How thick is 16 gauge steel?

16 gauge steel sheet is 0.0598 in thick, which is 1.518 mm, and weighs 2.50 lb/ft² on the Manufacturers' Standard Gauge.

Why is 16 gauge steel a different thickness from 16 gauge aluminium?

Because they are indexed on different systems: Aluminium 0.0508 in on the B&S, Galvanized 0.0635 in on the galvanized-MSG, Steel 0.0598 in on the MSG, US Standard 0.0625 in on the USG. A gauge number is a position in a series, not a thickness, so it means nothing without the material.

Is a higher gauge number thicker or thinner?

Thinner. The gauge systems count downward in thickness as the number rises, a hangover from wire drawing where the number recorded how many times the stock had been drawn. 10 gauge is heavy sheet; 26 gauge is roofing and ducting.

Is stainless steel gauge on this chart?

Not yet, and deliberately: the stainless convention is genuinely ambiguous — 16 gauge is quoted as 0.0595 in on some charts and 0.0625 in on others — and only one source was in hand. This reference ships a number when two independent sources agree, so stainless waits rather than shipping a guess.

Reference · sheet metal gauge

Sheet Metal Gauge Chart — Steel, Galvanised, Aluminium and U.S. Standard

https://shopmath.org/gauges · data verified August 1, 2026

16 gauge steel sheet is 0.0598 in (1.518 mm) thick — and 16 gauge aluminium is not. 136 gauge sizes across 4 material systems, each with thickness in inches and millimetres and weight where the system defines it. Gauge is an index into a material-specific series, never a unit of thickness.

Gauges: 136
Materials: 4
Verified: August 1, 2026

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

0.0598 in

Millimetre: 1.518mm
Galvanised 16 ga: 0.0635in
Aluminium 16 ga: 0.0508in

Three materials, one gauge number, three thicknesses. Full 16 gauge steel page →

Sheet Metal Gauge Systems by Material

Each material is indexed on its own gauge system. Pick a material for its full chart, or a gauge for its thickness, weight and cross-material comparison.

Sheet metal gauge systems and their coverage, by material
Material	Gauge system	Gauges	Thickest	Thinnest
Sheet Aluminium	B&S	33	3 ga (0.2294 in)	35 ga (0.0056 in)
Galvanized Steel	galvanized-MSG	24	9 ga (0.1532 in)	32 ga (0.0135 in)
Sheet Steel	MSG	34	3 ga (0.2391 in)	36 ga (0.0067 in)
U.S. Standard Gauge	USG	45	0000000 ga (0.5000 in)	38 ga (0.0063 in)

A material appears here only when it carries at least three verified gauges.

The Same Gauge Number Across Every Sheet Material

The gauge numbers shops order most, in every material, in both units. Every cell links to that gauge's page.

Thickness of the common sheet metal gauges across steel, galvanised, aluminium and U.S. Standard
Property	Sheet Aluminium		Galvanized Steel		Sheet Steel		U.S. Standard Gauge
Gauge	in	mm	in	mm	in	mm	in	mm
10 ga	0.1019	2.588	0.1382	3.511	0.1345	3.416	0.1406	3.572
11 ga	0.0907	2.305	0.1233	3.132	0.1196	3.037	0.1250	3.175
12 ga	0.0808	2.053	0.1084	2.752	0.1046	2.657	0.1094	2.778
14 ga	0.0641	1.628	0.0785	1.993	0.0747	1.898	0.0781	1.984
16 ga	0.0508	1.291	0.0635	1.613	0.0598	1.518	0.0625	1.587
18 ga	0.0403	1.024	0.0516	1.310	0.0478	1.215	0.0500	1.270
20 ga	0.0320	0.812	0.0396	1.006	0.0359	0.911	0.0375	0.953
22 ga	0.0253	0.644	0.0336	0.854	0.0299	0.759	0.0313	0.794
24 ga	0.0201	0.511	0.0276	0.702	0.0239	0.607	0.0250	0.635
26 ga	0.0159	0.405	0.0217	0.550	0.0179	0.456	0.0188	0.476

Galvanised is the steel thickness plus a zinc-coating allowance, which is why it always reads heavier than plain steel at the same gauge. Aluminium is on the Brown & Sharpe series and is thinner throughout.

Common Questions About Sheet Metal Gauge

How thick is 16 gauge steel?: 16 gauge steel sheet is 0.0598 in thick, which is 1.518 mm, and weighs 2.50 lb/ft² on the Manufacturers' Standard Gauge.
Why is 16 gauge steel a different thickness from 16 gauge aluminium?: Because they are indexed on different systems: Aluminium 0.0508 in on the B&S, Galvanized 0.0635 in on the galvanized-MSG, Steel 0.0598 in on the MSG, US Standard 0.0625 in on the USG. A gauge number is a position in a series, not a thickness, so it means nothing without the material.
Is a higher gauge number thicker or thinner?: Thinner. The gauge systems count downward in thickness as the number rises, a hangover from wire drawing where the number recorded how many times the stock had been drawn. 10 gauge is heavy sheet; 26 gauge is roofing and ducting.
Is stainless steel gauge on this chart?: Not yet, and deliberately: the stainless convention is genuinely ambiguous — 16 gauge is quoted as 0.0595 in on some charts and 0.0625 in on others — and only one source was in hand. This reference ships a number when two independent sources agree, so stainless waits rather than shipping a guess.

Sources and Method for the Sheet Metal Gauge Data

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

Weight per square foot, steel

lb/ft²  =  thickness (in) × 41.82

The Manufacturers' Standard Gauge basis for steel. The 1893 U.S. Standard Gauge uses 40 lb/ft² per inch on a wrought-iron basis, which is the whole reason the two systems disagree.

Brown & Sharpe (aluminium and non-ferrous)

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

A geometric series between 0000 gauge and 36 gauge, which is why the steps shrink as the sheet gets thinner.

Assumptions

Thicknesses are nominal. Mill tolerance is not part of a gauge definition and varies with width, process and material.
Stainless steel, zinc, copper, brass and tube wall are excluded: their conventions are ambiguous or single-sourced. A number ships here only when two independent sources agree.
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 Reference

Citation

ShopMath. "Sheet Metal Gauge Chart — Steel, Galvanised, Aluminium and U.S. Standard." ShopMath, verified August 1, 2026, https://shopmath.org/gauges

BibTeX

@misc{shopmath-gauges,
  title        = {Sheet Metal Gauge Chart — Steel, Galvanised, Aluminium and U.S. Standard},
  author       = {{ShopMath}},
  year         = {2026},
  howpublished = {\url{https://shopmath.org/gauges}},
  note         = {Data verified 2026-08-01}
}

Permanent URL

https://shopmath.org/gauges