For most resumes, set body text to 1.0 to 1.15 line spacing, use one-inch margins, and leave a clear gap between each section.
That balance keeps your resume easy to scan and simple for hiring software to read.
Resume.io treats spacing as part of readability rather than decoration, and this guide covers every setting, from line spacing to the gaps between sections.
What spacing should a resume have?
A resume should use 1.0 to 1.15 line spacing for body text, one-inch margins on all sides, and a clear, even gap between each section.
Keep every setting matched from top to bottom because that evenness is what makes a page read as tidy rather than thrown together.
| Element | Recommended setting |
|---|---|
| Body line spacing | 1.0 to 1.15 |
| Margins | 1 inch (0.75 inch if space is tight) |
| Body font size | 10 to 12 pt |
| Section heading size | 13 to 16 pt |
| Name | 18 to 24 pt |
These settings serve one goal, which is fast reading.
Recruiters move quickly, and 24% of hiring managers spend fewer than 30 seconds reviewing a resume (Resume.io, Resume Statistics, 2025), so the eye needs clear lanes to follow.
Even, predictable spacing gives the reader those lanes and helps the strongest parts of your resume rise to the top of that first pass.
Spacing is a small part of writing a resume, yet it is the part a reader takes in before a single word.
How much white space should a resume have?
A resume needs enough white space to separate sections, roles, and bullets at a glance, without large empty gaps that make the page look thin.
Aim for clear boundaries between blocks of text and tighter spacing within them.
White space builds hierarchy on a resume, so use it to guide the eye rather than to fill or stretch the page.
White space is easy to get wrong in both directions so it helps to know which lever to pull first.
When the page runs long, tighten in this order:
- Cut low-value bullets and repeated detail
- Shorten wordy bullets to a single line
- Reduce the gap between bullets before anything else
- Trim margins from one inch toward 0.75 inch, treating 0.5 inch as the floor
- Ease line spacing toward 1.0
When the page looks sparse, add substance before adding space:
- Expand your strongest results with numbers
- Add relevant skills or certifications
- Rebuild thin bullets around action, task, and result.
Wide margins and oversized headings mostly signal a stretched page, so treat fitting a resume to one page as a content decision before a spacing one.
Should you space each resume section?
Space each part of a resume so the reader can tell where one block ends and the next begins.
Put a little more room above section headings than inside them, keep bullets tight within a role, and give each job a single clear break before the next.
The pattern should repeat the same way down the page but how you space sections depends partly on your resume format, since a single-column layout leaves less to juggle than a two-column one.
| Section | Spacing guidance |
|---|---|
| Contact header | Group onto one or two lines, then a full gap before the first section |
| Section headings | 6 to 12 pt above, less below, so the heading sits with its content |
| Bullets within a role | 0 to 4 pt between bullets, kept tight |
| Between roles | One blank line, larger than the bullet gap |
| Dates | On the same line as the role where possible, in one format |
The exact points matter less than repeating them.
When the gap above every heading matches, and every role breaks the same way, a reader stops noticing the layout and starts reading the content, which is the whole point.
Uneven spacing does the reverse, since the eye keeps catching on the parts that do not line up.
How do you set resume spacing in Word and Google Docs?
You set resume spacing in Word and Google Docs through paragraph settings rather than by pressing Enter repeatedly.
Both let you control line spacing and the room before and after each paragraph, which is how you build gaps that keep their shape when someone opens the file elsewhere or software parses it.
In Microsoft Word:
- Select the text, then open the Line and Paragraph Spacing menu on the Home tab.
- Set line spacing to 1.0 or 1.15.
- Choose Line Spacing Options to set exact points before and after paragraphs for section gaps.
In Google Docs:
- Select the text, then open Format, then Line & paragraph spacing.
- Set line spacing to 1.0 or 1.15.
- Use Add space before paragraph and Add space after paragraph for section gaps.
Building gaps this way, rather than stacking blank lines, keeps the spacing even and steady.
Starting from a resume template with spacing already built in saves the manual work, and the same controls let you adjust any template to taste.
Export the finished file as a PDF so the spacing you set is the spacing the recruiter sees.
Does resume spacing affect ATS parsing?
Resume spacing has little direct effect on ATS parsing.
An applicant tracking system reads standard line spacing of 1.0 to 1.15 and normal margins without trouble, and tight spacing on its own does not cause a resume to fail a scan.
The formatting that breaks parsing is structural, and it has little to do with the space between your lines.
The elements that trip up an applicant tracking system are:
- Tables and multiple columns
- Text boxes and graphics
- Logos and images
- Important detail placed in the header or footer
CareerOneStop, the career resource sponsored by the US Department of Labor, gives the same guidance: keep spacing clean and uniform, and avoid tables, columns, and graphics that scanners cannot read.
Keeping a resume ATS-friendly is mostly about structure, so a single column, real text, and standard section headings do more for your scan than any spacing figure.
Set even spacing, confirm the file reads cleanly after export, and the layout will carry your content through the scan intact.
Key takeaways
- Use 1.0 to 1.15 line spacing for body text, moving to 1.15 for tighter serif fonts.
- Keep one-inch margins where you can, and do not drop below 0.5 inch to fit more content.
- Give section headings more room above than below, and keep bullets within a role tight.
- Fix a long resume by cutting content first, then spacing, rather than shrinking everything at once.
- Build section gaps with paragraph spacing settings rather than repeated blank lines, so the layout holds when the file moves between programs.
If you would rather not adjust these settings by hand, an online resume builder applies even spacing across the whole document for you.
Frequently asked questions
A few questions about resume spacing come up again and again.
Is 1.5 line spacing ok for a resume?
No, 1.5 spacing is usually too wide for a resume. It pushes text apart, can force a one-page resume onto a second page, and reads as an attempt to fill space.
Add room between sections instead of stretching the lines.
Is white space on a resume bad?
No, white space helps when it is balanced. Clear gaps between sections and roles make a resume easier to skim, while too little turns the page into a wall of text.
The only real problem is large, unexplained empty areas that suggest thin experience.
Does line spacing affect ATS scanning?
No, standard line spacing does not stop an ATS from reading a resume.
Applicant tracking systems struggle with tables, columns, and graphics far more than with the space between lines.
Keep a single-column layout with 1.0 to 1.15 spacing and the text parses cleanly.
