How to Format Contact Information on a Resume for ATS in 2026

The contact section should be the easiest part of the resume.

But I still see people overdesign it, overstuff it, or hide it in places that create unnecessary ATS problems.

That is avoidable.

I want contact information to do one job: make it effortless for the system and the recruiter to identify who you are and how to reach you.

Here is the exact format I use.

The contact information I include

For most resumes, I include:

• full name
• phone number
• professional email address
• LinkedIn URL if it is complete and current
• city and state if the role cares about location

That is enough for most candidates.

If the role is remote, I may use a simple location format like "Phoenix, AZ" or "Remote." If relocation matters, I handle that in the summary or cover letter, not by stuffing the header with extra explanation.

The information I usually leave out

I do not include:

• full street address
• headshot
• date of birth
• marital status
• multiple phone numbers
• every social profile I have ever created

Those details either add no value or create friction.

The top of the resume is premium real estate. I do not waste it on information that does not help screening.

Keep the contact section in the document body

This is the biggest ATS rule in this part of the resume: keep contact information out of headers and footers.

A visual header at the top of the page may look clean in Word or PDF, but some systems treat header and footer content inconsistently. I do not like putting critical information there.

Instead, I place contact details at the top of the main document body, directly under the name or on the line below it.

That gives me the clean look without the parsing risk.

If you are evaluating a template, this is one of the first things I check. How to Tell If a Resume Template Is ATS-Friendly covers the larger checklist, but the contact block alone can disqualify an otherwise decent layout.

Use plain text, not icons

I know icon-heavy headers are popular.

I still avoid them for ATS-first resumes.

Icons are decoration, not information. If a phone icon replaces the wordless phone number label and a LinkedIn icon sits inside a colored shape, you are increasing design complexity in the one section that should stay almost boring.

I prefer a plain line of text:

Name
Phone | Email | LinkedIn | Location

Or a two-line version if spacing needs it.

That is clean, fast, and easy to scan.

Keep the name readable, not oversized

Your name should be the largest text in the document, but it does not need to dominate half the page.

I want it clearly identifiable at a glance. After that, I want the contact details to sit close underneath in smaller plain text.

When the name block becomes a giant visual banner, it pushes more important content lower and makes the resume feel more like a flyer than a professional document.

Minimal beats dramatic here.

Make the email address look intentional

This seems basic, but it matters.

If the email address looks chaotic or dated, it quietly lowers the polish of the page. I want a simple address that uses your name whenever possible.

If your current email looks unserious, create a better one and move on. This is an easy fix.

I also avoid hyperlink styling that turns the contact line into a row of blue underlined distractions. Keep it neat.

Use LinkedIn selectively

I include LinkedIn only when it helps.

That means the profile should be:

• complete
• current
• aligned with the resume
• free of obvious contradictions

If the profile is thin or neglected, I leave it off until it is fixed. A weak LinkedIn link does not make the resume stronger just because it is present.

If you do want to improve that profile, How to Write a LinkedIn Headline and How to Write a LinkedIn Summary are good adjacent reads.

What I do about location

Location depends on the type of role.

For local or hybrid roles, city and state are usually enough.

For remote roles, I keep it simple and truthful. I may list:

• city and state
• remote
• willing to relocate, if relevant

I do not overexplain time zones, commute radius, or relocation plans in the contact block itself unless the application clearly demands it.

For remote applications specifically, How to List Remote Work on Your Resume helps with the body of the resume, which matters more than the header.

The common header mistakes I remove first

When I clean up a resume header, these are usually the first cuts:

• moving contact details out of the document header
• removing icons and graphics
• deleting the full street address
• simplifying the LinkedIn URL
• reducing oversized name styling
• removing duplicate contact methods

Almost every weak contact section is trying too hard.

The format I recommend

If I want a safe, clean contact section, I use something close to this:

Jordan Rivera
Phoenix, AZ | 555-123-4567 | jordanrivera@email.com | linkedin.com/in/jordanrivera

That is enough.

It is readable in Word, readable in PDF, and easy for ATS to parse because the information is plain text in the body of the document.

The bottom line

Resume contact information should not try to impress anyone.

It should identify you clearly, make you reachable fast, and stay out of the way of the real selling points lower on the page.

That means:

• plain text
• no icons
• no full address
• no header or footer placement
• only the contact details that help

If you want that structure already handled, the templates at /products use ATS-safe header layouts so you can drop in your details without redesigning the top of the page from scratch.