Are You Faster or Slower Than Normal?

We’ve all heard about the health benefits of walking, but how fast should you be walking? What’s the average walking speed by age and what factors affect average walking speed anyway? We’re going to break it all down and help you pick up the pace if that’s your goal too.

Knowing the average walking speed for different age groups and sexes might help you calculate how fast you should be walking during your walking workouts or how your walking speed compares to the average human being.

What Is The Average Walking Speed?

There isn’t 1 average across all humans, as you might expect it’s influeced heavily by age, gender and fitness level.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the average walking speed is around 2.5 to 4 miles per hour for adults (see treadmill pace chart).

This means that it would take approximately 15 to 24 minutes to walk a mile, which is further confirmed by data gathered in a 2019 study spanning five decades.

**Note the 20-24 minute mile is unlikely to be a workout speed, but rather the standard pace at which they are walking.

In a 2015 study on walking groups, it was discovered that competitive power walkers, for instance, may finish a mile in 11 minutes. YUP the pace that many folks are running! The majority of us should not be aiming for that or expect to hit that.

But over the last 15 years of coaching, I have helped many people get to a 15 minute mile which is a really solid pace for workouts and often leads to doing a little run/walking!

15 minute mile is 4.0mph or 6.4km/h.

So is a 17 minute mile good for walking?

It’s absolutely within the average and can be a very solid workout pace, but we’re going to touch more on that below!

Average Walking Speed By Age Chart KM/H

According to studies, our average walking speed decreases with age.

Many of these causes are within our control and working on them can improve overall health! In particular, we know that strength training can help to slow muscle loss and we can continue to improve our endurance by doing things like consistent daily walks.

Why we slow down with age:

Age-related sarcopenia
loss of muscle strength (without resistance training we start losing muscle at age 30)
decline in aerobic capacity (VO2 max)
deterioration of cardiovascular endurance

A September 2020 study examined how aging affected several aspects of walking. The authors released details regarding the average walking speed by age, which we have listed in average walking speed in kilometers per hour, miles per hour as well as walking pace in minutes per mile.

Age
Miles per hour (mph)
Kilometers per hour (km/h)
Walking Pace min/mile

< 30
3.0
4.82
20:00

30–39
2.8
4.54
21:24

40–49
2.8
4.54
21:24

50–59
2.75
4.43
21:40

> 60
2.7
4.34
22:13

> 65
2.1
3.42
33:30

What Is The Average Walking Speed By Age And Gender MPH?

Average walking speed can also be impacted by biological sex. Men typically have a faster walking speed than women. As one researcher put it: “Research has shown that individuals have an optimal walking speed-a speed which minimizes energy expenditure for a given distance. Because the optimal walking speed varies with mass and lower limb length, it also varies with sex, with males in any given population tending to have faster optimal walking speeds.”

Research that attempted to study the combined effects of sex and age on walking speed discovered that when matched by age, the average walking speed for women is slower than that for men.

One study published in the Public Library of Science (PLOS) found the following average walking speeds by age group and sex:

Age
Average Walking Speed for Women (mph)
Average Walking Speed for Men (mph)

20-29
3.0
3.4

30-39
3.0
3.2

40-49
3.11
3.2

50-59
2.93
3.2

60-69
2.77
3.0

70-79
2.53
2.82

80-89
2.1
2.17

Average Walking Speed by Age and Gender Chart

Based on the walking speeds from the study published by PLOS, the table below shoes how long it takes on average to walk a mile based on age and sex:

Age
Average Time to Walk a Mile for Women
Average Time to Walk a Mile for Men

20-29
20:00
17:39

30-39
20:00
18:45

40-49
19:17
18:45

50-59
20:28
18:45

60-69
21:40
20:00

70-79
23:43
21:16

80-89
28:31
27:39

Other Factors That Affect Average Walking Speed

In addition to age and gender, there are other factors that may affect your average walking speed.

While most people do have a comfortable walking speed and a maximum or brisk walking speed, the average speed at which they walk from day to day can vary quite a bit, even between these two extremes.

Here are some other things that can change your average walking speed from day to day or between two people of the same age and biological sex:

1. Current Fitness Level

Your current fitness level will significantly influence your walking speed, especially over longer distances.

The more physically fit you are, the faster you can walk and the longer you can keep your walking speed without slowing down.

2. Height

Taller people generally have longer legs and larger strides than shorter people, which can enable them to walk faster. In general, a person’s average walking speed is proportional to their stride length.

However, it’s worth noting that there are exceptions to this rule, and factors such as fitness level and health can also play a significant role.

3. Body Composition

Due to the additional weight they carry, people who are overweight or obese place a greater strain on their circulatory and musculoskeletal systems as they try to get from one place to another.

This doesn’t mean that heavier people will always walk slower than leaner people, but having a higher percentage of body fat could slow your average walking speed, especially at a given level of effort.

4. Health Conditions

Certain health conditions can affect average walking speed as well. For example, arthritis can cause joint pain and stiffness, which can slow down a person’s walking speed.

Similarly, Parkinson’s disease can affect muscle control and coordination, making it more difficult to walk quickly and efficiently. Other conditions, such as chronic pain, can also affect walking speed by causing fatigue or reducing mobility.

5. Terrain

Your average walking speed can also be affected by the terrain you’re walking on.

Walking on a flat, smooth surface is generally easier and faster than walking uphill, downhill, or over uneven terrain. In fact, studies have shown that walking speed decreases by about 10% for every 1% increase in slope. This means that walking up a steep hill can significantly slow down your walking speed.

Also, walking on uneven or difficult terrain, like technical hiking trails, soft sand, or roads that are wet or snowy, can slow your average walking speed because you have to watch where you step and get around obstacles.