Savannah Guthrie is 5 feet 10 inches tall, which is about 178 cm or 1.78 meters. Celebheights lists her a fraction lower, at 5 feet 9¾ inches (177.2 cm). That puts the Today co-anchor roughly 6 to 7 inches above the average woman, and it explains why her height became a talking point the week she moved into the co-anchor chair in 2012.
This guide sorts out the conflicting numbers, covers what she has said about her own height, and explains how heels, chairs and camera angles change what viewers see.
How Tall Is Savannah Guthrie? The Short Answer
Savannah Guthrie’s height is 5’10” (about 1.78 m). Closer Weekly gives that figure, and Perez Hilton used it too in its 2012 coverage of the heel controversy. Celebheights, a height database that publishes reader commentary alongside its numbers, settles at 5’9¾”.
The difference between those two figures is about a quarter of an inch. That is normal for an unofficial measurement, since nobody outside her doctor’s office has an exact reading.
Neither NBC nor Guthrie has published a certified number. Treat 5’10” as a well-supported public estimate, not a measured fact.
Why Reported Numbers Range From 5’7″ to 6’4″
Search her name with “height” and you will find answers that do not agree. Some pages say 5’7″ (170 cm), others say 5’9″ (175 cm), and a few claim 6’4″, which would make her taller than most male anchors. Those outliers almost always come from pages that name no source and describe no measurement method.
| Source | Reported Height | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Closer Weekly | 5’10” | Compares her with named Today colleagues |
| Perez Hilton (2012) | 5’10” | Reported on the heel story as it broke |
| Celebheights | 5’9¾” (177.2 cm) | Includes a quote from Guthrie herself |
| Femulate (2012) | 5’10” | Noted unconfirmed claims of 5’11” to 6’1″ |
| Unsourced Pages | 5’7″ to 6’4″ | No named source or method |
Ignore the last row. Every source that shows its work lands within a quarter inch of 5’10”.
The July 2012 Femulate post is a good example of how the noise starts. The blog said that depending on who you believed, she was anywhere from 5’11” to 6’1″. It then pointed out that in photos with Matt Lauer, listed at 5’11”, she looked no taller than him, even though she was presumably wearing heels. That points back to a barefoot height near 5’10”, not above it.
Most of the inflated numbers trace back to heels. A person photographed at a studio event in four-inch heels will look six feet tall, and lazy copying turns that impression into a “fact” that gets repeated across dozens of pages.
What She Has Said About Her Own Height
The best evidence is Guthrie’s own description. Celebheights quotes her saying she is about 5’10”, maybe slightly under, and that the heels the Today women wear push her past six feet. That fits the 5’9¾” to 5’10” range almost exactly.
Celebheights does not name the interview that quote came from, so it cannot be dated or checked against a transcript. Still, it is consistent with every other reliable source. It also matches the common-sense math: about 5’10” in bare feet plus a 2 to 3 inch heel lands at roughly 6’0″ to 6’1″.
She tends to treat the subject with humor, not defensiveness. That tone shows up most clearly in the 2012 episode below.
Heels, Flats and the 2012 “Too Tall” Story
NBC named her Matt Lauer’s co-anchor on a Friday in late June 2012, one day after Ann Curry’s tearful exit. The new team of Lauer, Guthrie, Al Roker and Natalie Morales debuted on July 9. Within weeks, tabloids were asking whether she was too tall to sit next to her colleagues.
Perez Hilton reported that she had been told to wear shorter heels so she would not out-tower Lauer. NBC pushed back through a spokesperson. The network said it did not dictate the height of her heels or her chair, that she owns heels of every height, and that she adjusts her seat as she sees fit.
The seat detail is worth noticing. It confirms that how tall she looks on air is partly a production choice, shaped by chair height and posture, not only by her body.
The story reached late-night television that August. Jay Leno showed a photo of her beside Lauer and pointed out the difference, and she joked that she was going for the Xena: Warrior Princess thing. The following morning she told her Today colleagues that the appearance felt like an amusement park ride with a height requirement, and that nobody had been checking at the door.
She never disputed that she was tall. She made the point that being tall was not a problem anyone needed to solve.
Savannah Guthrie Height Next to Her Today Co-Stars
Comparing her with colleagues is the most useful sanity check, because the people around her are on camera more often than any measuring tape. Closer Weekly calls her the tallest female Today cohost, ahead of Hoda Kotb at 5’9″ and behind Willie Geist at 6’4″.
Those numbers hang together. A one-inch gap with Kotb matches what viewers saw for years while the two worked as a duo. A near-six-inch gap with Geist matches the visual impression when the whole team stands together.
Her first partner on the show was Lauer, who is generally listed at 5’11”. Photos from that period show the two at nearly the same eye level when she wore heels. That is consistent with her being slightly shorter than him in flats.
Craig Melvin replaced Kotb as her co-anchor on January 13, 2025. Published figures for Melvin run from about 5’6″ to over 6’0″, and none comes from a source worth trusting. So this article does not rank him against her. If a credible number appears, it will be a useful addition.
How She Compares to the Average Woman
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics puts the average adult woman at about 63.5 inches, or roughly 5’3½”. At 5’10” (70 inches), Guthrie is about 6.5 inches above that, or around 16 cm.
Add a three-inch heel and she reaches roughly 6’1″. In a room of people wearing ordinary shoes, she is the person you notice first.
Taller women often get asked about their height more than shorter women do. Guthrie’s case is a clear example, and her reaction has been to joke and move on, which is part of why the topic never turned into a real controversy.
Why Her Height Looks Different on Camera
Anyone trying to judge a celebrity’s height from television will get it wrong in predictable ways. Seated anchor desks hide leg length. Camera lenses make the closest person look larger, and a high chair raises a short torso to match a tall one.
If you want a better estimate from photos, a few habits help:
- Pick a photo where both people stand on the same flat surface, not a stage or step.
- Check footwear first, because a heel adds two to four inches.
- Use a reference person with a documented height, such as a co-star, and expect an error of about an inch either way.
The same logic explains the spread in her numbers. Treat any single photo as one data point, not proof.
Height and Her Career Path
Her height got attention, but it is not what moved her career forward. She is a Georgetown Law graduate who spent two years practicing law before turning to television, with early reporting jobs in Tucson, Arizona, and Columbia, Missouri.
NBC’s 2012 announcement credited her with a mix of sharp wit and approachability, and noted that she would remain chief legal correspondent. Before that she had served as White House correspondent from December 2008 to June 2011. Those credentials, not her inches, explain why NBC picked her for one of morning television’s most closely watched chairs.
The height question still follows her, mostly in the form of search traffic. It rarely follows her on air, where she has long since stopped acknowledging it.