Best fonts for resumes: ATS-friendly picks, sizes, and modern pairings

Picking a resume font and font size isn’t just “a design detail.” It’s how you create hierarchy, improve scan speed, and reduce avoidable technical risk when your resume is uploaded to an ATS or a job board.

Most ATS and job boards don’t fail because you chose the “wrong font.” Problems usually show up when your PDF export flattens the text (so it’s no longer selectable), or when you use decorative elements that interfere with clean text extraction. That’s why handwritten/script fonts are a bad idea: they slow down recruiters and can render poorly in most ATS.

In this guide, updated for 2026, you’ll learn:

• What makes a font work on a resume.
• The best resume fonts for body text and headings.
• Fonts you should never use on a resume.
• Serif vs sans serif (what to use where).
• Practical font size and line spacing guidelines.
• How to pair fonts without making your resume look messy.

Best resume font and size in 2026 (quick summary)

Before we get into each font, here’s the quick decision guide if you want a clean, low-risk choice for font, size, and line spacing:

• Best fonts for resume body text: Helvetica, Lato, Inter, Roboto, Montserrat, Open Sans.
• Best fonts for resume headings: Garamond, Georgia, Merriweather, Noto Serif.
• Body text font size: 10-12 pt. If you go down to 10 pt, choose a font that stays readable at small sizes (good x-height and spacing), like Lato, so the text doesn’t feel cramped.
• Heading font size: 13-16 pt to create hierarchy.
• Line spacing: 1.15–1.4 so multi-line bullets and paragraphs can breathe.

What makes a font work on a resume

A “good resume font” does three things:

1. It reads fast on screen (and still holds up if printed). Recruiters often give a resume just seconds on the first pass. If they can’t find signals quickly, they move on.
2. It creates hierarchy: section headings, job titles, company names, dates. Those elements should be scannable without relying on loud colors or extreme sizes.
3. It doesn’t introduce technical risk: broken characters, weird PDF export behavior, text that can’t be selected, or parsing problems. This is why some fonts are risky in resumes and ATS may have issues with them.

ATS-friendly resume fonts: when to use them and good font pairings

Below are resume-safe fonts that work well with recruiting systems and are easy to read. I’m also including combinations that add a subtle editorial lift without turning your resume into a typography experiment.

Helvetica

Sans-serif Font. Confident, versatile, and modern. Current without being trendy.

When to use it

• Works in basically any industry.

Why it works

• A design classic.
• Easy to read and ATS-friendly.
• Sharp in both print and digital formats.

Ideal Pairing

• Georgia: to balance modern with classic strength.

Lato

Sans-serif Font. Friendly polish. Innovative but grounded.

When to use it

• Modern roles where you want clarity with a bit of warmth (product, marketing, HR, customer success, etc).

Why it works

• Designed for clarity with warmth.
• Open spacing, rounded edges, and strong readability.
• Compatible with ATS and job board uploads.

Ideal Pairing

• Merriweather: a character-rich serif that enhances headings.

Roboto

Sans-serif (Google's) Font. Structured and modern. It’s bold but too assertive for conservative fields.

When to use it

• Tech and engineering roles.
• Resumes with a lot of information, especially when content is broken into clean sections and bullets (not long paragraphs).

Why it works

• Sharp at small sizes and highly readable.
• Ideal for information-dense resumes.
• ATS-safe.

Ideal Pairing

• Open Sans: softens the tone and adds approachability.

Montserrat

Sans-serif Font. Bold and modern. Its rounded edges and clean lines give off a vibe that’s confident and energetic.

When to use it

• Contemporary resumes where you want strong visual order and a slightly creative edge (design, brand, marketing, freelance work).

Why it works

• Inspired by urban signage, it’s clean, geometric, and highly readable.
• ATS-friendly.
• Looks great on both screens and paper.

Ideal Pairing

• Noto Serif: adds classic poise to your headings.

Inter

Sans-serif Font. Clean, geometric, friendly. Great for anyone applying to modern companies.

When to use it

• Modern profiles (tech, product, startups).
• Detailed resumes where you need to stay compact without sacrificing readability.

Why it works

• Compact and versatile.
• ATS-compatible.
• Built for screens.
• Ideal for detailed resumes.

Ideal Pairing

• EB Garamond: adds elegance to headers without clashing.

Garamond

Serif Font. Timeless and refined, it suggests depth and credibility.

When to use it

• Senior roles.
• Legal and academic-adjacent contexts (but note: in the US, “academic” often means an academic CV, not a standard resume).

Why it works

• Its delicate design signals maturity.
• ATS-safe.
• Be cautious: tight spacing can hinder readability on screens.

Ideal Pairing

• Helvetica: crisp and modern for headings.
• Lato: for a friendly, balanced pairing.

Georgia

Serif Font. Elegant yet readable. Classic with a contemporary feel.

When to use it

• Fields that value formality but still need easy scanning (finance, legal, operations, education).

Why it works

• Tall letters boost scannability.
• Optimized for screens.
• ATS-compatible.
• Great for roles that balance formality and friendliness.

Ideal Pairing

• Open Sans: adds modern clarity to a traditional layout.

Serif vs sans serif on a resume

Adobe’s overview of serif vs sans serif argues that sans serif fonts tend to read better on screens, while serif fonts often shine in longer printed texts.

In practice: most recruiters review resumes on screens. So:

• Use a sans serif font for body text.
• If you want a slightly more editorial look, use a serif font only for headings.
• Don’t set your entire resume in a serif font unless you have a very specific reason (and you’re sure readability holds up on screen).

