Your height as a percentile of U.S. adults: men or women, by age group, from the measured NHANES tables, with the gap to the median and the same height read across every age group.
What percentile is 6'3 for a man in the U.S.?
Your height as a percentile of U.S. adults: men or women, by age group, from the measured NHANES tables, with the gap to the median and the same height read across every age group.
At 6 ft 3 in (190.5 cm) a man is above the 95th percentile among U.S. men aged 20 and over, taller than 95% of men 20 and over. The median man of that group stands at 5 ft 9.1 in (175.4 cm), 5.9 in below this height. The answer is the same in every ten-year age group: above the 95th. The figures are the measured heights of the CDC's National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NCHS tables for adults), placed between the published cut points; the tables stop at the 5th and 95th percentiles, so nothing is estimated beyond them. The calculator below is set to a man, all adults 20 and over and 6 ft 3 in; press Calculate for the full table, or choose your own age group.
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Adult height percentiles for U.S. men and women, by age
Is 5 ft 9 in tall for a man? In the United States it is almost exactly average: the median for men aged 20 and over is 175.4 cm, or 5 ft 9.1 in, so 5 ft 9 in lands at about the 49th percentile. This calculator places any adult height, typed in feet and inches or in centimeters, among U.S. men or women of your age group, using the measured heights published by the National Center for Health Statistics. You get the percentile, the gap to the median, the nine published cut points for your group and the same height read across every age group from 20-29 to 80 and over.
Four choices, then your place in the line-up
- Sex - men and women have separate tables. The medians differ by about 5.5 inches, so mixing them would make the percentile meaningless.
- Age group - ten-year groups from 20-29 to 70-79, then 80 and over, or "All adults 20 and over" if you want the national figure.
- Unit - feet and inches, or centimeters. The calculator works internally in centimeters, the unit the survey published at 0.1 cm.
- Height - feet as a whole number and inches with decimals if you like (5 and 9.5), or centimeters (176.5). Use a measured height, standing straight without shoes, because the survey measured everyone.
- Read the result - the percentile, the share of the group taller and shorter than you, the group median and mean, the middle 70% of heights and two tables.
Where the numbers come from
The reference is the anthropometric report of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), published by NCHS as Vital and Health Statistics, Series 3, No. 46 (Fryar and colleagues). NHANES staff measure standing height with a wall-mounted stadiometer, and the estimates are weighted to represent the U.S. population. For adults the report gives, by sex and age group, the number of people examined, the mean and nine percentiles: the 5th, 10th, 15th, 25th, 50th, 75th, 85th, 90th and 95th. The tables the calculator uses are Table 9 (women, 5,510 examined) and Table 11 (men, 5,092 examined), all race and Hispanic-origin groups together.
A percentile here means a share of people. At the 70th percentile you are taller than about 70% of the group and shorter than about 30%. Because the report prints only nine cut points, a height that falls between two of them is placed on a straight line between them. That is an estimate, and the calculator says so. Above the 95th or below the 5th it does not estimate at all: it tells you that you are beyond the edge of the table, which is the honest answer when the source stops there.
Men's height percentiles by age
From Table 11, in feet and inches converted at 2.54 cm per inch. The 15th to 85th columns hold the middle 70% of men in each group.
| Age | 5th | 15th | 50th | 85th | 95th |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20 and over | 5 ft 4.1 in | 5 ft 6.0 in | 5 ft 9.1 in | 6 ft 0.0 in | 6 ft 1.8 in |
| 20-29 | 5 ft 4.8 in | 5 ft 6.3 in | 5 ft 9.3 in | 6 ft 0.1 in | 6 ft 1.7 in |
| 30-39 | 5 ft 4.4 in | 5 ft 6.4 in | 5 ft 9.6 in | 6 ft 0.6 in | 6 ft 2.3 in |
| 40-49 | 5 ft 4.4 in | 5 ft 6.3 in | 5 ft 9.5 in | 6 ft 0.0 in | 6 ft 2.2 in |
| 50-59 | 5 ft 4.1 in | 5 ft 6.0 in | 5 ft 9.0 in | 6 ft 0.1 in | 6 ft 1.9 in |
| 60-69 | 5 ft 4.0 in | 5 ft 5.7 in | 5 ft 8.6 in | 5 ft 11.7 in | 6 ft 0.8 in |
| 70-79 | 5 ft 3.6 in | 5 ft 5.4 in | 5 ft 8.1 in | 5 ft 10.6 in | 6 ft 0.7 in |
| 80 and over | 5 ft 2.0 in | 5 ft 4.2 in | 5 ft 7.0 in | 5 ft 10.2 in | 5 ft 11.8 in |
Women's height percentiles by age
From Table 9, same columns. A woman at the 95th percentile of 20-29 year olds (172.8 cm) would be at about the 34th percentile among men of the same age.
