Yes, in most states your driver’s permit does show your weight, printed on the front of the card next to your height and eye color. Around 40 states include it. The rest leave it off. Either way, the figure is a number you wrote on the application yourself, and no one at the DMV verified it.
Why Some States Print It and Others Don’t
Federal law sets a floor for what a permit or license has to display, and weight isn’t on that list. Under the REAL ID Act, a compliant card must show your full legal name, date of birth, sex, a unique card number, your photo, address, signature, issue and expiration dates, and physical security features.1eCFR. 6 CFR 37.17 – Requirements for the Surface of the Driver’s License or Identification Card Height, eye color, hair color, and weight are all absent from the federal requirements.
States add those descriptors on their own. The American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators, which publishes the technical standards most states follow for card design, treats weight as an optional data element. A state can print it on the front, tuck it into the barcode on the back, or skip it entirely.2AAMVA. AAMVA DL/ID Card Design Standard 2020 States that omit weight generally consider it too variable to be a useful identifier on a card that stays valid for four to eight years.
The easiest way to find out what your state does is to look at your own card, or check your state DMV’s website.
The Number Is Self-Reported
When the permit application asks for your weight, you fill in a number. That’s it. DMV offices don’t put applicants on a scale, and no one is checking against medical records. The figure exists to give law enforcement a rough physical description, not to serve as a health measurement. Studies comparing self-reported license data to clinical measurements have found people routinely underreport by several pounds, and DMVs know that.
There are no specific penalties for a weight that’s off by 10 or 20 pounds. A wildly inaccurate figure (say, 130 pounds when you weigh 250) could in theory count as false information on a government document, but prosecutions for that sort of thing are essentially unheard of. A reasonable estimate is all anyone is looking for.
How to Update the Weight on Your Permit
If the number on your card is far enough off that it bothers you, or you want it accurate before renewal, you can change it. Most states require an in-person DMV visit to update physical descriptors, because the change produces a new card. Some states fold minor corrections into online renewal, but many don’t. Your state DMV site will say which applies.
The update usually rides along with a renewal or a duplicate card request, and the fee is whatever the state charges for that transaction. You won’t need documentation. You tell the clerk the new number, and they update the record.
The Other Physical Descriptors on the Card
Weight sits alongside a short list of other physical descriptors, and they behave differently from each other.
Height appears on permits in nearly every state and is the most universal descriptor after the photo itself. Once you’re an adult it barely changes, which makes it a more stable identifier than weight. Eye color is another near-universal inclusion, printed with standard abbreviations like BRO, BLU, GRN, and HAZ. Some states also print hair color, though its usefulness fades quickly given how often hair changes.
Sex is the one physical descriptor that federal law does require on the card. REAL ID regulations say every compliant license or permit must display sex “as determined by the State,” which leaves states some room in how they handle the designation.1eCFR. 6 CFR 37.17 – Requirements for the Surface of the Driver’s License or Identification Card As of early 2025, federal policy under Executive Order 14168 limits federal documents like passports to M or F markers reflecting biological sex at birth, though state driver’s license policies vary.3Travel.State.Gov. Sex Marker in Passports
So: if your permit shows a weight, treat it as a rough descriptor rather than a record. Put down a sensible number when you apply, and update it at renewal if it has drifted well past the truth.