The average weight for an adult in the United States is 199 pounds for men and 171.8 pounds for women, based on CDC measurements collected between August 2021 and August 2023. Those numbers are higher than most other countries, and whether they qualify as “healthy” depends on your height, body composition, and several other factors that a single number on a scale can’t capture.
Average Weight in the United States
The CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics regularly measures a representative sample of Americans to track body measurements over time. The most recent data puts the average American man at 199 pounds and the average American woman at 171.8 pounds. These are measured values, not self-reported, which makes them more reliable than survey data (people tend to underreport their weight by a few pounds).
These averages reflect a population where 40.3% of adults meet the clinical definition of obesity, with a body mass index of 30 or higher. About 9.4% fall into the severe obesity category, with a BMI of 40 or above. That severe obesity rate has been climbing, rising from 7.7% in 2013-2014 to 9.7% in the most recent measurement period, even as the overall obesity rate has held relatively steady.
How the US Compares Globally
The global average BMI for both men and women sits right around 25, which is the exact threshold where the World Health Organization draws the line between normal weight and overweight. That means the typical adult worldwide is right on the border.
The countries with the highest average BMI are Pacific Island nations: American Samoa, Samoa, Tonga, Niue, and Nauru top the list. Genetic factors, shifts away from traditional diets, and limited access to diverse food supplies all play a role. On the other end, countries like Timor-Leste and Japan have some of the lowest average BMIs in the world. The US falls well above the global average but below the Pacific Island outliers.
What “Average” Actually Tells You
Knowing the national average weight is useful for context, but it’s a poor tool for evaluating your own health. A 6-foot-2 man and a 5-foot-6 man have very different healthy weight ranges, so the raw number means little without height. That’s why BMI exists: it adjusts weight for height to create a standardized comparison point.
The WHO uses these BMI categories for adults:
- Under 18.5: underweight
- 18.5 to 24.9: normal weight
- 25 to 29.9: overweight
- 30 and above: obese
For a rough sense of what this looks like in pounds: a woman who is 5 feet 4 inches tall would fall in the “normal” BMI range at roughly 110 to 145 pounds. A man who is 5 feet 10 inches tall would be in the normal range at about 132 to 174 pounds. The averages reported by the CDC exceed those ranges for both sexes, which aligns with the high overweight and obesity prevalence in the US.
Why BMI Has Limits
BMI is simple and cheap to calculate, which is why it became the default screening tool worldwide. But it has real blind spots. It uses the same thresholds regardless of age, sex, or race, even though body composition varies meaningfully across all three. A 2025 study in The Annals of Family Medicine found that BMI had no statistically significant relationship with all-cause mortality in adults aged 20 to 49, while body fat percentage was a more reliable predictor.
The problem works in both directions. Someone with a muscular build can be classified as overweight or obese by BMI despite having low body fat and excellent metabolic health. Meanwhile, people with a normal BMI but a high body fat percentage, sometimes called “normal weight obesity,” can carry elevated risk for metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease without ever being flagged by a standard screening. Waist circumference and body fat percentage are sex-specific measurements that often give a more accurate picture of health risk than BMI alone.
What a Healthy Weight Looks Like for You
Your healthy weight depends on your height, your frame, how much muscle you carry, where your body stores fat, and your metabolic markers like blood sugar and cholesterol. Two people at the same weight can have very different health profiles. Waist circumference is one of the simplest additional checks: fat stored around the midsection is more strongly linked to heart disease and diabetes than fat stored in the hips or thighs.
If you’re comparing yourself to the national average, keep in mind that “average” and “healthy” are not the same thing. The average American adult is, by clinical standards, overweight. That doesn’t make it a target to aim for. A better approach is to find where your weight falls relative to your own height using a BMI calculator, then factor in what you know about your body composition and any metabolic numbers from recent bloodwork.