Best Fonts for Your Resume: ATS-Safe Picks & Formatting Guide 

Blog summary: Calibri and Arial are the safest resume fonts for most job seekers, while Georgia, Helvetica, and Garamond offer more style without sacrificing readability. Keep body text between 10–12pt, use standard weights, and avoid decorative or script fonts. For ATS compatibility, simple formatting matters just as much as the font itself.
Recruiters skim resumes in seconds. The wrong font makes that skim harder; the right one gets out of the way. Below are the best fonts for a resume in 2026, ranked, with an ATS-safety note for each. We’ve also added a full comparison table if you want to look beyond the top 5.

If you’re starting from scratch, a resume builder can also help you apply the right font, spacing, and layout without formatting everything manually. Choose a template that keeps your resume clean, readable, and ATS-friendly.

Top 5 Best Fonts for Resume

What Makes a Good Resume Font?

Whatever you pick, it should hit four marks: legible at a glance, professional rather than decorative, neutral enough that readers notice your content and not your typography, and recognized cleanly by ATS software. 

Fonts fall into a few broad categories: serif (small strokes at the letter ends, e.g., Georgia), sans-serif (clean, no strokes, e.g., Arial), script (cursive-style, avoid for resumes), monospaced (every letter the same width, built for code, avoid), and display (built for headlines and posters, avoid). Stick to serif or sans-serif, and you’re safe.

Font choice is one piece of a bigger formatting picture. See our guide to resume layout for how spacing, sections, and structure work together with your font choice.

Comparing the Best Fonts for Resumes (ATS Safety & Styles)

Font Size and Formatting

• Body text: 10–12pt.
• Section headings: 12–14pt.
• Your name: 18–24pt.
• Line spacing: 1.0–1.15 — tight enough to fit content, loose enough to breathe.
• Margins: 0.5–1 inch on all sides.
• Emphasis: Bold job titles and headers sparingly. Skip underlines and italics for anything but small accents. Both add visual noise fast.

For the full picture on structuring these elements together, see our step-by-step guide on how to make a resume.

Getting Past the ATS

Most companies run resumes through an ATS before a human ever sees them. A few habits keep your formatting intact through that process:

Stick to standard fonts. Calibri, Arial, Georgia, and Times New Roman are recognized by essentially every parser in use.

Watch font weight and style, not just the typeface. A font that’s ATS-safe in regular weight can behave differently in italic, light, or condensed versions — some parsers render them oddly or skip styled text. When in doubt, use regular or bold, not italic or light.

Skip images, icons, and text boxes. Most ATS software can’t read text embedded in graphics.

Use standard section headings. “Experience,” “Education,” and “Skills” get parsed correctly; creative renamings sometimes don’t.

Save as PDF unless told otherwise. Modern ATS platforms handle PDFs well, and it preserves your exact formatting; check the job posting for format preferences.

Fonts to Avoid

Comic Sans — reads as informal no matter the context.

Papyrus — dated and hard to read at resume text sizes.

Brush Script or any cursive font — slow to read, wrong tone for a resume.

Courier New — looks like it came out of a typewriter, which reads as outdated rather than intentional.

Best Font for a Cover Letter

Use the same font as your resume. A matching typeface across your resume, cover letter, and references creates one consistent visual identity instead of three disconnected documents. Any of the top 5 above works well here too. Calibri, Arial, and Garamond are especially strong cover letter choices because a cover letter is read as continuous paragraphs, not scanned bullet points. Moreover, these fonts hold up well over several sentences in a row without fatiguing the eye.

One difference worth knowing: cover letters are almost never run through an ATS the way resumes are, since they’re read by a human, not parsed for keywords. That gives you slightly more flexibility. That said, “more flexibility” still means “safe serif or sans-serif,” not “decorative.”

Can You Use Two Fonts on a Resume?

Yes, if you’re deliberate about it. Pairing one font for headings and a different one for body text can add visual hierarchy. For instance, Garamond headings with Calibri body text is a common, safe combination. The simpler and honestly safer route is one font family in two weights: regular for body text, bold for headings and your name. 

If you’re not confident about pairing, skip it. A single well-chosen font has never cost anyone an interview.

Key Takeaways

• Default to Calibri or Arial if you want the lowest-risk, most universally compatible option.
• Match your resume and cover letter font for a consistent application.
• Keep body text at 10–12pt and avoid italic or light-weight styling for anything ATS needs to read.
• Skip script, monospaced, and display fonts entirely. No exceptions, even for creative fields.

Build Your Resume With the Right Font, Instantly

Jump Resume Builder’s templates come with ATS-safe fonts already set up correctly. Build your resume and skip the formatting guesswork entirely.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the best font for a resume?

Calibri and Arial are the safest choices. Both are recognized by every major ATS and read cleanly on screen and in print. Georgia, Helvetica, and Garamond are equally strong if you want a slightly different look.

What is the best font for a cover letter?

Whatever font you used on your resume. Calibri, Arial, and Garamond all read comfortably across full paragraphs, which is what a cover letter is made of.

What font size should a resume use?

10–12pt for body text, 12–14pt for section headings, and 18–24pt for your name at the top.

Can I use two different fonts on one resume?

Yes. Pairing a serif heading font with a sans-serif body font is a common, safe combination. If you’re unsure, one font family in regular and bold weights is the simpler choice.

Are script or decorative fonts ever appropriate for a resume?

No, not even in creative fields. Use layout, spacing, and color to show personality. Keep the font itself legible and standard.