Pickleball Court Dimensions

The official figures

Every number on this page comes from USA Pickleball's published rules — section 2 of the official rulebook for the court and net, and its How to Play page for the non-volley zone. Nothing here is estimated, converted or rounded.

Two things on that list surprise people. The first is that singles and doubles use the same court — unlike tennis or badminton, nothing narrows for singles play, which is part of why the sport is so easy to set up and so demanding to cover alone. The second is the net: it is deliberately lower in the middle than at the ends, 34 inches against 36.

Why the net dips in the middle

A net that is 36 inches high at the sidelines and 34 inches at the center is not a tolerance or a sag allowance — it is the specification. The practical effect is that the lowest point of the net is the middle, which rewards the shot down the center and is one reason experienced doubles pairs attack through the middle rather than at the lines.

It also matters if you are buying a portable net as a gift. A net system that pulls taut in a straight line at a uniform height is not set up to the official geometry, and players who care will notice. The better portable systems are designed to produce the dip; the cheapest ones are not. Our portable nets page goes through the field, and three of those picks are at the bottom of this page.

The kitchen: 7 feet, and why it exists

The non-volley zone is the most distinctive rule in the sport and the dimension people most often get wrong. USA Pickleball states it directly: the non-volley zone, "nicknamed the Kitchen, is the 14-foot area around the net (7 feet on each side)." A player may not volley — hit the ball out of the air — while standing in it, or if their momentum carries them into it after a volley. They may enter it to play a ball that has bounced.

The purpose is explicitly about play rather than safety: in USA Pickleball's own words, the rule "prevents easy smashes from right at the net and makes strategy more important." Without it, both teams would stand at the net and the rally would be over in two shots. With it, the soft exchange at the kitchen line becomes the heart of the game — which is exactly why control paddles matter more than power paddles for most recreational players.

The seven-foot figure also has a consequence worth knowing if your recipient plays doubles at the net: it means roughly fourteen feet separates two players hitting a hard plastic ball at each other, which is the whole reason our eye protection guide exists.

Can you fit a court at home?

This is the practical question behind most searches for court dimensions, and the honest answer is: the playing surface is small, but the space you need is bigger than the court.

The court itself is 20 by 44 feet — close to the footprint of a badminton court, which is why gyms and community centers convert so readily. But players run past the baseline to chase a deep ball and step outside the sidelines on a wide one, so a court drawn edge to edge in an exact 20-by-44-foot space plays badly and is a nuisance. If you are measuring a driveway or a garden, measure the clear space including run-off rather than the lines you intend to paint.

For a portable net specifically, the number that governs everything is width. USA Pickleball specifies a net at least 21 feet 9 inches post to post, which means roughly 22 feet of clear, flat ground — and a driveway narrower than that cannot take a regulation net however long it is. Measure that first. Our portable nets page and nets and machines page both cover the systems that fit real spaces, and the picks below are the three best net options on this site.

Two more things worth knowing before you buy anybody a net. One: a half-court or driveway setup is perfectly good for practice and for a casual game, so the absence of a full regulation footprint is not a reason to give up. Two: nets are heavy and a gift the recipient has to store, so unless they have specifically wished for one, a starter set is usually the better present for someone who plays on public courts.

How it compares to other racquet sports

The comparison that comes up most is tennis, and the headline is simply that a pickleball court is much smaller — which is most of the reason the sport spread as fast as it did, since far more people can cover a 20-by-44-foot court than a tennis court. Our pickleball vs tennis guide sets out the full comparison of courts, scoring and equipment.

The closer relative on dimensions is badminton: a pickleball court shares roughly the same footprint, which is why so many gyms with badminton lines already painted were able to add pickleball with minimal work. The difference is the net — badminton's net is far higher, because a shuttlecock behaves nothing like a plastic ball. Our pickleball vs badminton guide covers it, and our pickleball vs padel page handles the enclosed-court sport people most often confuse it with.

If you are here because you are buying equipment rather than building a court, the two pages that matter most are our starter kit checklist and what to wear to play pickleball. Neither requires you to measure anything.