how many steps are in a 5K?
About 7,121 steps if you are 5′7″ (170 cm), walking a 5K (5 km, 3.1 miles) at a comfortable pace — 7,506 at the average height of an adult woman in the US and 6,906 for a man. At 3 mph the walk takes 1 h 2 min.
Steps in a 5K, by height
| height | steps |
|---|---|
| 4′11″150 cm | 8,071 |
| 5′1″155 cm | 7,811 |
| 5′3″160 cm | 7,567 |
| 5′5″165 cm | 7,337 |
| 5′7″170 cm | 7,121 |
| 5′9″175 cm | 6,918 |
| 5′11″180 cm | 6,726 |
| 6′1″185 cm | 6,544 |
| 6′3″190 cm | 6,372 |
Taller walkers take longer steps and so fewer of them; the table uses a step of 0.413 × height. The average adult woman in the US is 161.3 cm (63.5 in) and the average man 175.3 cm (69.0 in), by the CDC's 2015–2018 measurements.
How long a 5K takes, by speed
| speed | time | cadence |
|---|---|---|
| 2 mph | 1 h 33 min | 76 steps/min |
| 3 mph | 1 h 2 min | 115 steps/min |
| 3.5 mph | 53 min | 134 steps/min |
| 4 mph | 47 min | 153 steps/min |
Time depends only on speed. The cadence column is how many steps a minute that speed takes at 5′7″ — about 100 a minute is where walking becomes moderate exercise, as steps per minute explains.
Walking or running
These counts are for walking a 5K. Running steps are longer, so a race takes noticeably fewer of them; why the low figures you see quoted are usually running figures is on how many steps are in a mile.
Other distances
1 mile · 1 km · 10 km · 2 miles · 3 miles · 4 miles · 5 miles · 6 miles · 10 miles
Angel Step, the step counter behind this site, shows today's count as one number on a living sky — the same count Apple Health keeps, with a widget for the home screen and the lock screen.
Sources
- Step length ≈ 0.413 × height: the ratio behind steps in a mile and every calculator on this site.
- Average adult height in the US, 2015–2018: women 161.3 cm, men 175.3 cm — CDC, Anthropometric Reference Data (Vital Health Stat 3(46)), tables 9 and 11.
Updated