# What is the average walking speed? > The average walking speed for adults is about 1.3 to 1.4 metres a second: roughly 5 km/h or 3 mph, a mile in 20 minutes. It holds steady into your 60s, then slows, to about 1.1 to 1.3 m/s in your 70s and under 1 m/s after 80. Men walk slightly faster than women at most ages. - URL: https://www.getstepup.app/guides/average-walking-speed - Author: Dheeraj Kumar Sharma, founder of StepUp - Published: 2026-11-10 - Updated: 2026-11-10 ![A person walking briskly across a sidewalk.](https://pub-48d2217e0886430fa61a96fad22cffa7.r2.dev/Guides/average-walking-speed.webp) *image credit: Unsplash* Most adults walk at about 3 miles an hour without thinking about it. That's the comfortable pace you fall into on the way to the shops, and it's remarkably consistent from your 20s to your 60s. What changes it, and what a slower or faster pace says about you, is the more interesting part. ## What is the average walking speed? Across studies of more than 23,000 healthy adults, the average comfortable walking speed is about **1.3 to 1.4 metres a second**. That's roughly 5 km/h or 3 mph: a mile in about 20 minutes, or a kilometre in 12 to 13. The figures come from a 2011 meta-analysis that pooled 41 studies of adults walking at their normal pace over a measured stretch. It's the number clinics use as the reference for "normal". ## What is the average walking speed by age? Walking speed barely changes until your 60s, then falls faster with each decade. Men walk a little faster than women at most ages, partly because they're taller on average and take longer steps. | Age | Men | Women | |---|---|---| | 20–29 | 1.36 m/s · 4.9 km/h · 3.0 mph | 1.34 m/s · 4.8 km/h · 3.0 mph | | 30–39 | 1.43 m/s · 5.2 km/h · 3.2 mph | 1.34 m/s · 4.8 km/h · 3.0 mph | | 40–49 | 1.43 m/s · 5.2 km/h · 3.2 mph | 1.39 m/s · 5.0 km/h · 3.1 mph | | 50–59 | 1.43 m/s · 5.2 km/h · 3.2 mph | 1.31 m/s · 4.7 km/h · 2.9 mph | | 60–69 | 1.34 m/s · 4.8 km/h · 3.0 mph | 1.24 m/s · 4.5 km/h · 2.8 mph | | 70–79 | 1.26 m/s · 4.5 km/h · 2.8 mph | 1.13 m/s · 4.1 km/h · 2.5 mph | | 80–99 | 0.97 m/s · 3.5 km/h · 2.2 mph | 0.94 m/s · 3.4 km/h · 2.1 mph | *Average comfortable walking speed of healthy adults, from Bohannon and Andrews, 2011.* These are averages, and the spread around them is wide. A tall 30-year-old can stroll at 1.5 m/s without trying, and a short one may sit nearer 1.2. Your own speed, tracked over months, tells you more than where you land in the table. ## How fast is a brisk walk? The CDC counts walking at **2.5 mph (4 km/h) or faster** as brisk: moderate-intensity exercise, the kind the 150 minutes a week are made of. For most adults under 70, an ordinary walk already clears that bar. A walk with somewhere to be is usually 3.5 to 4 mph (5.6 to 6.4 km/h). Speed is only half of it, though. A brisk walk is about how hard it feels, so the same pace can be brisk for one person and easy for another. Two simpler checks: - **Your cadence.** About [100 steps a minute](https://www.getstepup.app/metrics/tempo) is where walking becomes moderate exercise for most adults. Count your steps for 15 seconds: 25 or more is brisk. - **The talk test.** At a brisk pace you can talk, but not sing. Your [walking heart rate](https://www.getstepup.app/guides/walking-heart-rate) is a third check, if you wear an Apple Watch. ## How do speed and pace compare? Speed is distance per hour. Pace is the other way round: minutes per mile or kilometre, which is what treadmills, watches and race results often show. | Speed | Pace per mile | Pace per km | Metres a second | |---|---|---|---| | 2 mph · 3.2 km/h | 30:00 | 18:38 | 0.89 | | 2.5 mph · 4.0 km/h | 24:00 | 14:55 | 1.12 | | 3 mph · 4.8 km/h | 20:00 | 12:26 | 1.34 | | 3.5 mph · 5.6 km/h | 17:09 | 10:39 | 1.56 | | 4 mph · 6.4 km/h | 15:00 | 9:19 | 1.79 | The [pace converter](https://www.getstepup.app/tools/pace-converter) turns any speed into a pace and back, and the [walking pace calculator](https://www.getstepup.app/tools/walking-pace) works out yours from a walk's distance and time. ## Why is walking speed a sign of health? Walking at your usual pace takes your heart, lungs, muscles, joints, balance and nervous system working together, so when any of them struggles, speed tends to drop. That's why geriatricians sometimes call it the "sixth vital sign". - **Studenski et al., 2011.** Pooling nine studies of nearly 35,000 adults aged 65 and over, researchers found that survival rose steadily with walking speed. Each extra 0.1 m/s went with a 12% lower risk of dying during follow-up. A speed of about 0.8 m/s matched the average life expectancy for a person's age and sex, and 1.0 m/s or faster went with living longer than expected. - **Stamatakis et al., 2018.** In 50,225 British walkers, those who described their usual pace as average had a 20% lower risk of dying during follow-up than slow walkers, and brisk or fast walkers 24% lower. Deaths from heart disease and stroke fell by about as much. Both studies are observational: slow walking is often a sign of health problems rather than their cause. But speed is quick to measure and tracks how the whole body is doing, which is why it's worth knowing yours. There's a practical side, too. US pedestrian crossings are timed for a walking speed of 3.5 feet a second, about 1.07 m/s or 2.4 mph. Someone who walks slower than that can be left in the road when the lights change. ## What changes how fast you walk? - **Height and step length.