How tall is Joe Biden?

Joe Biden's measured height: what the physicals say

Unlike most public figures, Joe Biden has a height recorded in official medical reports, measured by a physician and released in writing. That makes him one of the best-documented people on this site. His long-time doctor, Dr. Kevin O'Connor, recorded his height in three separate public reports over four years:

This site uses 183 cm (6′0″), which rounds the measured value to the nearest centimeter. The 2019 report, which NPR reported on, gave a remarkably precise figure of 5 feet 11.65 inches. The November 2021 exam recorded the same 5′11.65″, according to CNN's report. The February 2024 memo, covered by the Associated Press, rounded it to 6 feet.

The rounding is worth understanding. 5′11.65″ is 182.5 cm, just 0.9 cm short of 6′0″. Rounding to the nearest inch gives 6′0″, the figure most reports used. Rounding to the nearest centimeter gives 182 or 183 cm. Both labels describe the same measurement.

Why a two-decimal height is unusual

Most celebrity heights are self-reported, taken from casting sheets, or estimated from photographs. A figure like 5′11.65″ is different. It is what a stadiometer reading looks like when it is recorded without rounding, the way clinics measure height in a physical exam.

That precision tells you something. A height reported to two decimal places of an inch was almost certainly measured, not claimed. It also means the reading was probably taken without shoes, as clinical measurements are. That is why Biden's figure is more comparable to scientific survey data than most celebrity listings. The CDC's national averages, for example, also come from barefoot measurements taken by trained examiners.

When reports switched to "6 feet," nothing about Biden's height had changed. Physical exam memos written for the public tend to round, and the 2024 memo followed that habit.

Who measured him, and why it matters

A measured height is only as consistent as the measurement process behind it, and Biden's record is unusually consistent. The same physician, Dr. Kevin O'Connor, signed every report in the table above.

NPR's report on the 2019 summary describes O'Connor as director of executive medicine at GW Medical Faculty Associates, a practice affiliated with the George Washington University School of Medicine. He had been Biden's primary care doctor during the vice presidency. CNN's coverage of the November 2021 exam noted that O'Connor had been with Biden since those years, and that the first physical of Biden's presidency took place at Walter Reed. The February 2024 exam, the Associated Press reported, was held at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, and lasted more than two and a half hours.

One examiner, recording the same patient over several years in clinical settings, is close to ideal for comparing heights over time. The two precise readings, in 2019 and 2021, match to the hundredth of an inch. The 2024 figure, rounded to 6 feet, is consistent with both. The public reports describe Biden as 77 in December 2019 and 81 in February 2024, and none of them recorded a change in his height over that span.

The weight readings moved a little: 178 lb in 2019, 184 lb in 2021 and back to 178 lb in 2024. NPR noted that the 2019 figure meant he was not considered overweight. This site reports these numbers only as recorded and draws no medical conclusions from them.

Joe Biden compared with other U.S. presidents

Biden is close to the middle of the range for modern presidents. This site's figures for a selection of presidents:

Two patterns stand out. First, Biden is shorter than most presidents elected since the 1960s. Kennedy, Johnson, Reagan, Clinton, Obama and Trump all stood taller. George W. Bush is essentially the same height, and Carter was shorter. Second, he towers over several early presidents. He is about 12 cm taller than the Adamses and about 20 cm taller than James Madison, the shortest president in this table.

Biden and Trump: the height gap across two elections

Biden's two presidential contests against Donald Trump put the pair side by side on debate stages in 2020 and 2024. Trump's 2019 physical, as reported by Scripps-owned WPTV, listed him at 6′3″ and 243 lb. This site uses 190.5 cm for Trump.

A gap of about 7.5 cm is easy to see next to each other but not dramatic. On a debate stage, podium height, camera angle and posture can make it look bigger or smaller. Comparisons between candidates often draw interest during elections, but Biden's 2020 win is a reminder that the taller candidate does not always prevail: on this site's figures he beat a man about three inches taller.

