The Downy woodpecker (Picoides pubescens) is a species of woodpecker which is the smallest in North America. This present study firstly reported the complete mitochondrial genome of downy woodpecker. We performed assembly of mitogenome structural by SPAdes and the Picidae species Dryocopus pileatus act as a reference. The mitogenome was 16 840 bp in length, which contains 13 protein-coding genes, 22 transfer RNAs, 2 ribosomal RNAs and 1 putative misc-feature region. The overall AT content is 52.76% which is higher than GC. To approve the accuracy of new determined mitogenome sequences, a phylogenetic tree of downy woodpecker together with other nine closely species was established by 12 protein-coding genes. This first complete mitogenome of Picoides species will contribute to identify species and study the related evolution events.