A U.S. driver’s license measures 85.60 millimeters long by 53.98 millimeters wide by 0.76 millimeters thick, which works out to 3.370 by 2.125 by 0.030 inches. Those are the same driver’s license dimensions used for credit cards, debit cards, and most health insurance cards, because all of them are built to the same international sizing standard.1ISO/IEC. ISO/IEC 7810 – Identification Cards – Physical Characteristics
The Exact Measurements
The nominal figures are the numbers to remember, but the specification allows some room on either side. A new, unused card is permitted to fall anywhere between 85.47 mm and 85.72 mm in length, and between 53.92 mm and 54.03 mm in width. Thickness can run from 0.68 mm to 0.84 mm.1ISO/IEC. ISO/IEC 7810 – Identification Cards – Physical Characteristics
Once the card has been personalized with your photo and information and carried around for a while, the length tolerance opens up a little more, to 85.37 mm at the low end and 85.90 mm at the high end. That extra window accounts for the minor warping and shrinkage a card picks up over years in a back pocket.1ISO/IEC. ISO/IEC 7810 – Identification Cards – Physical Characteristics
The corners are rounded to a radius somewhere between 2.88 mm and 3.48 mm. That curve is part of the specification, not a stylistic choice, and it keeps the corners from snagging on wallet linings or jamming inside card readers.1ISO/IEC. ISO/IEC 7810 – Identification Cards – Physical Characteristics
Why a License Is the Same Size as a Credit Card
The standard behind those numbers is ISO/IEC 7810 ID-1, published by the International Organization for Standardization. ID-1 is the format used for financial cards, government identification, and most other wallet-sized cards worldwide, which is why your license slips into any slot or reader built for a payment card.
You may also hear the format called CR-80. That name is trade shorthand used in the printing and badge industry for credit-card-sized stock. It refers to the same physical footprint as ID-1, but it is not an official ISO designation.
How Thick and How Heavy
At the standard 0.76 mm thickness, a driver’s license weighs about 4 to 5 grams. That’s lighter than two U.S. pennies, and thinner than a dime.
What the card is made of affects how it feels at that thickness. Most modern U.S. licenses are made from polycarbonate, a dense thermoplastic that resists bending, scratching, and temperature swings, and that allows the photo and personal data to be laser-engraved into the body of the card rather than printed on the surface. Some states still issue PVC (polyvinyl chloride) cards, the same plastic used for most bank cards. Both materials are cut to the ID-1 dimensions, so the size in your wallet is identical either way.
What Fits on the Card at That Size
The 85.60 by 53.98 mm footprint has to hold quite a bit. The American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators sets a card design standard that assigns every element to a defined zone on the front, with your portrait on the left, your personal data next to it, and codes and explanations arranged in fixed positions. States choose their own colors and background art, but the layout stays consistent so that anyone checking a license from another state can find the date of birth or expiration date in the expected place.2AAMVA. 2025 AAMVA DL/ID Card Design Standard
The back of the card is dominated by a PDF417 two-dimensional barcode, which encodes your name, address, date of birth, and license number for electronic scanning. The barcode is allowed to run up to 75.57 mm wide (about 2.975 inches) and 38.1 mm tall (1.5 inches). On a card only 85.60 mm wide, that means the barcode can stretch across nearly the full width of the back.3AAMVA. Mandatory PDF417 Bar Code Technical Requirements
REAL ID Cards Are the Same Size
A REAL ID-compliant license carries a gold star or similar marker on the front and meets extra federal requirements for the data it contains and the documents used to issue it. The physical dimensions do not change. A REAL ID is still an ID-1 card at 85.60 by 53.98 by 0.76 mm, and it fits the same wallet slots and readers as any other license.4GovInfo. 49 USC 30301 Note – REAL ID Act of 2005
A Note on Mobile Driver’s Licenses
If you’re comparing sizes because you’re deciding between a physical card and a digital one, a mobile driver’s license has no physical dimensions of its own. It lives on your phone under the ISO/IEC 18013-5 standard, and its footprint is whatever your device is.5ISO. ISO/IEC 18013-5:2021 – Personal Identification Even in the states that issue them, TSA still recommends carrying the physical card as a backup, and that card will be the standard 85.60 by 53.98 mm regardless of what’s on your phone.