You can see the two side by side in the height difference calculator.

Obama and Biden: president and vice president

Biden served eight years as Barack Obama's vice president, and they appeared together constantly. Obama is listed on this site at 187 cm, about 4 cm (1½ inches) taller than Biden. In photographs of the two, the difference is visible at eye level but small. Both men are well above the average American.

When Biden became president, his vice president was Kamala Harris, listed on this site at 157 cm. That made their pairing a much bigger height contrast than the Obama–Biden partnership: about 26 cm, more than 10 inches.

Joe Biden compared with the average American man

At 182.5 to 183 cm, Biden is clearly taller than average, but not exceptionally so.

The CDC's most recent national survey, covering August 2021 to August 2023, puts the average American man aged 20 and over at 68.9 inches (175.0 cm). Biden is about 7.5 to 8 cm (3 inches) taller than that.

His own generation was shorter on average than today's adults. The NCD-RisC estimates on this site's United States average height page put American men born around 1926 at 174.7 cm and those born around 1956 at 177.2 cm. Biden, born in November 1942, belongs to a cohort between those points, with an average somewhere near 176 cm. Against his own generation he stands roughly 7 cm above the mean.

The cohort figures come from the NCD Risk Factor Collaboration's study of a century of height trends, published in eLife in 2016. They are estimates for birth cohorts, built from hundreds of population surveys, rather than a census of every man born in a given year. For a more exact percentile, enter 183 cm in the height percentile calculator.

Biden among world leaders of his presidency

Summits and state visits put presidents side by side with their foreign counterparts, and those photographs often prompt height comparisons. Here is Biden next to a selection of leaders who held office during part of his presidency, from January 2021 to January 2025, using this site's figures.

Among this group, only Canada's Trudeau stands taller than Biden on this site's figures. Most of the European leaders of the period are 10 to 16 cm shorter. One caution: unlike Biden's physician-measured figure, most of these heights come from public reference listings rather than medical exams, so treat differences of a couple of centimeters as uncertain. The broad picture is reliable, though. At a 2020s summit, Biden was usually one of the taller people in the room.

A century of American height, and where Biden fits

Biden's height looks different depending on which generation you compare him with, because the average American man changed so much over the 20th century. The NCD-RisC estimates used on this site trace that change by birth cohort:

The table shows the classic American height story. Men grew about 6 cm taller between the 1896 and 1956 cohorts as nutrition, sanitation and health care improved. Then the trend stalled. Men born in 1996 average almost exactly what men born in 1956 did. Biden, born in 1942, belongs to the generation that was still climbing.

The international comparison is just as revealing. In the same NCD-RisC data, the average Dutch man born around 1996 measures 182.5 cm, exactly Biden's measured 5′11.65″. Germany's 1996 cohort averages 179.9 cm, Ireland's 178.9 cm and Canada's 178.1 cm. A height that puts Biden well above the American average would make him an ordinary young man in the Netherlands, the tallest country in the dataset for men.

Reading Biden's height in context

Biden's height record is useful to anyone comparing heights, because it shows the difference between a measured value and a reported one. His 5′11.65″ is exact, barefoot and recorded by a physician. "6 feet" is the rounded public label. Celebrity height listings rarely make that distinction, which is why figures for actors, musicians and even athletes often differ by an inch or more from one source to the next.

If you compare Biden with other public figures on this site, remember that their numbers may be less precise. Trump's 6′3″, for example, appears without decimals, so it could be rounded either way. Washington's and Jefferson's heights come from historical records rather than modern medical exams. Biden's two-decimal reading is about as reliable as public height data gets. It entered the public record only because his campaign chose to release his medical summary during the 2019 primary race, as NPR reported at the time.

To compare Biden with presidents, vice presidents or anyone else, try the height difference calculator, or browse political figures and other public figures on the celebrities hub.