How thick is 16 gauge steel in mm?

16 gauge steel sheet is 1.518 mm (0.0598 in) on the Manufacturers' Standard Gauge. The same gauge number in aluminium or on the U.S. Standard Gauge is a different thickness — the chart on this page has all four side by side.

What gauge is 1 mm sheet metal?

1 mm is closest to 19 gauge steel (1.063 mm), 20 gauge galvanized (1.006 mm), 18 gauge aluminium (1.024 mm), 20 gauge us standard (0.953 mm). Gauge sizes are fixed points in a series, so a round metric thickness almost never lands exactly on one.

Why does one gauge number mean four different thicknesses?

Because there are four systems in the chart, not one. Steel uses the Manufacturers' Standard Gauge; galvanised is that thickness plus a zinc-coating allowance; aluminium and other non-ferrous sheet use the Brown & Sharpe geometric series; and the U.S. Standard Gauge is the 1893 statute, based on the weight of wrought iron rather than on thickness at all.

Does this chart cover stainless steel gauge?

No, and that is deliberate. The stainless convention is genuinely ambiguous — 16 gauge is published as 0.0595 in and as 0.0625 in — and only one source was in hand. This reference ships a number when two independent sources agree, so stainless is absent rather than guessed.

Chart · sheet metal gauge

Sheet Metal Gauge Chart — Gauge to Thickness, and Back

https://shopmath.org/charts/sheet-metal-gauge · data verified August 1, 2026

16 gauge steel is 0.0598 in (1.518 mm). 45 gauge numbers across 4 material systems in one table, in both units, plus the reverse lookup from millimetres to the nearest gauge. Gauge is a position in a material-specific series, so the material is part of the answer.

Gauge numbers: 45
Values: 136
Materials: 4
Verified: August 1, 2026

Most looked-up row · 16 gauge steel · nominal thickness

0.0598 in

Millimetre: 1.518mm
Weight: 2.50lb/ft²

Manufacturers’ Standard Gauge, nominal. Full 16 gauge steel page →

Sheet Metal Gauge to Thickness, Every Material

One row per gauge number, one column pair per material, in inches and millimetres. Every inch figure links to that gauge's page.

