What Penis Size Do Women Prefer?
In the one study where women held and chose among 3D-printed models, here is what they picked for a long-term and a one-time partner. Enter your size to compare, privately.
ExampleClose to the median
50thlength percentile51stgirth percentile
Half of men measure more and half less. Enter yours above to see where you fall.
Erect length
Example 13.1 cm
Erect girth
Example 11.7 cm
- Condom fit
- Regular / standard · 52–56 mm
See the full report
Everything on one page to keep, with the studies behind it. Print it or save a PDF; your measurements stay on this device.
- Length and girth percentiles
- Condom fit
- World regions
- What women said they prefer
Educational. Self-measurement varies. Not medical advice. Why
Grower or shower?How much length you gain from flaccid to erect
A grower gains a lot of length from flaccid to erect; a shower looks about the same size either way.
Where the line comes from. Yafi et al. (2018, International Journal of Impotence Research) measured 274 men at a urology clinic, flaccid and then fully erect. The median gain was 4 cm, ranging from 1 cm to 7 cm, and the authors used it as the line: a gain of 4 cm or more made a grower (26% of the men, who gained 5.3 cm on average) and less made a shower (74%, who gained 3.1 cm). The two groups had the same flaccid length on average, yet erect the growers averaged 15.5 cm and the showers 13.1 cm.
Both are normal. Flaccid size changes with cold, warmth and stress, so the gain you measure can differ from one day to the next. Flaccid length is also a poor guide to erect length: in 80 men measured by Wessells et al. (1996, Journal of Urology), flaccid size did not accurately predict erect length. That is why your percentiles above use your erect measurements when you give them.
Condom fitBy girth, as nominal width
Condoms are sized by nominal width (lay-flat width), roughly half your girth. Based on your girth of 11.7 cm:
Regular / standard · 52–56 mm nominal width. Most condoms on the shelf are made for this range.
General guidance from published fit charts, not a product endorsement. Always check the pack’s stated nominal width. A good fit stays put without pinching: too tight can break, too loose can slip off.
Estimated volumeLength and girth combined
That is about the same as the median (142 cm³) for erect measurements.
A geometric estimate treating the shaft as a cylinder: volume = girth² × length ÷ 4π, using bone-pressed length so it reflects anatomy rather than the visible portion. Because length and girth are reported separately in the research, there is no published percentile curve for volume, so this is shown as a comparison, not a rank. See volume at every percentile.
Study reference values (erect)Veale et al. (2015), clinician-measured
Clinician-measured, bone-pressed means from Veale et al. (2015); their curves are normal, so the average is also the 50th percentile used above.
Length (cm)
Girth (cm)
Reading your resultWhat a percentile does and doesn’t tell you
- Wide variation in size is normal and healthy.
- Self-measurement may not be as accurate as clinical measurement.
- Penis size has no correlation with masculinity, sexual satisfaction, or fertility.
- Most concerns about size are psychological rather than medical.
- The data comes from Veale et al. (2015), a review of 15,521 men measured by clinicians. If you have medical concerns, consult a healthcare professional.
Length along the top, pressed to the pubic bone; girth around the middle of the shaft. How to measure
Measured without pressing to the bone?
Ruler pressed to the pubic bone, the way research studies measure length.
How this works: Method, 6 sources, Checked against 3 worked examples,
How this works
Method
Your length and girth are compared with the erect or flaccid percentile tables from a 2015 review of 15,521 men measured by clinicians: between the 5th and 95th percentiles the tool interpolates between table points, and beyond them it extends the bell curve (limited to 0.1–99.9). A non-bone-pressed length gets 1.3 cm added to match the studies’ bone-pressed method, and volume is estimated as a cylinder, girth² × length ÷ 4π. With both a flaccid and an erect length, the gain between them is a grower at 4 cm or more and a shower below, the line a 2018 study of 274 men drew at its median gain.
