is a men's size US 13 big?

Yes. About 7.3% of men wear a men's size US 13 or bigger, roughly 1 in 14 men. In Australia that is about 710,000 men. A men's size US 10, by comparison, is worn by about 1 in 5.

If you wear a 13 or up, you know the other side of those numbers: fewer shoes come in your size. We track men's shoes in sizes US 14 to 17, so we wanted to know how rare those sizes really are. Nobody publishes the numbers for Australia, so we estimated them.

In this guide, you'll learn:

• where small, average and big start
• how rare a men's size US 13, 14 and 15 are
• how much choice shops give you at each size
• how to check your own size

where small, average and big start

There is no official line. This is one way to draw it, from our estimate of men's shoe sizes in Australia.

Most men, about 69%, wear a US 8 to 11. A men's size US 12 is already past the middle, and a 14 puts you in the top 2.2%.

how rare are men's sizes US 13, 14 and 15?

About 5.1% of men wear exactly a US 13, roughly 1 in 20. Add the bigger sizes and 7.3% wear a 13 or more. Put the other way, 93% of men wear a smaller size.

At a men's size US 14 the share drops to 1.7%, about 1 in 60. From US 15 up it is under 1% of men, around 1 in 200.

The 2021 Census counted 9.7 million men aged 18 and over in Australia. On that base, about 710,000 men wear a US 13 or bigger. About 160,000 wear exactly a US 14, and about 49,000 wear a US 15 or bigger.

The biggest sizes are the shakiest part of our estimate. The two methods behind it disagree most there. If the true average is nearer US 10.5, as some sites say, a 13 is a little less rare than shown. Read these as a guide, not a count. The full table shows the range for every size, and how we worked it out.

what about a US 9, 10 or 11?

Those are not big. A men's size US 9 (19%) and a US 10 (20%) are the two most common sizes, and a US 11 (16%) sits just above the middle. 18% of men wear something bigger than an 11. If you wear a 9, you are not small either: 28% of men wear a smaller size.

how much choice shops give you

Fewer men wear the big sizes, and shops list fewer shoes in them. On 18 October 2026 we counted every men's shoe in stock at 78 general online shops (74 of them Australian). We left out shops that specialise in big sizes. A "style" below means one size of one shoe in stock.

For every 2 styles shops list in a men's size US 10, they list about 1 in a US 13. For every 4 in a US 10 there is 1 in a US 14, for every 10 there is 1 in a US 15, and for every 40 there is 1 in a US 16.

Every shop has something in a US 14 (78 of 78). Choice thins out above that. At US 15, 62 of the 78 shops have something in stock. At US 16 it is 38, and at US 17 it is 23.

how to check your own size

Brands differ, so start with the brand's own size chart. For a quick check, a men's US size is about 3 times your foot length in inches, minus 22 (Wikipedia). Nike's chart lists 30.5 cm for a men's US 14, which matches it.

To measure, stand on a sheet of paper, mark your heel and your longest toe, and measure between the marks. Do both feet and use the longer one. A shoe is longer than the foot it holds, so your foot length is not your shoe size.