Cover Letter Spacing & Margins (Double Space or Not?)

Cover letter spacing and margins are important. You have to give the hiring team every reason to read your cover letter.

And you’re here because you have a nagging doubt.

Is your cover letter looking right? Should cover letters be double spaced or single spaced? Are your cover letter margins correct?

Well, if you get it wrong, some recruiters will toss your application in the fire.

But don’t worry.

This guide will show you:

• The 11 cover letter spacing rules and guidelines to follow.
• Where to set your cover letter margins.
• Why you shouldn’t double space your cover letter.
• Why we don’t indent cover letters.

Want to write your cover letter fast? Use our cover letter builder. Choose from 20+ professional cover letter templates that match your resume. See actionable examples and get expert tips along the way.

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Sample cover letter for a resume—See more cover letter templates and create your cover letter here.

Wondering how to write a cover letter? What about an email cover letter? What’s the perfect cover letter format? See our guides:

• How to Write a Cover Letter for a Resume
• Email Cover Letter: Sample, Proper Email Format
• Cover Letter Format: Templates, Ready-to-Use Layouts

1

Cover Letter Spacing Rules

Here are the rules of proper cover letter spacing:

1. Single space your cover letter.
2. Write your address first.
3. Skip a line. Add the date.
4. Skip again. Add their address.
5. Skip. Add “Dear [HIRING MANAGER],”
6. Skip. Write first paragraph.
7. Skip. Second paragraph.
8. Skip. Third paragraph.
9. Skip. Add, “Sincerely,”
10. Skip three lines.
11. Add your name & title.

Those cover letter spacing guidelines are based on tips from the Professional Association of Resume Writers & Career Coaches (PARWCC).

Rule of thumb:

Should a cover letter be double-spaced? No. But—

They skip a line between each section.

Then they skip three lines after “Sincerely,” (That leaves room for a signature.)

Cover Letter Line Spacing

Line spacing for a cover letter should be 1.5. Shorter line spacing is hard to read. Taller spacing looks simplistic. Some experts say to adjust line spacing to fit the page. That’s wrong. If you follow the 3-paragraph letter format, 1.5 is perfect.

Cover Letter Margins

Cover letter margins are 1”. That’s the universal business letter margin standard. Some experts say to tighten margins on a cover letter to fit your text on one page. That’s wrong. If your cover letter doesn’t fit one page with 1” margins, it’s too long.

Pro Tip: Does your cover letter spacing look unbalanced? According to PARWCC, you can tweak the line spacing a bit to even up the layout.

Wondering exactly what your cover letter should look like? See our guide: What Does a Good Cover Letter Look Like? Format & Layout Tips

Here’s a cover letter spacing sample to start you on the right foot:

Perfect.

That cover letter spacing is just right. Single-spaced, with an extra line between each section. (And three lines after “Best regards.”)

Pro Tip: Do you indent a cover letter? No. Don’t use cover letter indents. Indents or tabs at the start of paragraphs are for books and (some) magazine articles.

Cover letter margins and spacing don’t matter if you don’t need a cover letter. Do you? See our guide: Do I Need a Cover Letter? Are Cover Letters Necessary?

Use this email cover letter spacing template to format your email cover letter right:

Nice.

It’s short and value-packed. There’s no difference between email cover letter spacing and snail mail. Just move your address to the end.

Pro Tip: You don’t need to leave three lines after “Best regards” in an email cover letter. Two is plenty. Adding your digital signature is optional (and a bit showy).

Should you tweak cover letter margins to fix your letter’s length? See our guide: How Long Should a Cover Letter Be? [Ideal Word Length & Page Count]

Did you notice?

Both of the cover letter spacing examples above are short.

A cover letter should be:

• 200–350 words
• About half a page
• Three paragraphs
• Have line spacing of 1.5
• Use 10–12 point font
• Use an easy-reading font like Arial, Times New Roman, Calibri, or Georgia
• Tailor your cover letter to the job.

You can also add a P.S. to your cover letter for extra eye candy.

Pro Tip: Use 1-inch cover letter margins all around: top, bottom, and both sides. Nobody will care if you make a mistake, but they’ll notice something feels a little off.

Want your cover letter to stand out without looking kooky? See our guide: A General Cover Letter that Isn't Generic: Sample for Any Position

When making a resume in our builder, drag & drop bullet points, skills, and auto-fill the boring stuff. Spell check? Check. Start building a professional resume template here for free.

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When you’re done, Zety’s resume builder will score your resume and tell you exactly how to make it better.

Here’s all you need to know about cover letter spacing:

• Single-space your cover letter. Cover letters shouldn’t be double-spaced.
• Add a blank line between each section of your cover letter. (After your address, the date, their address, your salutation, and each paragraph.)
• Add three blank lines after “Best regards,” or “Yours truly.”
• Cover letter margins are one inch. If you need to change them to fit your cover letter on a single page, it’s too long.

Should cover letters be double spaced? Do you indent in a cover letter? We say “no” to both. Change our minds! Let us know if we missed any cover letter spacing tips or questions.