Since 1857, the American wire gauge (AWG), also known as the Brown & Sharpe wire gauge, has been predominantly used in the United States to determine the current-carrying capacity for round, solid, nonferrous, electrically conducting wire by using the cross-sectional area as a important determining factor.
This AWG table is for single, solid, round conductors. Stranded wire's cross-sectional area of the total conductors is used to determine the AWG, which in turn determines the electrical resistance and current-carrying capacity. Stranded wire, when compared to solid wire, will always have a larger overall diameter due to small gaps between strands.
Category 5, Category 6 network cable and many other cables will commonly have the specification printed on the jacket. Cat5e network cable in commonly 24 AWG while Serial ATA cables are normally 26 AWG.
This table is based on plastic insulation and does not take skin effect into account. The diameter information, allowable current (ampacity) and resistance of various gauges wires applies to solid wires while assuming DC/AC frequencies at 60 Hz or less.
| AWG | Diameter | Turns of Wire | Copper Resistance (Ω/kFT) | Copper Resistance (Ω/km) | NEC Copper Wire Ampacity with 60/75/90°C insulation (A) | Approximate Stranded Metric Equivalents |
| 0000 (4/0) | 11.684 mm 0.46 inch |
0.856 per cm 2.17 per inch |
0.04901 | 0.1608 | 195 / 230 / 260 | |
| 000 (3/0) | 10.404 mm 0.4096 inch |
0.961 per cm 2.44 per inch |
0.0618 | 0.2028 | 165 / 200 / 225 | |
| 00 (2/0) | 9.266 mm 0.3648 inch |
1.08 per cm 2.74 per inch |
0.07793 | 0.2557 | 145 / 175 / 195 | |
| 0 (1/0) | 8.252 mm 0.3249 inch |
1.21 per cm 3.08 per inch |
0.09827 | 0.3224 | 125 / 150 / 170 | |
| 1 | 7.348 mm 0.2893 inch |
1.36 per cm 3.46 per inch |
0.1239 | 0.4066 | 110 / 130 / 150 | |
| 2 | 6.544 mm 0.2576 inch |
1.53 per cm 3.88 per inch |
0.1563 | 0.5127 | 95 / 115 / 130 | |
| 3 | 5.827 mm 0.2294 inch |
1.72 per cm 4.36 per inch |
0.197 | 0.6465 | 85 / 100 / 110 | 196/0.4 |
| 4 | 5.189 mm 0.2043 inch |
1.93 per cm 4.89 per inch |
0.2485 | 0.8152 | 70 / 85 / 95 | |
| 5 | 4.621 mm 0.1819 inch |
2.16 per cm 5.5 per inch |
0.3133 | 1.028 | 126/0.4 | |
| 6 | 4.115 mm 0.162 inch |
2.43 per cm 6.17 per inch |
0.3951 | 1.296 | 55 / 65 / 75 | |
| 7 | 3.665 mm 0.1443 inch |
2.73 per cm 6.93 per inch |
0.4982 | 1.634 | 80/0.4 | |
| 8 | 3.264 mm 0.1285 inch |
3.06 per cm 7.78 per inch |
0.6282 | 2.061 | 40 / 50 / 55 | |
| 9 | 2.906 mm 0.1144 inch |
3.44 per cm 8.74 per inch |
0.7921 | 2.599 | 84/0.3 | |
