Average Height for Men in the US and Worldwide

The average height for men in the United States is 68.9 inches, just under 5'9" (175 cm). That figure comes from the CDC, which measured men 20 and older between August 2021 and August 2023. Half of American men are between about 5'7" and 5'11", and anything from roughly 5'4" to 6'1.5" falls within the middle 90%.

Want to see exactly where your height ranks? Our height percentile calculator turns your height, age and sex into a percentile in seconds.

What is the average height of a man in the US?

The most reliable number comes from the CDC's National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), which sends trained staff to measure people with a wall-mounted stadiometer instead of asking them how tall they are. In the latest report, 2,690 men aged 20 and older were measured.

• Average (mean): 68.9 in (175.1 cm), about 5'9"
• Median (the middle man): 69.0 in (175.2 cm), 5'9"

The mean and median are almost identical because height is spread fairly evenly around the middle. Measured data matters: when people report their own height, men overstate it by about half an inch (1.2 cm) on average, according to a study of national survey data.

Height percentiles for American men

A percentile tells you what share of men are shorter than a given height. If you're at the 75th percentile, you're taller than 75 out of 100 men.

Men 20 and older, CDC NHANES, August 2021–August 2023.

Is 5'8" short for a guy?

No. 5'8" (172.7 cm) sits between the 25th and 50th percentiles, less than an inch below the median. Here's how other common heights compare:

• 5'4" (162.6 cm): around the 5th percentile, on the shorter end of normal.
• 5'6" (167.6 cm): around the 15th percentile.
• 5'8" (172.7 cm): slightly below the middle.
• 5'10" (177.8 cm): between the 50th and 75th percentiles, a bit above average.
• 6'0" (182.9 cm): just under the 85th percentile, so roughly 15% of men are 6 feet or taller.
• 6'2" (188 cm): above the 95th percentile, taller than about 19 out of 20 men.

"Short" is a feeling, not a medical category. Doctors use percentiles to check health and growth, and for adults any height in the broad middle of the range is simply normal. To see two heights next to each other, try our height comparison tool.

Average height for men by age

Younger men are slightly taller on average than older men:

Two things explain the drop. First, people lose height as they age: MedlinePlus notes a typical loss of almost half an inch (about 1 cm) every 10 years after 40, and 1 to 3 inches over a lifetime, as spinal discs flatten and posture changes. Second, men born in different decades grew up with different nutrition and health care.

Average height in America (men and women)

The average American woman 20 and older is 63.5 inches (about 5'3.5", 161 cm), so the average man is about 5.4 inches (14 cm) taller. Our guide to the average height for women has the full breakdown for women.

Average height for men by country

The best global estimates come from the NCD Risk Factor Collaboration (NCD-RisC), a network of health scientists that pools population studies from 200 countries. The figures below are their estimates for 19-year-old men in 2019:

These are modeled estimates with a margin of error of a few centimeters for many countries, so small differences between neighbors in the table aren't meaningful. The US figure is a little above the CDC adult average, partly because it covers only young men, who tend to be taller than older generations.

Has average height changed over time?

Yes, though not much recently in the US. CDC surveys show men aged 20 to 74 averaged 68.3 inches in 1960–1962 and 69.4 inches by 1999–2002. Since then the average has held roughly steady: men 20 and older measured 69.2 inches in 1999–2002 and 68.9 inches in 2021–2023.

Other countries kept growing. NCD-RisC estimates that American men born in 1896 averaged about 171 cm (5'7.5") and ranked 3rd tallest of 200 countries. Men born in 1996 averaged about 177 cm (5'9.5") but ranked 37th, as countries like the Netherlands and South Korea gained more. Researchers link these gains mainly to better nutrition and health in childhood.

Will you be taller than average?

If you're still a teen, your adult height isn't set yet. Compare yourself with the average height for an 18-year-old boy, learn when boys stop growing, and get a personal estimate from our height calculator.

Bottom line: The average American man is just under 5'9" (175 cm). Anything from about 5'4" to 6'1.5" is within the middle 90% of men, and every height in that range is completely normal.

When to see a doctor

For teens, talk to a doctor if your height has dropped across major lines on the growth chart, you grew less than about 2 inches (5 cm) in a year during childhood, or there are no signs of puberty by about age 14. For adults, mention any noticeable loss of height to your doctor, since MedlinePlus notes that osteoporosis can cause tiny fractures in the spine that shorten you over time.

The takeaway

The average height for a man in the US is 68.9 inches, about 5'9" (175 cm), and the typical range is wide. Most men fall somewhere between 5'5" and 6'0.5", and where you land is mostly set by genetics and childhood health, not by anything you did wrong.