How Long Should a Cover Letter Be? Word Counts That Work

250 to 400 words on half a page, and shorter in an email. What to cut when it runs long, what to add when it runs short, and how to handle form limits.

Umair Sajid12 September 20265 min read

A plain single-column resume page with one section marked in green

The short version

250 to 400 words, on half a page. Three-quarters of a page is the outer limit.
Three or four paragraphs. Never more than one page, ever.
In an email body, shorter still: 150 to 200 words.
Where an application form sets a word or character count, that number is the answer — use most of it.

A cover letter is read in about the time it takes to decide whether to keep reading. That is the whole argument for keeping it short, and it survives every objection about how much you have to say.

The numbers below are conventions rather than rules, but they are well-established conventions, and a letter that ignores them is making a choice the reader will notice.

The target

Where it is going	Length	Shape
Attached document, standard application	250–400 words	Four short paragraphs on half a page
Body of an email	150–200 words	Three paragraphs, no header block
“Additional information” box on a form	As allowed	Use 80–90 per cent of the limit
Public-sector supporting statement	As specified, often 500–1,000	Structured against the person specification
Academic application	1–2 pages	A different document with different conventions
Speculative approach	150–250 words	Shorter, because nobody asked for it

Notice the outlier. A public-sector supporting statement is not a cover letter; it is a structured response to a person specification, and it is expected to be long and thorough. If the pack says “address each of the essential criteria”, do exactly that, in order, with headings.

Why half a page

Three practical reasons.

It fits in one screen. Most letters are read on a laptop or a phone, and a reader who has to scroll makes a decision before they do.

Short forces choice. Four hundred words allows one argument made properly. Eight hundred allows four arguments made badly, and the reader remembers none of them.

The resume is already there. Everything you are tempted to add in paragraphs five and six is almost certainly already on the resume in a more readable form. Cover letter versus resume sets out the division of labour.

If yours is too long

Cut in this order — the first three usually get you there on their own:

Any sentence that also appears on your resume. Usually a third of a long letter.
The second and third examples. Keep the strongest one and let it breathe.
The opening ceremony. “I am writing to express my keen interest in the above-mentioned position” is eleven words that say “I am applying”.
Adjectives about yourself. Passionate, dedicated, hard-working, results-driven. None of them survive contact with a sceptical reader.
Explanations nobody asked for. One sentence on a gap is enough. Three is a subject change.
The closing flourish. “I look forward to the opportunity to further discuss how my skills and experience align with…” is a whole sentence saying “please call me”.

If yours is too short

Under about 150 words in an attached letter, it reads as indifference. The usual cause is that the letter contains no evidence — just a statement of interest and a pointer to the resume.

The fix is not padding. It is adding the paragraph that should have been there: one situation, what you did, what happened. That is 80 to 120 words and it is the only part of the letter a reader will remember. The four-paragraph structure shows where it goes.

Layout, which affects perceived length

A 350-word letter can look long or short depending entirely on how it sits on the page.

Paragraphs of three to five lines. A nine-line block reads as heavy before a word of it is taken in.
A blank line between paragraphs, no first-line indent.
Same margins and typeface as the resume, at the same size. 11 point, 1.15 line spacing.
No bullet lists, as a rule — a letter is prose. The exception is a public-sector statement answering numbered criteria.
White space at the bottom. A letter that stops two-thirds down the page looks confident. One that runs to the last millimetre looks like it escaped.

Word counts on application forms

When a form gives a limit, treat it as a target rather than a ceiling. A 500-word box filled with 180 words reads as a candidate who could not think of much to say; 440 to 470 reads as someone who used the space and then edited.

Character limits usually include spaces. Write in a document, check the count, then paste — forms rarely warn you before they truncate, and a statement cut off mid-sentence is a bad first impression you never see.

A note on the second page

There is no situation in ordinary hiring where a cover letter should run to two pages. If you have that much to say, either the material belongs on the resume, or the application is a supporting statement in disguise and should be structured as one.

Letters already cut to length

Every template on this site includes a matching cover letter of about 320 words, in the same type as the resume, with the four paragraphs marked out so the length holds when you replace the text. Find your job title among 498 — office manager, IT support specialist, social worker and the rest — or see what is included.

Common questions

How many words should a cover letter be?

250 to 400 for an attached letter, which is about half a page. 150 to 200 if it is in the body of an email.

Can a cover letter be one page?

One page is the absolute maximum and half a page is better. A full page is only appropriate when an application pack asks you to address specific criteria.

How many paragraphs should a cover letter have?

Three or four. Why this job, your best evidence, anything that needs accounting for, and a two-sentence close. Drop the third if nothing applies.

Is a short cover letter unprofessional?

Not at all, provided it contains something. A tight 250-word letter with one concrete example beats 600 words of enthusiasm every time.

What if the application form has a 2,000-character limit?

Write about 1,700 to 1,800 characters including spaces. Draft it in a word processor, check the count, then paste, because most forms truncate silently.

Start from a file that already does this

Every template is written for one job title, in a single column, with no tables and no text boxes, and the bullet points are already drafted at 1, 2, 5 and 10+ years. Edit it in Word, Google Docs or Pages.

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