Sources
- Prause et al., Women’s preferences for penis size: a new research method using selection among 3D models (PLoS ONE, 2015)
- Veale et al., Am I normal? Nomograms for flaccid and erect penis length and circumference in up to 15,521 men (BJU International, 2015)
- Am I normal? A systematic review and construction of nomograms for flaccid and erect penile length and circumference (BJU International, 2015)
- Worldwide Temporal Trends in Penile Length: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis (World Journal of Men’s Health, 2023)
- A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Penis Length and Circumference According to WHO Regions (Urology Research and Practice, 2025)
- Grower or shower? Predictors of change in penile length from the flaccid to erect state (International Journal of Impotence Research, 2018)
How it’s tested
3 worked examples for this page are checked by automated tests before every release: given the inputs, the tool must show the expected answer.
Privacy
On your device. Nothing you enter or open leaves this browser. About privacy labels
Changes
- Get your full report: your percentiles, grower or shower, condom fit, world regions and the studies on one page to print or save as a PDF, kept on your device.
- See how your size compares with what women picked in a study with 3D models, with a page on what the study found and its limits.
- Add your flaccid length beside your erect one to see whether you are a grower or a shower, against a published 4 cm line.
- The share card now sits open right under your result, redesigned, in three sizes and three looks.
- How the percentiles are worked out and the studies behind them now show under the tool, in “How this works”.
- Redesigned: your result is marked on a bell curve, with a labelled example until you enter your own measurements.
- Corrected the percentile tables so the median matches the study’s published averages (erect length 13.12 cm rather than 13.5 cm).
- Added an estimated volume, and condom fit is no longer suggested from a flaccid girth.
The example, in words
The example’s length is 2.9 cm under the women’s long-term pick (16.0 cm), and its girth is 0.5 cm under it (12.2 cm).
The length the women picked is longer than about 96 in 100 men measured by clinicians, so most men, and most of these women’s partners, are shorter than it. Girth, which they remembered almost exactly, sat nearer the middle: the long-term pick is around the 69th percentile.
Worked example: 14.5 cm long and 12.5 cm around (5.7 × 4.9 in)
On the clinicians’ curve, 14.5 cm of erect length is the 80th percentile and 12.5 cm of girth the 77th: longer and thicker than most men. Against the women’s long-term pick of 16.0 × 12.2 cm, the length is 1.5 cm under and the girth 0.3 cm over.
The length gap, 1.5 cm, is a little more than one step between neighbouring models in the study (0.5 in, 1.27 cm). The girth is within a model step of the long-term pick and 0.2 cm under the one-time pick (12.7 cm). So this man’s girth sits right among the picks, and his length sits where most men’s does: under them.
The women’s picks against men as measured
Erect sizes. Percentiles are on the curve of 15,521 men measured by clinicians (Veale et al., 2015), the same one the calculator uses. The picks are from 60 women (Prause et al., 2015).
| Size | Length | Girth | Length percentile | Girth percentile |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Average man (clinicians) | 13.1 cm (5.2 in) | 11.7 cm (4.6 in) | 50th | 50th |
| Average the study assumed | 15.2 cm (6.0 in) | 12.7 cm (5.0 in) | 89th | 82nd |
| Women’s long-term pick | 16.0 cm (6.3 in) | 12.2 cm (4.8 in) | 96th | 69th |
| Women’s one-time pick | 16.3 cm (6.4 in) | 12.7 cm (5.0 in) | 97th | 82nd |
| Smallest model offered | 10.2 cm (4.0 in) | 6.3 cm (2.5 in) | 4th | 0th |
| Largest model offered | 21.6 cm (8.5 in) | 17.8 cm (7.0 in) | 100th | 100th |
How the study worked
75 women aged 18 to 65 (average 24.7) were recruited by flyers around a California university campus, its neighbourhood and doctors’ offices, and paid $20. In a private room each picked from 33 erect models, 3D-printed in blue plastic as a cylinder with a dome on top. The models ran from 4.0 to 8.5 inches long (10.2 to 21.6 cm) and 2.5 to 7.0 inches around (6.4 to 17.7 cm), in half-inch steps, and were labelled with random letters rather than sizes, so the biggest and smallest didn’t act as anchors.