Sheet metal gauge thickness for steel, galvanised, aluminium and U.S. Standard, in inches and millimetres
Property	Sheet Steel		Galvanized Steel		Sheet Aluminium		U.S. Standard Gauge
Gauge	in	mm	in	mm	in	mm	in	mm
0000000 ga	—	—	—	—	—	—	0.5000	12.700
000000 ga	—	—	—	—	—	—	0.4688	11.908
00000 ga	—	—	—	—	—	—	0.4375	11.112
0000 ga	—	—	—	—	—	—	0.4063	10.320
000 ga	—	—	—	—	—	—	0.3750	9.525
00 ga	—	—	—	—	—	—	0.3438	8.733
0 ga	—	—	—	—	—	—	0.3125	7.938
1 ga	—	—	—	—	—	—	0.2813	7.145
2 ga	—	—	—	—	—	—	0.2656	6.746
3 ga	0.2391	6.073	—	—	0.2294	5.827	0.2500	6.350
4 ga	0.2242	5.695	—	—	0.2043	5.189	0.2344	5.954
5 ga	0.2092	5.314	—	—	0.1819	4.620	0.2188	5.558
6 ga	0.1943	4.935	—	—	0.1620	4.115	0.2031	5.159
7 ga	0.1793	4.554	—	—	0.1443	3.665	0.1875	4.762
8 ga	0.1644	4.176	—	—	0.1285	3.264	0.1719	4.366
9 ga	0.1495	3.797	0.1532	3.891	0.1144	2.906	0.1563	3.970
10 ga	0.1345	3.416	0.1382	3.510	0.1019	2.588	0.1406	3.571
11 ga	0.1196	3.038	0.1233	3.132	0.0907	2.304	0.1250	3.175
12 ga	0.1046	2.657	0.1084	2.753	0.0808	2.052	0.1094	2.779
13 ga	0.0897	2.278	0.0934	2.372	0.0720	1.829	0.0938	2.383
14 ga	0.0747	1.897	0.0785	1.994	0.0641	1.628	0.0781	1.984
15 ga	0.0673	1.709	0.0710	1.803	0.0571	1.450	0.0703	1.786
16 ga	0.0598	1.519	0.0635	1.613	0.0508	1.290	0.0625	1.587
17 ga	0.0538	1.367	0.0575	1.460	0.0453	1.151	0.0563	1.430
18 ga	0.0478	1.214	0.0516	1.311	0.0403	1.024	0.0500	1.270
19 ga	0.0418	1.062	0.0456	1.158	0.0359	0.912	0.0438	1.113
20 ga	0.0359	0.912	0.0396	1.006	0.0320	0.813	0.0375	0.952
21 ga	0.0329	0.836	0.0366	0.930	0.0285	0.724	0.0344	0.874
22 ga	0.0299	0.759	0.0336	0.853	0.0253	0.643	0.0313	0.795
23 ga	0.0269	0.683	0.0306	0.777	0.0226	0.574	0.0281	0.714
24 ga	0.0239	0.607	0.0276	0.701	0.0201	0.511	0.0250	0.635
25 ga	0.0209	0.531	0.0247	0.627	0.0179	0.455	0.0219	0.556
26 ga	0.0179	0.455	0.0217	0.551	0.0159	0.404	0.0188	0.478
27 ga	0.0164	0.417	0.0202	0.513	0.0142	0.361	0.0172	0.437
28 ga	0.0149	0.378	0.0187	0.475	0.0126	0.320	0.0156	0.396
29 ga	0.0135	0.343	0.0172	0.437	0.0113	0.287	0.0141	0.358
30 ga	0.0120	0.305	0.0157	0.399	0.0100	0.254	0.0125	0.318
31 ga	0.0105	0.267	0.0142	0.361	0.0089	0.226	0.0109	0.277
32 ga	0.0097	0.246	0.0135	0.343	0.0080	0.203	0.0102	0.259
33 ga	0.0090	0.229	—	—	0.0071	0.180	0.0094	0.239
34 ga	0.0082	0.208	—	—	0.0063	0.160	0.0086	0.218
35 ga	0.0075	0.190	—	—	0.0056	0.142	0.0078	0.198
36 ga	0.0067	0.170	—	—	—	—	0.0070	0.178
37 ga	—	—	—	—	—	—	0.0066	0.168
38 ga	—	—	—	—	—	—	0.0063	0.160

A blank cell means that gauge number is not defined for that material's system — not that the thickness is unknown. Thicknesses are nominal, before mill tolerance. Millimetre values are the exact inch equivalents (1 in = 25.4 mm).

Millimetres Back to the Nearest Sheet Metal Gauge

Working from metric stock: the closest gauge in each material, with the thickness it actually is. A round metric number rarely lands on a gauge exactly, so the actual column is the one that matters.

Nearest sheet metal gauge for common metric thicknesses, by material
Property	Sheet Steel		Galvanized Steel		Sheet Aluminium		U.S. Standard Gauge
Thickness	Nearest ga	Actual mm	Nearest ga	Actual mm	Nearest ga	Actual mm	Nearest ga	Actual mm
0.50 mm	25	0.531	27	0.512	24	0.511	26	0.476
0.60 mm	24	0.607	25	0.626	23	0.573	24	0.635
0.80 mm	21	0.835	23	0.778	20	0.812	22	0.794
1.00 mm	19	1.063	20	1.006	18	1.024	20	0.953
1.20 mm	18	1.215	19	1.158	17	1.149	18	1.270
1.50 mm	16	1.518	17	1.462	15	1.450	17	1.429
2.00 mm	14	1.898	14	1.993	12	2.053	14	1.984
2.50 mm	12	2.657	13	2.373	10	2.588	13	2.381
3.00 mm	11	3.037	11	3.132	9	2.906	11	3.175
4.00 mm	8	4.176	9	3.891	6	4.115	9	3.969
5.00 mm	6	4.935	9	3.891	4	5.189	6	5.159
6.00 mm	3	6.074	9	3.891	3	5.827	4	5.953

Nearest by absolute difference, in either direction — this is not a next-size-up rule. Check the actual thickness before substituting gauge stock for a metric callout.

