Pickleball Court Dimensions: 2026 USAP Rulebook Specs

A pickleball court is a rectangle 20 feet (6.10 m) wide and 44 feet (13.41 m) long, and it is the same size for singles and doubles (2026 USA Pickleball Official Rulebook, Rule 3.A.1). The non-volley zone (the kitchen) is the 7-foot by 20-foot area next to the net on each side, and the net is 36 inches high at the sidelines and 34 inches high in the middle.

The rules below come from the 2026 USA Pickleball (USAP) Official Rulebook, mostly Section 3, quoted as closely as we can, with the rule numbers so you can check them yourself. Where we do a little arithmetic on top of the published numbers, we say so.

What you'll learn

• The official court size, and how the rulebook says to measure it.
• How much space you need around the court.
• Every line on the court, how wide it should be, and which areas the lines belong to.
• Net height at the sidelines and the center, net length, and where the posts go.

Court size and how it's measured

Rule 3.A.1 says the court "must be a rectangle measuring 20 feet (6.10 m) wide and 44 feet (13.41 m) long for both singles and doubles matches." There is no separate singles court, unlike tennis.

The rulebook also says how to measure it: court measurements must be made to the outside edge of the perimeter and non-volley zone lines (Rule 3.A.2). In other words, the lines are inside the 20-by-44-foot rectangle, not added on to it. The rulebook's definitions say the same thing another way: the court is "the area inside the outer dimensions of the baselines and sidelines."

Space around the court

The court sits inside a larger playing surface. Rule 3.A.3 sets the minimum playing surface at 30 feet (9.14 m) wide and 60 feet (18.29 m) long, and lists these other recommendations (Rule 3.A.3):

With the court centered on a minimum-size surface, that works out to 8 feet behind each baseline ((60 − 44) ÷ 2) and 5 feet beside each sideline ((30 − 20) ÷ 2). That is our arithmetic, not a separate rule. For wheelchair play, the rulebook recommends a playing surface of 44 feet (13.41 m) wide and 74 feet (22.55 m) long (Rule 25.A.11).

The lines and areas of the court

Rule 3.A.4 describes the lines and areas of a standard court (2026 Official Rulebook, Rule 3.A.4):

• Baselines: the lines parallel to the net at each end of the court.
• Sidelines: the two lines bounding the court that are perpendicular to the net and baselines.
• Non-volley zone: the 7-foot by 20-foot area of the court adjacent to each end of the net. Its lines run parallel to the net, 7 feet (2.13 m) from the net on each end, between the two sidelines (Rule 3.A.4.c).
• Centerline: the line down the center of each end of the court, from the non-volley zone line to the baseline. It separates the right and left service courts.
• Service courts: the areas on each end between the non-volley zone and the baseline, on either side of the centerline (Rule 3.A.4.f).
• Serving areas: the areas behind the baseline on each end. The right and left serving areas are bounded by the imaginary extensions of their sideline and the centerline (Rule 3.A.4.g).

From those numbers, each half of the court is 22 feet deep (44 ÷ 2). Take away the 7-foot non-volley zone and each service court is about 15 feet deep, and the centerline splits the 20-foot width into two service courts about 10 feet wide each. Those two figures are our arithmetic from the published dimensions; the rulebook text itself gives the 20, 44 and 7-foot measurements.

Line width and color

All lines should be 2 inches (5.08 cm) wide and the same color, clearly contrasting with the color of the playing surface and court (Rule 3.A.4). Note the word "should": it's a specification for building the court, written as a recommendation.

Which lines count as "in"

This is where court dimensions turn into rules of play:

• All lines that bound the non-volley zone are part of the zone, and the zone is two-dimensional: it does not extend above the playing surface (Rule 3.A.4.c).
• The right and left service courts are bounded by and include their adjacent baseline, sideline and the centerline (Rule 3.A.4.f).
• A served ball that does not land in the correct service court, including one that lands on the non-volley zone line, is "out" (Rule 8.C). A ball returned by a player that lands on the opponent's end of the court is "in" (Rule 8.B).

So a serve that touches the kitchen line is out, while a serve on the baseline, sideline or centerline of the correct service court is in. Our pickleball serve rules guide covers the rest of the serve.

One small 2026 change: the 2025 rulebook had a separate definition of "cross-court" (Rule 3.A.5), and USA Pickleball deleted it for 2026, explaining that "there is no need to define or create a rule for cross court" (2026 USA Pickleball Rulebook Change Document, entry 7).

Net height, net size and post placement

The net specifications are in Rule 3.B (2026 Official Rulebook, Rule 3.B):

• Sideline net height: the top of the net must be 36 inches +/- 0.25 inch (91.44 cm +/- 0.635 cm) above the playing surface where the net crosses the outer edge of the sidelines.
• Center net height: the top of the net must be 34 inches +/- 0.25 inch (86.36 cm +/- 0.635 cm) above the playing surface at the center point of the court. If there is a center strap, the measurement includes the strap.
• Posts: net posts should be 22 feet +/- 1.0 inches (6.71 m) from the inside of one post to the inside of the other, with a maximum diameter of 3 inches (7.62 cm).
• Net size: the net should be at least 21 feet 9 inches (6.63 m) long, from one post to the other, and at least 30 inches (76.2 cm) from its bottom edge to the top.
• Edging: the top of the net should be edged with a 2-inch (5.08 cm) white tape binding over a cord or cable running through it, and the binding must rest on the cord or cable.
• Center strap: a strap may be placed at the center of the net, centered 10 feet from the outside edge of the sidelines, to adjust the center height.
• Material: the net may be made of any mesh fabric material that will not allow a ball to pass through it.

Because the court is 20 feet wide and the posts are 22 feet apart on the inside, centered posts sit about 1 foot outside each sideline ((22 − 20) ÷ 2). Again, that's arithmetic from the two published figures. During play, net posts count as permanent objects under the rulebook's definitions, and a served ball must not contact any part of the net support system (Rule 13.B).

Quick reference

Putting the dimensions to use

The 7-foot kitchen line is the line you'll think about most once you're playing. Our guide to kitchen line footwork covers the non-volley zone rules and how to move from the baseline up to that line.

If you want to record a match, the court size tells you what the camera has to see. Our Kitch IQ filming guide asks for the camera behind a baseline with the whole court in frame, because player positions are mapped from the court lines, so the corners need to be in view. The full setup is in how to film pickleball.

Last updated: October 2, 2026