Do New Balance Shoes Run Big Or Small?

Established in 1906, New Balance has been ever since committed to delivering footwear of superior quality, style, and comfort. But how does that translate into their fitting process? Do New Balance Shoes Run Big or Small?

In today’s article, I’ll answer this exact question to help you figure out your proper shoe size and save you the frustration of buying the wrong fit.

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Do New Balance Shoes Run Big Or Small?

In general, New Balance shoes run neither big nor small. For the vast majority of customers, New Balance shoes will fit true to size.

Some customers do report New Balance shoes running a bit large or small, but the incidence of this happening is very unlikely. The brand prides itself on providing shoes that fit perfectly right out of the box.

In any case, this brand offers their shoes in whole and half sizes, so finding a pair of New Balance that fits you properly should be a piece of cake as long as you’re accurate about taking your feet’s measurements

I reviewed the feedback of customers on numerous popular models of New Balance shoes purchased via Amazon and calculated that around 85% of users who shared their sizing experience reported that their New Balance shoes have a true to size fit.

As such, your chance of getting a proper fit from New Balance is quite significant. But just to stay on the safe side, it’s better to buy your New Balance pair from Amazon or other reliable retailers to enjoy hassle-free returns in the event of misfits.

Are New Balance Shoes Really True to Size?

For the most part, New Balance footwear fits true to size. But when customers do report having issues with the sizing of their shoes, the reason that’s mentioned the most is that the shoes run a bit too small.

Since New Balance shoes come in half-size options, fitting is rarely a problem. Still, this doesn’t prevent exceptions from time to time. I researched customer reports and did some digging to find out whether New Balance shoes run small, large, or true to size.

More closely, I applied some statistics on the 8,732 reviewers and the 3,773 reviewers on Amazon who submitted a size review for the New Balance Men’s 608 V5 Casual Comfort Cross Trainer and the New Balance 608 V5 Casual Comfort Cross Trainer, respectively as of the time of publication.

• Out of 8,732 customers for New Balance men’s models, here’s how many said the shoes run true to size, too big, or too small:

	Somewhat big/too big	True to size	Somewhat small/too small
Number of New Balance men’s customers	516	7,619	597
Percentage	5.9%	87.3%	6.8%

As you can conclude from the table, almost 9 out of every 10 reviewers on Amazon report that New Balance shoes fit true to size.

• Out of 3,773 customers for New Balance women’s models, here is how many report the shoes as too big, too small, or true to size:

	Somewhat big/too big	True to size	Somewhat small/too small
Number of New Balance women’s customers	277	3,074	424
Percentage of reporting	7.3%	81.5%	11.2%

As you can tell, approximately 8 out of every 10 reviewers on Amazon reported that New Balance shoes fit true to size.

The bottom line? New Balance shoes are likely to fit true to size for the strong majority of customers.

Now, if you have a particular reason to be concerned about finding New Balance shoes that fit you perfectly, you may want to consider going half a size up from your normal shoe size, especially if your feet are on the wide side.

That said, since the company provides half-size options, you shouldn’t come across any sizing problems if you simply measure your feet accurately. As such, if your usual shoe size is 9.5, you’ll most probably find a comfortable fit in the same size.

If your feet are wide, you prefer a roomy fit, or you don’t like it when shoes are snug, then order half a size up, which is a 10 in the previous case.

How to Measure Your New Balance Shoe Size

To find out what your correct New Balance shoe size is, follow the steps below:

1. Take off any shoes or socks you may be wearing.
2. Place your bare foot flat against a wall and make sure your heel is touching the floor.
3. Put a ruler or a tape measure to the side of your foot, making sure that the end of your chosen tool is touching the floor just like your heel is.
4. To measure the length of your foot, observe the distance from the floor (your heel) to the highest point of your foot, which doesn’t have to be the big toe. For many people, the index (second biggest) toe is the tallest toe.
5. Repeat the previous steps to double-check the accuracy of your measurements.

New Balance Sizing Tips

• If possible, ask someone else to help you draw around your foot. This makes it easier to obtain more accurate measurements because the whole process now revolves around measuring only.
• Our feet tend to get swollen after being up and about for many hours. As such, it’s best to wait until the end of the day before measuring your foot’s length so that your shoes stay comfortable even if your feet swell up.
• If you often wear your New Balance shoes with socks, be sure to account for the extra room you’ll need inside your shoes to accommodate socks. A simple way to do this is by wearing your usual pair of socks while taking your feet measurements to achieve better accuracy.

New Balance Size Charts

Once you know your foot length, refer to the sizing chart of and men’s and women’s New Balance shoes below:

• Men’s New Balance shoe sizes:

Foot length (inches)	US size	UK size
8.6	4	3.5
8.8	4.5	4
9.0	5	4.5
9.25	5.5	5
9.4	6	5.5
9.6	6.5	6
9.8	7	6.5
10.0	7.5	7
10.2	8	7.5
10.4	8.5	8
10.6	9	8.5
10.8	9.5	9
11	10	9.5
11.2	10.5	10
11.4	11	10.5
11.6	11.5	11
11.8	12	11.5
12	12.5	12
12.2	13	12.5
12.6	14	13.5
13	15	14.5
13.4	16	15.5
13.8	17	16.5
14	18	17.5
14.4	19	18.5
14.8	20	19.5

• Women’s New Balance shoe sizes:

Foot length (inches)	US size	UK size
8.2	4	2
8.4	4.5	2.5
8.6	5	3
8.8	5.5	3.5
9.0	6	4
9.25	6.5	4.5
9.4	7	5
9.6	7.5	5.5
9.8	8	6
10.0	8.5	6.5
10.2	9	7
10.4	9.5	7.5
10.6	10	8
10.8	10.5	8.5
11.0	11	9
11.2	11.5	9.5
11.4	12	10
11.6	12.5	10.5
11.8	13	11
12.0	13.5	11.5
12.2	14	12
12.6	15	13

There’s also a size chart for kids’ and teens’ New Balance shoes, which you can view on their website. To give you a general idea, the company offers sizes for babies and toddlers from 0 to 4 years, children from 4 to 8 years, as well as older kids from 8 to 12 years.

Do New Balance Shoes Fit Like Adidas Shoes?

Just like New Balance, Adidas shoes fit true to size based on our review of customer feedback. So, generally speaking, if you have an existing pair of Adidas shoes and are looking to order a new pair of New Balance shoes, you should order the same size.

However, when it comes to size in New Balance shoes vs Adidas footwear, the fit will vary according to the specific size we’re talking about.

For example, the women’s US 8 is 9.8 inches in New Balance and 9.7 inches in Adidas. On the other hand, the US men’s size 11 is 11.4 inches in New Balance and 11 inches in Adidas; that’s almost a half-inch difference.

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So, do New Balance shoes run big or small? The answer is neither. In most cases, New Balance shoes fit true to size. The company even offers half sizes to help you better customize your fit.

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Cover Image: ch_ch / Shutterstock