| Age | 5th | 15th | 50th | 85th | 95th |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20 and over | 4 ft 11.0 in | 5 ft 0.6 in | 5 ft 3.5 in | 5 ft 6.3 in | 5 ft 7.9 in |
| 20-29 | 4 ft 11.4 in | 5 ft 1.1 in | 5 ft 4.1 in | 5 ft 6.7 in | 5 ft 8.0 in |
| 30-39 | 4 ft 11.5 in | 5 ft 1.2 in | 5 ft 4.0 in | 5 ft 7.0 in | 5 ft 8.3 in |
| 40-49 | 4 ft 11.3 in | 5 ft 0.9 in | 5 ft 4.0 in | 5 ft 6.7 in | 5 ft 8.6 in |
| 50-59 | 4 ft 11.3 in | 5 ft 0.7 in | 5 ft 3.3 in | 5 ft 6.5 in | 5 ft 7.5 in |
| 60-69 | 4 ft 10.8 in | 5 ft 0.6 in | 5 ft 3.3 in | 5 ft 6.0 in | 5 ft 7.6 in |
| 70-79 | 4 ft 10.1 in | 5 ft 0.0 in | 5 ft 2.2 in | 5 ft 4.9 in | 5 ft 6.2 in |
| 80 and over | 4 ft 9.2 in | 4 ft 10.8 in | 5 ft 1.3 in | 5 ft 3.7 in | 5 ft 5.6 in |
What the tables say once you read them side by side
One height, two very different places. At 5 ft 7 in a man aged 20 and over sits at about the 25th percentile; a woman of the same height is at about the 90th. The two distributions overlap, but their middles are 14.1 cm apart (175.4 against 161.3).
Six feet is rarer than it sounds. The 85th percentile for men aged 20 and over is 182.9 cm, which converts to 6 ft 0.0 in. So a man who is exactly 6 ft is taller than about 85% of U.S. men, and 6 ft 3 in is already past the 95th, where the table ends.
The older groups are shorter. The median man aged 30-39 is 176.7 cm; the median man aged 80 and over is 170.3 cm, 2.5 inches less. For women the same comparison gives 162.6 cm against 155.8 cm. A single survey cannot say how much of the gap is height lost over a lifetime and how much is a later birth year, which is why the calculator lets you choose your own age group.
The middle is crowded. For men aged 20 and over the 25th and 75th percentiles are only 10.1 cm apart, about 4 inches. Half of all U.S. men fit into that band, so near the center a single inch moves you roughly 12 to 13 percentile points, and far fewer out toward the edges.
Eight heights, placed by the calculator
Result: 49th percentile, 0.1 in under the median.
Result: 84th percentile.
Result: 57th percentile, 0.5 in above the median.
Result: 68th percentile, 1.3 in above the median.
Result: 57th percentile.
Result: 64th percentile, 0.9 in above the median.
Result: 16th percentile, 2.2 in under the median.
Result: above the 95th percentile; the table publishes nothing higher.
How to read your percentile
The percentile only describes where a height sits in the U.S. adult population. It is not a health rating, and no part of the range is better or worse than another. Around the 50th you are close to the middle of the group; at the 15th or 85th you are at the edge of the middle 70%; below the 5th or above the 95th you are beyond the published table. A height that changes noticeably over a few years in adulthood is something to mention to a doctor, but that is a change over time, which this snapshot cannot show.
Height percentile questions
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Calculator verified by the LiczGrupa.pl team
Content, formulas and results have been reviewed for accuracy and relevance by our team of specialists.
Reviewed by: Natalia Skrzek