The average American woman aged 20 and over stands 5 feet 3.5 inches tall and weighs approximately 170 pounds, based on CDC measurements collected between 2021 and 2023. That number has climbed steadily over the past six decades, and it varies meaningfully by age, race, and ethnicity.
How the Average Has Changed Over Time
In the early 1960s, the average American woman between 20 and 74 weighed about 140 pounds. By 2002, that figure had risen to 164 pounds. Today it sits around 170 pounds. That’s a gain of roughly 30 pounds in just over 60 years, a shift driven largely by changes in food environments, portion sizes, and physical activity patterns rather than changes in height (which has barely budged).
Weight Differences by Race and Ethnicity
National averages can obscure wide variation across racial and ethnic groups. CDC data from the 2015–2016 survey cycle found the following mean weights for women aged 20 and over:
- Non-Hispanic Black women: 186 pounds
- Non-Hispanic White women: 171 pounds
- Hispanic women: 169 pounds
- Non-Hispanic Asian women: 132 pounds
These differences reflect a mix of genetic, socioeconomic, and environmental factors. They also matter for health screening, since standard BMI cutoffs don’t apply equally across all groups. For example, Asian populations tend to develop metabolic complications at lower BMI thresholds, which is why some health organizations use adjusted ranges for that population.
What BMI Says (and Doesn’t Say)
At 170 pounds and 5 feet 3.5 inches, the average American woman has a BMI of roughly 29.6, which falls just under the obesity threshold of 30. BMI is a blunt tool. It doesn’t distinguish between muscle and fat, and it tells you nothing about where fat is stored. Two women at the same weight can have very different health profiles depending on their body composition, fitness level, and fat distribution.
Waist circumference is one reason clinicians look beyond the scale. A waist measurement above 35 inches in women is associated with higher risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and metabolic syndrome, regardless of total body weight. For many people, waist size is a more practical indicator of health risk than the number on the scale.
How Many Women Are Classified as Overweight or Obese
The average weight doesn’t tell you how the population is distributed. According to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, about 27.5% of American women are classified as overweight (a BMI between 25 and 29.9), and 41.9% meet the criteria for obesity (BMI of 30 or higher). Within that obesity category, 11.5% of women have severe obesity, defined as a BMI of 40 or above. That means close to 70% of adult women in the U.S. fall above the “normal weight” BMI range.
Women are more likely than men to have severe obesity (11.5% vs. 6.9%), while men are more likely to be in the overweight category (34.1% vs. 27.5%). The overall obesity rates between men and women are similar, hovering around 42–43%.
How the U.S. Compares Globally
American women weigh more, on average, than women in most other countries. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization has used U.S. body measurements as a high-end reference point for global comparisons. Women in most European countries, Australia, and Uruguay fall near or at the U.S. median, while women in Japan, Hong Kong, the Philippines, and Indonesia cluster around the 20th percentile of U.S. weight curves, meaning they weigh considerably less at the same age and height. New Zealand tracks slightly above the U.S. median.
Much of this gap comes down to diet composition, food availability, and cultural eating patterns rather than genetics alone. Countries that have adopted more Western-style diets over the past few decades have seen their average weights rise in parallel.
Why the Number on the Scale Is Limited
If you searched this question to figure out where you stand, keep in mind that “average” is not the same as “healthy,” and “healthy” is not a single number. Weight is influenced by height, muscle mass, bone density, age, genetics, and dozens of other factors. A 170-pound woman who strength trains regularly and a 170-pound woman who is sedentary are in very different metabolic situations, even though they’d report the same number on a scale.
The most useful health indicators combine weight with waist circumference, blood pressure, blood sugar levels, and cholesterol. If your weight is close to the national average, that tells you something about where you fit statistically. It doesn’t, on its own, tell you much about your health.