Resume font size and line spacing that stays readable

Element	Recommendation
Body text	10-12 pt (10 pt only if your font stays crisp at small sizes)
Section headings	13-16 pt
Name	18–26 pt (depends on the template layout)
Line spacing	1.15-1.4
Spacing between sections	Enough to separate blocks, without huge uneven gaps

If you’re shrinking font size and squeezing spacing just to force everything onto one page, that’s usually a content problem, not a typography problem. Cut, prioritize, or add a second page.

Review these related guides:

• How to write an ATS-friendly resume that passes filters and gets interviews.
• How to describe work experience on a resume.
• How long should your resume be?

How to pair fonts for a professional resume

Using one font can look clean and minimal. Pairing fonts can work but only if you do it intentionally.

Rules that keep you out of trouble:

• Use a maximum of two fonts (one for body text, one for headings).
• Keep contrast subtle. You want hierarchy, not show that you discovered Google Fonts yesterday.
• Safer option: one font family with different weights (regular for body, bold or semi-bold for headings). Minimal, consistent, hard to mess up.

Fonts you should never use on a resume

A good font supports your message. A bad one distracts from it and makes parsing harder.

Script or handwritten fonts

Elegant at a glance, but hard to read at small sizes and ATS-unfriendly.

Times New Roman

It’s a serif font. Even though it’s one of the most widely used fonts in history, sans serif fonts are usually easier to read on computer and mobile screens. Today, resumes are emailed or uploaded to an ATS and reviewed on a screen, so not just for aesthetics but for strategy: skip Times New Roman.

Comic Sans

Universally disliked in professional settings, which undermines your credibility.

Papyrus

Overused and mocked (think Avatar memes); it lacks clarity and it’s hard to read at small sizes.

Courier New

Bulky and hard to scan quickly, monospacing makes it inefficient for resumes.

Futura

Lacks warmth and fluidity for body text, plus it's got poor readability in paragraph form.

"Handwritten" fonts

They come off as gimmicky or immature, which hurts credibility in any professional context.

Make typography work for you

Typography is an important choice that makes your content effortless (or hard) to read.

If you don’t want to test 20 fonts and second-guess hierarchy, CandyCV ATS-friendly resume templates already come with screen-first typography choices and clean visual structure.

Frequently asked questions about resume fonts

What’s the best resume font in 2026?

If you want something more modern than the usual Times New Roman / Calibri / Arial while staying readable and professional:

• For body text: Inter, Roboto, Lato, Helvetica, or Montserrat.
• For headings: Georgia or Garamond.

These options prioritize screen readability (where resumes are actually read) and still look professional.

What font is best for an ATS-friendly resume?

In most cases, the font is not the problem. The bigger issues are:

• Your PDF doesn’t have selectable text (scanned or flattened).
• Content is too cramped.
• The template/layout is not ATS-friendly.

If you want a safe list, stick to: Inter, Lato, Helvetica, Arial, Montserrat.

Then make sure your file checks these boxes:

• No image-based resumes (no scanned PDF, no flattened export).
• Export to PDF with selectable text.
• Use an ATS-friendly template.

What font size should I use on my resume?

A practical baseline that works for most templates:

• Body text: 10-12 pt
• Section headings: 13-16 pt
• Line spacing: 1.15-1.4
• Spacing: enough separation between sections, without drifting into giant gaps.

Can I use two fonts on my resume?

Yes, but two max (one for body, one for headings). Even safer: use one font family and vary weights (regular body, bold headings).

If you want two-font pairings, these are typically safe:

• Montserrat (headings) + Inter (body): modern and clean.
• Merriweather (headings) + Lato (body): readable with clear hierarchy.
• Georgia (headings) + Helvetica (body): classic and formal.

Calibri vs Arial for a resume

If you’re submitting in Word, they’re especially safe.

• Calibri reads slightly more current.
• Arial is more universal (and can substitute for Helvetica if Helvetica isn’t available).

If you want a more modern feel, prioritize Lato, Helvetica, or Montserrat while keeping readability high.

Is Times New Roman bad for a resume?

Not “bad,” but serif fonts are often less comfortable on screens than sans serif fonts. And resumes are almost always read on screens. Unless you have a specific reason, use sans serif for body text (Inter, Roboto, Lato, Helvetica, Montserrat).

What font should I use if I’m building a resume in Canva?

The risk with Canva isn’t the font. It’s that Canva nudges people to design a resume like a poster and then export it in a way that gets flattened or loses selectable text. That’s what can break uploads and parsing.

The recommendation: don’t build your resume in Canva.

But if you do, keep it simple and readable (no decorative fonts):

• Body: Helvetica, Arial, Montserrat, or Lato.
• Headings: the same fonts work well; if you want a serif heading font, EB Garamond or Georgia can work.

Is Merriweather a good font for a resume?

Yes, mostly as a heading font. Merriweather has strong serif character and can add a polished, editorial feel, especially for section titles.

For body text, it depends. Merriweather can look heavier on screen and feel less “fast to scan” than a sans serif, particularly in dense blocks. Use it as a heading font and pair it with Lato or Montserrat for body text.

Is Garamond ATS friendly?

Yes. Garamond itself is rarely what causes ATS parsing issues. That said, Garamond can be a weaker choice for body text because it often looks tighter at small sizes and slows down scanning on screens. Best practice:

• Use Garamond for headings only if you like the look.
• Use a clean sans serif for body text (Inter, Lato, Roboto, Helvetica, Montserrat or Open Sans).
• Always export a PDF with selectable text.