The average height of an adult man in the United States is 5 feet 9 inches (about 176 centimeters). That number comes from the CDC’s National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, which physically measures thousands of people rather than relying on self-reported data.
Average Height by Age Group
Height isn’t uniform across all adult men. Younger men tend to be slightly taller than older men, partly because people lose height as they age due to spinal compression and changes in posture. CDC data breaks it down like this:
- Ages 20 to 39: 176.1 cm, or roughly 5 feet 9 inches
- Ages 40 to 59: 175.8 cm, or roughly 5 feet 9 inches
- Age 60 and older: 173.4 cm, or roughly 5 feet 8 inches
The difference between the youngest and oldest groups is about an inch. Some of that gap reflects actual height loss with aging, where disc compression and bone density changes can shave off half an inch to two inches over a lifetime. Some of it reflects generational differences in nutrition and health during childhood.
How the US Compares Globally
At 5 feet 9 inches, American men fall squarely in the middle of global averages. That may surprise people who think of the US as a tall country, but several nations have pulled ahead. The Netherlands holds the top spot, with men averaging just over 6 feet. Germany comes in at 5 feet 11 inches, while Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia all average about 5 feet 10 inches.
On the shorter end of the spectrum, men in Mexico and Kenya average around 5 feet 7 inches, Indian men about 5 feet 5 inches, and men in the Philippines roughly 5 feet 4 inches. Countries like Brazil, South Korea, and China sit right around the same 5-foot-9 mark as the US.
US Height Has Barely Changed in a Century
The idea that each generation grows taller than the last doesn’t hold up well in the American data. From about 1710 to 1830, the average American man stood around 5 feet 8 inches (173 cm). Heights then actually dropped over the next 60 years, falling to about 5 feet 6.5 inches (169 cm) by 1890, likely driven by rapid urbanization, crowded living conditions, and poor nutrition during industrialization.
A sharp rebound followed. Between 1890 and 1930, average height climbed to roughly 176 cm, where it has essentially stayed ever since. That means American men haven’t gotten meaningfully taller in nearly 100 years. This stands in contrast to many European countries, where average heights continued climbing through the second half of the 20th century, which is how nations like the Netherlands and Germany overtook the US.
Why American Height Stalled
Height is shaped by genetics, but the reason entire populations get taller or stop getting taller comes down to environment, particularly nutrition, healthcare access, and childhood living conditions. Genetics set a ceiling; environment determines how close you get to it.
Researchers studying this stagnation point to growing inequality in the US as a key factor. A 2025 analysis published in ScienceDirect linked the plateau in American stature to the same structural forces behind the country’s lagging life expectancy compared to other wealthy nations. The argument is straightforward: when a significant portion of children grow up without consistent access to quality nutrition and healthcare, the population average reflects that gap. Countries with stronger social safety nets and more universal healthcare systems have seen their populations continue growing taller, even as American heights flatlined.
Diet quality matters beyond just calorie intake. A child who gets enough calories but relies heavily on processed, nutrient-poor food may not reach the same adult height as one with a more balanced diet rich in protein, calcium, and micronutrients during critical growth years.
How This Data Is Collected
The CDC’s numbers come from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), which is more rigorous than a typical poll. Trained staff measure participants in person using a wall-mounted stadiometer, recording height to the nearest millimeter. The 2015 to 2018 cycle measured over 18,000 people. This matters because self-reported height data skews high. People tend to round up by about half an inch to a full inch, so survey-based numbers are consistently less accurate than what NHANES produces.