** Longer legs take longer steps. The [stride length calculator](https://www.getstepup.app/tools/stride-length) estimates yours from your height. - **Age.** Strength, balance and step length fall gradually after 60, and speed with them. - **Fitness and strength.** Stronger legs and a fitter heart make a quicker pace feel easy. - **Pain or injury.** A sore knee, hip or foot shortens your steps and slows you down. - **Where and why you're walking.** Hills, crowds, heat, a heavy bag or a friend to chat with all change your pace. So does a train to catch. ## How can you measure your walking speed? - **Time a known distance.** Walk a measured route at your normal pace and time it. One lap of a running track is 400 m: five minutes is 4.8 km/h, or 3 mph. - **Use your iPhone.** If you carry an iPhone 8 or later in a pocket or on your waist, it measures your walking speed during steady walks on flat ground and saves it to the Health app, under Mobility. It also records your step length and [double support time](https://www.getstepup.app/guides/walking-double-support) the same way. - **Do the clinic test.** Doctors and physiotherapists often time a 4-metre walk at your usual pace, starting a few steps before the line so you're already up to speed. Divide 4 by the seconds it took. ## How can you walk faster? - **Quicken your steps first.** Shorter, quicker steps raise your speed more comfortably than reaching for longer ones. - **Add brisk minutes.** Put a few faster minutes into your usual walk and lengthen them over weeks. [Japanese interval walking](https://www.getstepup.app/guides/japanese-interval-walking) alternates three minutes fast with three easy. - **Strengthen your legs.** Squats, stairs and standing up from a chair without your hands all help. - **Walk tall.** Head up, shoulders relaxed and arms swinging make a quicker pace come naturally. If your walking has slowed noticeably over a few months and you can't say why, or you feel unsteady, it's worth mentioning to your doctor. ## How does StepUp show your walking speed? StepUp's [Pace](https://www.getstepup.app/metrics/pace) metric reads the walking speed and step length your iPhone saves to Apple Health and shows how both change week by week across 12 weeks. It needs only your iPhone in a pocket, no Apple Watch, and it's one of StepUp's free metrics. Walks you record in StepUp show your average speed and the pace of each kilometre or mile. [Walking metrics, explained](https://www.getstepup.app/guides/walking-metrics-explained) covers the rest. ## The short version - The average adult walks at about 1.3 to 1.4 m/s: roughly 5 km/h or 3 mph, a mile in 20 minutes. - Speed holds steady until your 60s, then falls, to about 1.1 to 1.3 m/s in your 70s and under 1 m/s after 80. - The CDC counts 2.5 mph (4 km/h) or faster as a brisk walk, or about 100 steps a minute. - Faster walking goes with longer life in older adults, so a slowdown is worth noticing. - Quicker steps, stronger legs and a few brisk minutes a walk all raise your speed. ## Questions ### What is a good walking speed? For healthy adults, about 1.2 to 1.4 metres a second, or 4.3 to 5 km (2.7 to 3.1 miles) an hour. In older adults, 1.0 m/s or faster goes with living longer than average for your age. ### Is 3 mph a good walking speed? Yes. 3 mph (4.8 km/h), a mile in 20 minutes, is about average for adults under 70, and fast enough to count as a brisk walk by the CDC's measure of 2.5 mph or faster. ### How long does it take to walk a mile? About 20 minutes at an average pace of 3 mph, 17 minutes at a brisk 3.5 mph, and 15 minutes at a fast 4 mph. ### How long does it take to walk 1 km? About 12 to 13 minutes at an average 5 km/h, or 10 to 11 minutes at a brisk 5.6 km/h. ### Does walking speed slow with age? Only slowly at first: it barely changes until your 60s, then falls faster with each decade, to just under 1 metre a second on average after 80. Strength training and regular brisk walking help hold it up. ## Sources - [Bohannon RW, Andrews AW. Normal walking speed: a descriptive meta-analysis. Physiotherapy, 2011](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physio.2010.12.004) - [Studenski S et al. Gait speed and survival in older adults. JAMA, 2011](https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2010.1923) - [Stamatakis E et al. Self-rated walking pace and all-cause, cardiovascular disease and cancer mortality: pooled analysis of 50,225 walkers from 11 British cohorts. Br J Sports Med, 2018](https://doi.org/10.1136/bjsports-2017-098677) - [CDC: Measuring physical activity intensity](https://www.cdc.gov/physical-activity-basics/measuring/index.html) - [Tudor-Locke C et al. Walking cadence (steps/min) and intensity in 21–40 year olds: CADENCE-adults. Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act, 2019](https://doi.org/10.1186/s12966-019-0769-6) - [Apple: Measuring walking quality through iPhone mobility metrics](https://www.apple.com/healthcare/docs/site/Measuring_Walking_Quality_Through_iPhone_Mobility_Metrics.pdf) - [FHWA: Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices, pedestrian signal timing](https://mutcd.fhwa.dot.gov/)