how much room you have.
- 4.The old height-and-weight tables, the multi-site tape test and the one-site tape test were all retired on 7 July 2026. Any calculator still asking for your neck measurement is running the 2013 formula.
Largest passing waist by height
| Height (in) | Waist-to-height ratio | Largest waist that passes at your height | Waist-to-height ratio |
|---|---|---|---|
| 60 | 0.600 | 33 in | 0.6 |
| 62 | 0.581 | 34.1 in | 0.58 |
| 64 | 0.563 | 35.2 in | 0.56 |
| 66 | 0.545 | 36.3 in | 0.55 |
| 68 | 0.529 | 37.4 in | 0.53 |
| 70 | 0.514 | 38.5 in | 0.51 |
| 72 | 0.500 | 39.6 in | 0.5 |
| 74 | 0.486 | 40.7 in | 0.49 |
| 76 | 0.474 | 41.8 in | 0.47 |
| 78 | 0.462 | 42.9 in | 0.46 |
The standard is a ratio, so the allowance rises with height: every extra inch of height buys 0.55 in of waist.
The formula
- Waist-to-height ratio
36 / 70 - The standard to stay under
- Largest waist that passes at your height
0.55 * 70 - Inches under the limit
38.5 - 36 - Passes the assessment (1 = yes)
- Superseded one-site tape estimate
-26.97 - 0.12 * 185 + 1.99 * 36 - BMI, for reference
185 * 703 / (70 * 70)
Source: US Army — Army modifies body composition program, adopts waist-to-height ratio (7 July 2026), Army Regulation 600-9 — The Army Body Composition Program, Army Body Composition Program FAQ, effective 7 July 2026
Questions people actually ask
- What is the Army body fat standard in 2026?
- There is no longer a body fat percentage standard. Since 7 July 2026 the Army screens on waist-to-height ratio: waist measured at the navel, divided by height, must be under 0.55. It replaced the height-weight tables, the tape test and the supplemental body fat assessments in one move.
- What waist size passes at my height?
- Height × 0.55. At 5 ft 6 in that is 36.3 inches, at 5 ft 10 in it is 38.5, and at 6 ft 2 in it is 40.7. The measurement is taken at the navel, not at the narrowest point of the waist.
- What happens if I fail?
- A second team re-measures you the same duty day to confirm. A confirmed ratio of 0.55 or above means enrolment in the Army Body Composition Program, and the Army set a 180-day period from the change during which no separation action follows a failure.
- Why did the Army drop the tape test?
- Research from USARIEM found a single measurement predicted health risk about as well as the circumference formulas while removing most of the measurement error and the administrative load. Waist-to-height ratio is also the metric the wider clinical literature has moved toward, and it needs one tape reading rather than three.
Related
- BMI CalculatorBody mass index from height and weight in either metric or US units, with the CDC category cut-offs.
- Body Fat CalculatorBody fat percentage from tape measurements using the US Navy circumference method, plus lean mass.
- Ideal Weight CalculatorReference weight from height by four standard clinical formulas, and the BMI-healthy range they sit inside.
- Body Shape CalculatorBody shape from bust, waist and hips, with the waist-to-hip and waist-to-height ratios the WHO uses to judge risk.
- Lean Body Mass CalculatorLean mass by the Boer, James and Hume equations side by side, with the fat mass each implies — the three disagree by kilograms, so the formula is the answer.
- FFMI CalculatorFat-free mass index from weight, height and body fat, with the height-normalised version and the threshold the original study drew.
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