What height percentile am I in?

Enter your height and sex above. The calculator returns your percentile against US, UK and global adult distributions, since the answer depends on which population you compare yourself to.

What is the average height for men?

About 5 ft 9 in (175.3 cm) in the United States and 5 ft 9 in (175.3 cm) in the UK. The global average is lower, near 5 ft 7.5 in, because it includes populations with markedly shorter average stature.

What is the average height for women?

About 5 ft 4 in (161.5 cm) in the US and 5 ft 4.5 in (163.3 cm) in the UK. The global average is around 5 ft 3 in.

What percentile is 6 feet tall?

Roughly the 86th percentile for US men - taller than about 86 in every 100. For US women, 6 ft is above the 99.9th percentile.

Does height percentile change with age?

Yes, in two ways. Adults lose about half an inch per decade after 40 through spinal compression, and average height has risen across generations, so a given height ranked higher in the past.

Height Percentile Calculator

See what percentage of adults you are taller than, based on national height distributions.

Enter your details and your result will appear here.

What Is Height Percentile?

This height percentile calculator tells you what percentage of adults you are taller than, based on measured national height distributions.

A percentile is a rank, not a judgement. Being in the 70th percentile means 70% of adults of your sex are shorter than you and 30% are taller - nothing more than that.

Understanding Your Height Percentile Result

Adult height follows a normal distribution closely, which is unusual among human measurements and makes percentile ranking straightforward. Most people cluster within a few inches of the average, and the numbers thin out quickly at both extremes.

In the United States, the average adult man is about 5 ft 9 in (175.3 cm) and the average adult woman about 5 ft 4 in (161.5 cm), with a standard deviation near 7 cm for men and 6.5 cm for women. Those figures mean roughly two-thirds of men fall between 5 ft 6 in and 6 ft 0 in.

Because the distribution is normal, small differences near the middle move you a long way up the rankings, while at the tails large differences barely register. An inch above average is worth about 14 percentile points for a man; an inch above 6 ft 4 in is worth about one.

How Is Height Percentile Calculated?

Percentile = normal CDF((your height - population mean) / population standard deviation) x 100

How to use this calculator

Select your sex, enter your height in feet and inches or centimetres, and calculate. You will see your percentile in the US, UK and global adult distributions.

Measure barefoot, heels against a wall, looking straight ahead. Height is also around half an inch lower in the evening than first thing in the morning.

How height percentiles work

The percentile is the share of the population shorter than you. The 50th percentile is exactly average; the 95th means only 5% are taller.

Because height is normally distributed, the middle of the range is crowded. Two inches around the average covers roughly a quarter of the population, while the same two inches at 6 ft 5 in covers a fraction of a percent.

Why the reference population matters

National averages differ substantially. The Netherlands records the tallest average male height at about 6 ft, while several South and Southeast Asian populations average closer to 5 ft 4 in. The same person can be 40th percentile in one country and 90th in another.

Generation matters too. Average heights in most developed countries rose through the twentieth century and have largely plateaued, so comparing yourself to an earlier generation is not comparing like with like.

Methodology

Percentiles are calculated with the normal cumulative distribution function using published population means and standard deviations. US figures come from NHANES 2015-2018 measured data; UK figures derive from national survey data; global figures use pooled international estimates. Only adults aged 20 and over are represented.

Worked Example

A man who is 6 ft 0 in (183 cm) sits at roughly the 86th percentile in the US - taller than about 86% of American adult men.

A woman who is 5 ft 7 in (170 cm) sits at roughly the 82nd percentile in the US. Move her to the global distribution and the figure rises, because average female height worldwide is lower than in the United States.

Important Limitations

Percentiles depend entirely on the reference population, and average height varies by more than six inches between the tallest and shortest national populations. The figures here cover adults only - children need age-and-sex growth charts, since percentile position changes throughout growth. Self-reported height is inflated by around half an inch on average, so measure without shoes against a wall. Height also declines with age, and most reference data pools all adult ages together.

Frequently Asked Questions

What height percentile am I in?: Enter your height and sex above. The calculator returns your percentile against US, UK and global adult distributions, since the answer depends on which population you compare yourself to.
What is the average height for men?: About 5 ft 9 in (175.3 cm) in the United States and 5 ft 9 in (175.3 cm) in the UK. The global average is lower, near 5 ft 7.5 in, because it includes populations with markedly shorter average stature.
What is the average height for women?: About 5 ft 4 in (161.5 cm) in the US and 5 ft 4.5 in (163.3 cm) in the UK. The global average is around 5 ft 3 in.
What percentile is 6 feet tall?: Roughly the 86th percentile for US men - taller than about 86 in every 100. For US women, 6 ft is above the 99.9th percentile.
Does height percentile change with age?: Yes, in two ways. Adults lose about half an inch per decade after 40 through spinal compression, and average height has risen across generations, so a given height ranked higher in the past.