Average vertical jump by age
How high men and women actually jump, from 18 to 69 — median plus the 25th, 75th and 90th percentiles, measured jump-and-reach with an arm swing.
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PowerJumping and straight-line acceleration
Standing countermovement jump with arm swing, no step. Jump-and-reach: highest touch minus standing reach, best of three.
Vertical jump tester — search Amazon (opens in a new tab)Optional: use an adjustable vane tester to measure jump reach minus standing reach. A wall, chalk and tape measure also work.
Derived — converted from real data on a closely related measure. Nationally representative Canadian force-plate jump data (CHMS, n=5,188), shifted a few centimetres to match the jump-and-reach method.
Two things to keep in mind before comparing yourself. First, the protocol decides the number: a jump-and-reach with an arm swing reads several inches higher than a force-plate or no-arm jump, and standing reach is easy to measure generously. Second, this is the whole population — most adults in their 40s have not attempted a maximal jump in twenty years. The methodology explains the correction applied to the source data.
Average vertical jump by age — men
Jump height needed to beat that share of all men in the age band.
| Age | 25th | 50th | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18-29 | 17.8 in | 20.4 in | 22.8 in | 24.8 in |
| 30-39 | 16.4 in | 18.7 in | 20.9 in | 22.8 in |
| 40-49 | 14.9 in | 16.9 in | 18.9 in | 20.6 in |
| 50-59 | 13.2 in | 15.0 in | 16.8 in | 18.3 in |
| 60-69 | 11.4 in | 13.0 in | 14.5 in | 15.8 in |
Average vertical jump by age — women
Jump height needed to beat that share of all women in the age band.
| Age | 25th | 50th | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18-29 | 11.8 in | 13.3 in | 14.8 in | 16.2 in |
| 30-39 | 11.3 in | 12.8 in | 14.4 in | 15.8 in |
| 40-49 | 10.5 in | 12.0 in | 13.5 in | 14.9 in |
| 50-59 | 9.4 in | 10.7 in | 12.1 in | 13.3 in |
| 60-69 | 8.2 in | 9.4 in | 10.7 in | 11.8 in |
Standing broad jump by age
The broad jump measures the same quality and is easier to self-measure — no reach height to estimate, just a tape. Modeled from Japan's national fitness survey (the only large adult broad-jump dataset), scaled down 6% for a heavier Western population. Only your better of the two counts toward the overall rank.
Men
| Age | 25th | 50th | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18-29 | 6′ 4″ | 6′ 11″ | 7′ 7″ | 8′ 1″ |
| 30-39 | 6′ 0″ | 6′ 7″ | 7′ 2″ | 7′ 9″ |
| 40-49 | 5′ 7″ | 6′ 3″ | 6′ 10″ | 7′ 4″ |
| 50-59 | 5′ 3″ | 5′ 10″ | 6′ 5″ | 6′ 11″ |
| 60-69 | 4′ 10″ | 5′ 6″ | 6′ 1″ | 6′ 7″ |
Women
| Age | 25th | 50th | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18-29 | 4′ 7″ | 5′ 1″ | 5′ 8″ | 6′ 2″ |
| 30-39 | 4′ 3″ | 4′ 10″ | 5′ 5″ | 5′ 11″ |
| 40-49 | 4′ 1″ | 4′ 7″ | 5′ 2″ | 5′ 8″ |
| 50-59 | 3′ 9″ | 4′ 4″ | 4′ 11″ | 5′ 5″ |
| 60-69 | 3′ 6″ | 4′ 1″ | 4′ 7″ | 5′ 1″ |
Vertical jump among NCAA Division I athletes
The median D1 man jumps 27.0 in and the median D1 woman 18.1 in, pooled across sports weighted by NCAA head-count. A woman matching the D1 women's median would be the 98th percentile among all women aged 18-29. The D1 comparison is raw — no age or size adjustment.
Questions
What is the average vertical jump for a man?
The median man aged 18-29 jumps about 20.4 in, falling to 16.9 in in the 40s and 13.0 in in the 60s. That is the median of all men that age, most of whom have not jumped for height since school.
What is the average vertical jump for a woman?
The median woman aged 18-29 jumps about 13.3 in, 12.0 in in the 40s and 9.4 in in the 60s.
What is a good vertical jump?
For a man aged 18-29, 22.8 in is the 75th percentile and 24.8 in the 90th. For a woman the same marks are 14.8 in and 16.2 in. Technique matters: these assume a standing countermovement jump with arm swing, measured jump-and-reach, best of three.
How does that compare with D1 athletes?
The median NCAA Division I man jumps 27.0 in and the median D1 woman 18.1 in, pooled across sports by head-count. The D1 men's median would be the 97th percentile among all men aged 18-29 — jumping separates people harder than almost any other test on this site.
How accurate are these vertical jump numbers?
Derived — converted from real data on a closely related measure. Nationally representative Canadian force-plate jump data (CHMS, n=5,188), shifted a few centimetres to match the jump-and-reach method. Jump height is not adjusted for body size: the evidence shows it is essentially independent of how big you are.
The vertical is one of fifteen tests. Get your overall athleticism rank across strength, power, agility and endurance.