The short answer
For an uploaded or attached letter, 250 to 400 words on a single page. In an email body, around 150 to 250, because the reader is on a phone. In a form text box, whatever the character limit allows, written as three tight paragraphs. Federal and academic applications are the genuine exceptions and run longer by design. Nothing in ordinary hiring justifies a second page.
What matters most
- The standard answer: 250 to 400 words, one page, three or four short paragraphs.
- Emailed letters should be shorter — around 150 to 250 words, with the strongest sentence first.
- A second page is not a length problem, it is a content problem. Nobody in ordinary hiring reads it.
- US federal and academic applications are real exceptions where detail is required rather than tolerated.
The short answer, by channel
There is no single number, because the same letter behaves differently depending on where it lands. What follows is what actually works in each place.
| Where it is going | Length | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Uploaded as a PDF or DOCX | 250–400 words, one page | The standard case. Three or four paragraphs with white space between them. It should look comfortably short on the page, not squeezed onto it. |
| In the body of an email | 150–250 words | Read on a phone, often in a preview pane. The first line has to carry the argument because it may be the only line seen before the reader decides to open it properly. |
| A form text box with a character limit | Whatever fits, written as three paragraphs | Common limits are 1,000 to 2,000 characters, roughly 150 to 300 words. Write to the limit rather than pasting a longer letter and letting it truncate mid-sentence. |
| A speculative letter with no vacancy | 200–300 words | You are asking for a conversation from someone who did not invite one. Shorter is easier to say yes to. |
| US federal via USAJOBS | Often longer, and detailed | Federal reviewers must verify each stated qualification against written evidence, so brevity actively costs you. Length is a feature there. |
| Academic and research posts | One to two pages, sometimes more | A letter of application for a faculty post covers research agenda, teaching and service. It is a different document wearing the same name. |
Why longer loses
Not because readers are lazy. Because a long letter almost always means one of three specific failures, and readers have learned to recognise them from the shape of the page before reading a word.
- It is restating the resume. The most common cause. The reader has the resume; a prose version of it adds pages and no information.
- The argument is thin and is being padded. When there is one real piece of evidence and four paragraphs, the extra three are adjectives. This is highly visible.
- Everything is included because nothing was chosen. A letter that mentions all nine requirements in the posting has, in practice, emphasised none of them. Two, treated properly, land harder than nine listed.
The corollary is that a letter which is genuinely too short is rare. A 180-word letter with one sharp piece of evidence in it outperforms a 600-word letter that hedges, because the reader finishes it.
How to cut, in order
When you are 150 words over, cut in this sequence. It removes the least valuable material first, so you rarely have to rewrite anything.
- 1Delete the announcement sentence
Anything beginning "I am writing to apply for" or "My name is". Twenty words gone before you have touched an argument.
- 2Cut every hedge
"I believe", "I feel", "I would say that", "arguably", "quite". Each one removes two or three words and makes the sentence stronger, which is an unusually good trade.
- 3Remove the second-best example
If you have three stories, one of them is weaker. Cut it entirely rather than shortening all three, because a compressed story loses the detail that made it persuasive.
- 4Strip self-assigned adjectives
Dynamic, passionate, results-driven, detail-oriented, motivated. None of them survive the test of whether the reader can verify the claim.
- 5Collapse the company-flattery sentence
If your paragraph about the employer says only that they are an industry leader, delete it. If it says something specific, keep it and cut elsewhere.
- 6Shorten the close last
Two or three sentences is already the floor. If you are still over after steps one to five, the problem is the evidence paragraphs, not the ending.
If you want a mechanical check on wordiness rather than a judgement call, Purdue's material on conciseness lists the specific constructions — nominalisations, expletive openings, redundant pairs — that inflate professional writing without adding meaning.
Page count, font and margins
One page, always, outside the federal and academic exceptions. But do not achieve one page by shrinking the type. A letter set in 9pt with quarter-inch margins is a two-page letter in disguise, and it announces that the writer would not make a decision about what mattered.
Use 10.5 to 12pt in the same typeface as your resume, one-inch margins or close to it, and single spacing with a blank line between paragraphs. If it will not fit at those settings, cut words rather than points. The cover letter builder renders to true A4 and Letter so you can see the real page rather than guessing at it.
Paragraph and sentence length
Within the total, the internal proportions matter almost as much. Four paragraphs of roughly 60 to 90 words each is the shape that reads easily on a screen. A single 300-word block, however good, will be skimmed rather than read, because it offers the eye nowhere to rest.
Keep sentences under about 25 words on average and vary them. Two short sentences after a long one is the rhythm that keeps a paragraph moving. This matters more in a letter than in a resume, because the letter is being read as a writing sample whether or not the role involves writing.
The equivalent question for the document going with it is answered in how long should a resume be, and the answers are related: both get shorter when you decide what the application is actually arguing.
Questions people actually ask
How long should a cover letter be?
For an uploaded or attached letter, 250 to 400 words on a single page, in three or four short paragraphs. Emailed letters should be shorter, around 150 to 250 words. Form text boxes should be written to whatever character limit is given rather than pasted in and truncated.
Can a cover letter be two pages?
Not in ordinary private-sector hiring. A second page is read as a failure to choose what mattered, and in practice it is rarely read at all. US federal applications and academic letters of application are genuine exceptions where more detail is required by the process.
Is a 200 word cover letter too short?
No. A short letter carrying one specific, relevant piece of evidence beats a long letter that hedges, because the reader finishes it. Too short only becomes a problem when the letter contains nothing the resume did not already say.
How many paragraphs should a cover letter have?
Three or four. An opening that names the role and why you are relevant, one or two paragraphs of evidence, an optional paragraph on why this employer, and a short close. Each should run roughly 60 to 90 words.
Does a longer cover letter show more effort?
It usually shows the opposite. Length most often comes from restating the resume or padding a thin argument, both of which are visible from the shape of the page. Choosing two strong examples and cutting the rest takes more work than including everything.
