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Tattoo Pain Chart

Every tattoo pain chart online gives you a number out of ten for each body part. Those numbers do not come from a study: searching the peer-reviewed literature in September 2026 we found no research that ranks tattoo pain by body site, so they are estimates dressed up as measurements. This chart does something different: it groups twenty-two areas by what is physically under the skin, which is verifiable, and then gives you the figures that have actually been measured. The average pain reported during a tattoo, across 1,092 people on a 0–10 scale, was 4.35.

Tap an area to see what is under the skin there

Muscle or fat between skin and bone

Padded in places, bony or nerve-dense in others

Bone, tendon or dense nerve directly under thin skin

The three groups above are sorted by anatomy — what sits between the needle and the bone — not by measured pain scores, because those scores do not exist. Sensation is personal, and the two factors research did tie to higher pain are about the session, not the site.

The only tattoo pain numbers that come from a study

In 2020, Joanna Witkoś and Magdalena Hartman-Petrycka published a survey of 1,092 tattooed people — 863 women and 229 men — who rated their pain on a 0–10 numerical rating scale. The headline figures: a mean of 4.35 during the session and 2.07 afterwards. For most people that is reassuringly ordinary, and it is the single most useful number to carry into a first appointment, because the anticipation is usually worse than the average.

The study also settled a question the internet argues about endlessly. During the procedure, men averaged 4.48 and women 4.31, and the difference was not statistically significant. Women did report significantly higher pain after the session had ended. So the honest summary is: no measurable difference while it is happening, a measurable one in the hours afterwards.

Three factors were significantly associated with a higher score during tattooing. The longer the session ran, the higher the reported pain. The more stressed the person was, the higher the reported pain. And — the counterintuitive one — people who had taken analgesics beforehand reported more pain, not less. That is an association observed in a survey, and it cannot establish which way the causation runs; the plausible reading is that people who expect a rough time are the ones who medicate first. What the finding does do is remove the assumption that pre-medicating is a free win, and it is a question for your artist rather than for a chart.

One finding maps onto placement directly: pain that radiates beyond the tattooed area was reported more often for the upper limbs than for the lower limbs or the torso. If you have felt an arm piece "ring" up toward the shoulder, that is a documented pattern rather than an oddity.

What anatomy can tell you that a score cannot

The reason artists agree about the sharp spots even without a study is that the anatomy is not in dispute. Where bone sits immediately under thin skin — the sternum down the centre of the chest, the spinous processes down the back, the ribs, the malleolus at the ankle, the olecranon at the elbow, the metacarpals on the back of the hand — there is nothing to absorb the vibration. Where a muscle belly and a layer of subcutaneous fat sit in between, as on the outer upper arm, the outer thigh or the calf, there is. The armpit is the exception that proves the rule: it is not bony, it is nerve-dense, because the brachial plexus passes through it.

Two placements are complicated by movement rather than by structure. The ribs and the stomach move with every breath; the throat moves with every swallow. That is a working problem for the artist and a stillness problem for you, and it lengthens the session — which loops back to the one factor the research did tie to more pain.

The practical conclusion is duller than a chart but more useful. Choose the placement for how the design should sit on your body and how visible you want it, then manage the pain with the levers that actually moved the numbers: keep the session short, eat beforehand, and go in unstressed. Our placement pages go into the design-fit side of that decision for the wrist, ankle, upper arm, forearm and neck.

This page summarises published research and basic anatomy. It is not medical advice, and it cannot tell you how a tattoo will feel to you. If you have a condition, a medication or an allergy that might matter, that is a conversation with a doctor and with your artist before the appointment, not something a chart can answer.

Tattoo pain FAQ

What is the most painful place to get a tattoo?
We could not find a peer-reviewed study that ranks tattoo pain by body part, so any chart giving you "ribs 9/10" is somebody’s opinion presented as a measurement. What can be said factually is anatomical: the sternum, spine, ribs, elbow, knee, hands, feet and ankle have bone or tendon directly under thin skin, and the armpit sits over one of the densest nerve junctions in the body. Those are the areas artists consistently describe as sharpest.
How much does a tattoo hurt, on a scale of 1 to 10?
The best measured answer comes from a 2020 survey of 1,092 tattooed people who scored the sensation on a 0–10 scale: the average during the session was 4.35 and the average afterwards was 2.07. That is the whole-body average across all placements, not a figure for any one spot — and it is lower than most people expect before their first tattoo.
Do tattoos hurt more for women than for men?
Not during the tattoo. The same 2020 study found no statistically significant difference between men and women in pain reported during the procedure — 4.48 for men and 4.31 for women. Women did report significantly higher pain after the session was over.
Should I take painkillers before a tattoo?
Ask your artist, and know what the data shows first. In that 2020 study, people who had taken analgesics beforehand reported higher pain during the session, not lower. It is an observed association in a survey, so it cannot tell you which way the causation runs — the likeliest reading is that people who expect a bad time medicate in advance. What it does not support is the assumption that pre-medicating will make it easier.
What actually makes a tattoo hurt more?
Two things the research could measure: how long the session runs, and how stressed you are going in. Both were significantly associated with higher reported pain. That points at practical levers — book shorter sittings, eat first, and treat the artist’s break schedule as part of the plan — rather than at choosing a placement by a made-up score.

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