| 10 | 2.588 mm 0.1019 inch |
3.86 per cm 9.81 per inch |
0.9989 | 3.277 | 30 / 35 / 40 | |
| 11 | 2.305 mm 0.0907 inch |
4.34 per cm 11 per inch |
1.26 | 4.132 | 56/0.3 | |
| 12 | 2.053 mm 0.0808 inch |
4.87 per cm 12.4 per inch |
1.588 | 5.211 | 25 / 25 / 30 (20) | |
| 13 | 1.828 mm 0.072 inch |
5.47 per cm 13.9 per inch |
2.003 | 6.571 | 50/0.25 | |
| 14 | 1.628 mm 0.0641 inch |
6.14 per cm 15.6 per inch |
2.525 | 8.286 | 20 / 20 / 25 (15) | |
| 15 | 1.45 mm 0.0571 inch |
6.9 per cm 17.5 per inch |
3.184 | 10.45 | 30/0.25 | |
| 16 | 1.291 mm 0.0508 inch |
7.75 per cm 19.7 per inch |
4.016 | 13.17 | -- / -- / 18 (10) | |
| 17 | 1.15 mm 0.0453 inch |
8.7 per cm 22.1 per inch |
5.064 | 16.61 | 32/0.2 | |
| 18 | 1.024 mm 0.0403 inch |
9.77 per cm 24.8 per inch |
6.385 | 20.95 | -- / -- / 14 (7) | 24/0.2 |
| 19 | 0.912 mm 0.0359 inch |
11 per cm 27.9 per inch |
8.051 | 26.42 | ||
| 20 | 0.812 mm 0.032 inch |
12.3 per cm 31.3 per inch |
10.15 | 33.31 | 16/0.2 | |
| 21 | 0.723 mm 0.0285 inch |
13.8 per cm 35.1 per inch |
12.8 | 42 | ||
| 22 | 0.644 mm 0.0253 inch |
15.5 per cm 39.5 per inch |
16.14 | 52.96 | 7/0.25 | |
| 23 | 0.573 mm 0.0226 inch |
17.4 per cm 44.3 per inch |
20.36 | 66.79 | ||
| 24 | 0.511 mm 0.0201 inch |
19.6 per cm 49.7 per inch |
25.67 | 84.22 | 1/0.5, 7/0.2, 30/0.1 | |
| 25 | 0.455 mm 0.0179 inch |
22 per cm 55.9 per inch |
32.37 | 106.2 | ||
| 26 | 0.405 mm 0.0159 inch |
24.7 per cm 62.7 per inch |
40.81 | 133.9 | 7/0.15 | |
| 27 | 0.361 mm 0.0142 inch |
27.7 per cm 70.4 per inch |
51.47 | 168.9 | ||
| 28 | 0.321 mm 0.0126 inch |
31.1 per cm 79.1 per inch |
64.9 | 212.9 | ||
| 29 | 0.286 mm 0.0113 inch |
35 per cm 88.8 per inch |
81.84 | 268.5 | ||
| 30 | 0.255 mm 0.01 inch |
39.3 per cm 99.7 per inch |
103.2 | 338.6 | 1/0.25, 7/0.1 | |
| 31 | 0.227 mm 0.00893 inch |
44.1 per cm 112 per inch |
130.1 | 426.9 | ||
| 32 | 0.202 mm 0.00795 inch |
49.5 per cm 126 per inch |
164.1 | 538.3 | 1/0.2, 7/0.08 | |
| 33 | 0.18 mm 0.00708 inch |
55.6 per cm 141 per inch |
206.9 | 678.8 | ||
| 34 | 0.16 mm 0.0063 inch |
62.4 per cm 159 per inch |
260.9 | 856 | ||
| 35 | 0.143 mm 0.00561 inch |
70.1 per cm 178 per inch |
329 | 1079 | ||
| 36 | 0.127 mm 0.005 inch |
78.7 per cm 200 per inch |
414.8 | 1361 | ||
| 37 | 0.113 mm 0.00445 inch |
88.4 per cm 225 per inch |
523.1 | 1716 | ||
| 38 | 0.101 mm 0.00397 inch |
99.3 per cm 252 per inch |
659.6 | 2164 | ||
| 39 | 0.0897 mm 0.00353 inch |
111 per cm 283 per inch |
831.8 | 2729 | ||
| 40 | 0.0799 mm 0.00314 inch |
125 per cm 318 per inch |
1049 | 3441 |