RebarCalc

Rebar Size Chart

Nominal diameter, cross-section area, and weight for every standard US bar size, #3 through #18, with the metric equivalents. Values are the ASTM A615 / A706 nominal dimensions.

US rebar sizes (ASTM A615 / A706 nominal dimensions)
Size Soft metric Diameter (in) Diameter (mm) Area (in²) Weight (lb/ft) Mass (kg/m)
#3#100.3759.50.110.3760.560
#4#130.50012.70.200.6680.994
#5#160.62515.90.311.0431.552
#6#190.75019.10.441.5022.235
#7#220.87522.20.602.0443.042
#8#251.00025.40.792.6703.973
#9#291.12828.71.003.4005.060
#10#321.27032.31.274.3036.404
#11#361.41035.81.565.3137.907
#14#431.69343.02.257.65011.38
#18#572.25757.34.0013.6020.24

Weight for a length of bar is length × weight per foot: a 20′ #5 is 20 × 1.043 = 20.9 lb. Multiply by the bar count for a bundle.

How to read a rebar size

The bar number is the nominal diameter in eighths of an inch. A #4 bar is 4⁄8 = ½″, a #5 is ⅝″, a #8 is a full inch. That rule holds through #8. The larger sizes are round bars with the same cross-section as the old square bars they replaced — #9, #10 and #11 match 1″, 1⅛″ and 1¼″ squares, #14 and #18 match 1½″ and 2″ squares — so their diameters are not clean eighths.

Every dimension here is nominal: the plain round bar that would weigh the same per foot. A real deformed bar measures slightly larger across its ribs. Weight and area are tied together by definition — nominal area is nominal weight divided by 3.40 lb/ft per square inch — which is why the areas in the table are rounded the way they are.

Soft-metric names

Since 1997, ASTM A615 bars have also carried a metric designation: the nominal diameter in millimetres, rounded. A #4 is a #13, a #5 is a #16. It is the same bar from the same mill — only the name changes. A drawing that calls for #13 bars wants #4s.

Canadian metric sizes

Canadian bars (CSA G30.18) are a genuinely different series, sized by cross-section area rather than diameter: 10M is 100 mm², 15M is 200 mm², and so on. 15M is close to a #5 but is not the same bar.

Canadian rebar sizes (CSA G30.18 nominal dimensions)
Size Diameter (mm) Area (mm²) Mass (kg/m) Weight (lb/ft) Nearest US size
10M11.31000.7850.527between #3 and #4
15M16.02001.5701.055#5
20M19.53002.3551.583#6
25M25.25003.9252.638#8
30M29.97005.4953.692#9
35M35.710007.8505.275#11

Which sizes show up where

#3 and #4 are the slab-on-grade sizes — driveways, patios, garage and shop floors, usually on 12″ to 18″ centres. #5 turns up in thicker slabs, footings, and foundation walls. #6 through #8 are beam, column, and structural-footing sizes. #9 and up are heavy structural bars that rarely move without a crane. The drawings govern; this is just what is usually on the truck.