First each woman handled a model for about 30 seconds and found its match among the 33, straight away and again after ten minutes, to test how well they remember size. Most picked exactly the right model at once; after the delay they recalled length slightly short and girth almost exactly.
Then they picked a size for a long-term partner (“a husband or serious, long-term boyfriend”) and for a one-time partner, an attractive, kind man in town for one night. 15 women answered “No answer”, so the picks are the averages of the other 60. The difference between the two partners was small, and only girth differed when length and girth were tested separately.
- The 60 women who answered picked 16.0 cm (6.3 in) long and 12.2 cm (4.8 in) around for a long-term partner, and 16.3 cm (6.4 in) by 12.7 cm (5.0 in) for a one-time partner. Source: Prause et al., Women’s preferences for penis size: a new research method using selection among 3D models (PLoS ONE, 2015).
- Clinicians measuring 15,521 men found an average erect length of 13.12 cm and girth of 11.66 cm, the 50th percentiles the calculator uses. Source: Veale et al., Am I normal? Nomograms for flaccid and erect penis length and circumference in up to 15,521 men (BJU International, 2015).
What the study can’t tell you
The models were rigid, odourless, blue plastic of a simple shape, with no body attached, held in the hand rather than met in a relationship. Answers were self-reported in a lab, and the sample was small and drawn largely from near one college campus: 15 of the women had never had intercourse, although whether they had made no difference to their picks.
An average pick says nothing about any one woman, and a fifth of the women gave no preference at all. Nothing in the study speaks to what a particular partner will like, and no study has tied a woman’s body type to the size she prefers.
For men worried about their size, the useful finding may be the gap the authors describe from earlier research: men tend to think women want a longer penis than women themselves say. If worry about size is affecting your life, a doctor, urologist or sex therapist can help, and it is a common thing to bring up.
For where your own measurements sit among men, not what one group of women picked, the penis size calculator has the full percentile curves, grower or shower, condom fit and a printable report.
Sources
Frequently Asked Questions
What penis size do women prefer?
In the one study where women held and chose among 3D-printed models (Prause et al., PLoS ONE, 2015), the 60 women who answered picked, on average, 16.0 cm (6.3 in) long and 12.2 cm (4.8 in) around for a long-term partner, and 16.3 cm (6.4 in) long and 12.7 cm (5.0 in) around for a one-time partner. 15 of the 75 women chose not to answer at all. It is one small study, with plastic shapes rather than bodies, so treat it as a rough guide to what people say, not a rule.
Do women care more about length or girth?
In this study the picks for a one-time partner were larger in both, but when the authors tested length and girth one at a time, only girth differed between a one-time and a long-term partner. Women also remembered the models’ girth almost exactly, while they recalled length about 0.46 cm (0.18 in) shorter than it was. The authors suggest girth may get more attention, but that is their reading of one study, not a settled finding.
Is there a perfect size for a woman’s body type?
No study has shown one. Prause et al. note that vaginal depth and pelvic muscle tone have been measured, but have never been related to the size a woman prefers. Pages that promise a “perfect size for her body type” are guessing. What partners say they like varies from person to person, and the best guide is the person you’re with.
Is the size women picked bigger than average?
Yes for length, about the same for girth. The study centred its models on an average of 15.2 cm (6 in) by 12.7 cm (5 in), and against that the picks were only slightly larger. Clinicians measuring 15,521 men found a lower average erect length, 13.1 cm, and on that curve the long-term length pick is past the 95th percentile, while its girth is around the 69th. So most men are shorter than the length these women picked, which is worth knowing before comparing yourself with it.
Why might women pick a larger size for a one-time partner?
The authors offer two ideas, both untested in the study: that a one-night partner is more about novelty and physical sensation, and that comfort matters more with a partner you have sex with regularly. They also found the size women picked as most likely to carry an infection was larger still, from the 16 women who answered that question.