Average grip strength by age
Hand dynamometer norms for men and women from 18 to 69 — the one test on this site where somebody actually measured a representative sample of the population.
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StrengthLifts, pulling and grip
Hand dynamometer, standing, arm straight down at your side and not touching your body. Best single squeeze from either hand, in kilograms.
Hand dynamometer — search Amazon (opens in a new tab)Choose a force-measuring dynamometer with an adjustable handle and a kilogram readout.
Measured — this table comes from direct normative data on a representative sample. Survey-weighted percentiles from the US national health survey (NHANES 2011-2014, about 8,900 adults), adjusted for your height.
That makes grip the reference point for everything else here: where a barbell percentile is a model, this one is a survey. It is also the reason grip is worth measuring even if you don't care about hand strength — it is the cheapest honest calibration of whether the rest of your results are plausible. See the methodology for how the survey weights were applied.
The tables below are at median US height for each sex (5′ 9″ for men, 5′ 4″ for women), because grip is height-adjusted rather than bodyweight-adjusted. Enter your own height in the calculator above and the comparison shifts accordingly.
Average grip strength by age — men
Best single squeeze, in kilograms, needed to beat that share of all men in the age band.
| Age | 25th | 50th | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18-29 | 43 kg | 48 kg | 54 kg | 59 kg |
| 30-39 | 45 kg | 50 kg | 56 kg | 60 kg |
| 40-49 | 44 kg | 49 kg | 54 kg | 58 kg |
| 50-59 | 42 kg | 46 kg | 50 kg | 55 kg |
| 60-69 | 40 kg | 44 kg | 48 kg | 51 kg |
Average grip strength by age — women
Best single squeeze, in kilograms, needed to beat that share of all women in the age band.
| Age | 25th | 50th | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18-29 | 28 kg | 31 kg | 34 kg | 37 kg |
| 30-39 | 29 kg | 32 kg | 35 kg | 38 kg |
| 40-49 | 28 kg | 31 kg | 34 kg | 38 kg |
| 50-59 | 27 kg | 29 kg | 33 kg | 35 kg |
| 60-69 | 25 kg | 28 kg | 30 kg | 33 kg |
Grip strength among NCAA Division I athletes
Our modeled median is 52 kg (115 lb) for men and 33 kg (75 lb) for women, pooled across sports weighted by NCAA head-count. Direct sport studies inform the model, while most sports still require assumptions. The D1 comparison has no age or size adjustment.
Questions
What is the average grip strength for a man?
At median US height (5′ 9″) the median man aged 18-29 squeezes about 48 kg (105 lb), 49 kg (105 lb) in the 40s and 44 kg (95 lb) in the 60s. This is the best single squeeze from either hand, standing, arm straight down at the side.
What is the average grip strength for a woman?
At median US height (5′ 4″) the median woman aged 18-29 squeezes about 31 kg (70 lb), 31 kg (70 lb) in the 40s and 28 kg (60 lb) in the 60s.
What counts as a strong grip?
For a man aged 18-29, 54 kg (120 lb) is the 75th percentile and 59 kg (130 lb) the 90th; for a woman, 34 kg (75 lb) and 37 kg (80 lb). Grip is the one test here adjusted for height rather than bodyweight — in these data grip scales with height at an exponent of about 1.2-1.4 and with body mass at only about 0.2.
How does that compare with D1 athletes?
Our modeled D1 median is 52 kg (115 lb) for men and 33 kg (75 lb) for women. The D1 men's median would be the 70th percentile among all men aged 18-29. Most sports still require assumptions; these are not measured NCAA-wide percentiles.
How accurate are these grip strength numbers?
Measured — this table comes from direct normative data on a representative sample. Survey-weighted percentiles from the US national health survey (NHANES 2011-2014, about 8,900 adults), adjusted for your height. Different dynamometers and grip-span settings can shift a reading by a few kilograms, so test the same way each time if you want to track it.
Grip is one of fifteen tests. Get your overall athleticism rank across strength, power, agility and endurance.