Common Questions About Sheet Metal Gauge Thickness

How thick is 16 gauge steel in mm?: 16 gauge steel sheet is 1.518 mm (0.0598 in) on the Manufacturers' Standard Gauge. The same gauge number in aluminium or on the U.S. Standard Gauge is a different thickness — the chart on this page has all four side by side.
What gauge is 1 mm sheet metal?: 1 mm is closest to 19 gauge steel (1.063 mm), 20 gauge galvanized (1.006 mm), 18 gauge aluminium (1.024 mm), 20 gauge us standard (0.953 mm). Gauge sizes are fixed points in a series, so a round metric thickness almost never lands exactly on one.
Why does one gauge number mean four different thicknesses?: Because there are four systems in the chart, not one. Steel uses the Manufacturers' Standard Gauge; galvanised is that thickness plus a zinc-coating allowance; aluminium and other non-ferrous sheet use the Brown & Sharpe geometric series; and the U.S. Standard Gauge is the 1893 statute, based on the weight of wrought iron rather than on thickness at all.
Does this chart cover stainless steel gauge?: No, and that is deliberate. The stainless convention is genuinely ambiguous — 16 gauge is published as 0.0595 in and as 0.0625 in — and only one source was in hand. This reference ships a number when two independent sources agree, so stainless is absent rather than guessed.

Sources and Method for This Sheet Metal Gauge Chart

Sheet-metal gauge thicknesses — steel, galvanized, aluminium, US Standardcomputed

15 U.S.C. 206 statutory weights (public domain); MSG, galvanized and Brown & Sharpe formulas

Verified against gauges: 137 checks passed across 1 harness(es)

Computed from the standard's formulas, then checked against published tables.

Formula

U.S. Standard Gauge (15 U.S.C. 206)

thickness (in)  =  weight (lb/ft²) ÷ 40

The 1893 statute defines the gauge by weight of wrought iron per square foot, not by thickness — the thickness column is that statutory weight converted.

Manufacturers' Standard Gauge, steel

thickness (in)  =  weight (lb/ft²) ÷ 41.82

Brown & Sharpe, aluminium and non-ferrous

thickness (in)  =  0.325 × (92 ^ ((36 − n) ÷ 39))

Assumptions

Thicknesses are nominal. Mill tolerance is not part of any gauge definition and varies with width, process and material.
Galvanised thickness is the steel thickness plus the zinc-coating allowance, so it reads heavier than plain steel at the same gauge.
Stainless, zinc, copper, brass and tube wall are excluded — ambiguous or single-sourced conventions.
Dataset scope: EXCLUDED: stainless steel (genuinely ambiguous convention, only one source in hand), zinc, copper, brass, steel tube wall.

Data last verified

August 1, 2026

How this data is built and checked →

How to Cite This Sheet Metal Gauge Chart

Citation

ShopMath. "Sheet Metal Gauge Chart — Gauge to Thickness, and Back." ShopMath, verified August 1, 2026, https://shopmath.org/charts/sheet-metal-gauge

BibTeX

@misc{shopmath-charts-sheet-metal-gauge,
  title        = {Sheet Metal Gauge Chart — Gauge to Thickness, and Back},
  author       = {{ShopMath}},
  year         = {2026},
  howpublished = {\url{https://shopmath.org/charts/sheet-metal-gauge}},
  note         = {Data verified 2026-08-01}
}

Permanent URL

https://shopmath.org/charts/sheet-metal-gauge

Every gauge system · Steel chart · Galvanized chart · Aluminium chart · US Standard chart