Your height percentile is the rough share of people your age and sex who are shorter than you. If you are an adult man at 183 cm in the US, you are taller than roughly 84% of adult men, which puts you around the 84th percentile. The exact number depends on which population you compare against, but it can be estimated from average height and how much height typically varies around that average.
What a height percentile actually means
A percentile is a position, not a grade. Being in the 84th percentile for height does not mean anything about health, ability, or genetics beyond height itself. It simply means that in a large enough sample of people, about 84 out of 100 would be shorter than you and about 16 would be taller.
Percentiles are widely used in paediatric growth charts to track a child's height against others of the same age, and the same underlying idea works for estimating where an adult height sits in the broader population.
The two numbers you need: average and standard deviation
Estimating a percentile requires two figures for the population you are comparing against: the average height, and the standard deviation, which describes how spread out heights typically are around that average.
| Group | Approx. average | Approx. standard deviation |
|---|---|---|
| US adult men | 175 cm | 7.5 cm |
| US adult women | 162 cm | 6.5 cm |
| Global adult men | 171 cm | 7 cm |
| Global adult women | 159 cm | 6.5 cm |
These figures are rounded population estimates drawn from publicly reported anthropometric research, not a single live measurement source, and different studies can place the same population a little higher or lower.
How to estimate your height percentile
To estimate a percentile:
- Subtract the population average from your height to get the difference in centimetres.
- Divide that difference by the standard deviation for the same population. This gives a value statisticians call a z-score.
- Match the z-score to an approximate percentile using the table below.
For example, a US man at 182 cm is 7 cm above the 175 cm average. Divided by a 7.5 cm standard deviation, that gives a z-score of about 0.9, which lands close to the 82nd percentile.
Z-score to percentile lookup table
| Z-score | Approx. percentile | Plain meaning |
|---|---|---|
| -2.0 | 2nd | Shorter than about 98% of the population |
| -1.5 | 7th | Shorter than about 93% of the population |
| -1.0 | 16th | Shorter than about 84% of the population |
| -0.5 | 31st | Below average, not unusual |
| 0.0 | 50th | Exactly average |
| 0.5 | 69th | Above average, not unusual |
| 1.0 | 84th | Taller than about 84% of the population |
| 1.5 | 93rd | Taller than about 93% of the population |
| 2.0 | 98th | Taller than about 98% of the population |
This is a standard statistical approximation, not an exact census count, so treat the percentile as a useful estimate rather than an official ranking.
Height percentile table for adult men (US)
| Height | Approx. z-score | Approx. percentile |
|---|---|---|
| 161 cm / 5'3" | -1.9 | 3rd |
| 168 cm / 5'6" | -0.9 | 18th |
| 175 cm / 5'9" | 0.0 | 50th |
| 182 cm / 6'0" | 0.9 | 82nd |
| 189 cm / 6'2" | 1.9 | 97th |
| 196 cm / 6'5" | 2.8 | 99th+ |
Height percentile table for adult women (US)
| Height | Approx. z-score | Approx. percentile |
|---|---|---|
| 149 cm / 4'11" | -2.0 | 2nd |
| 156 cm / 5'1" | -0.9 | 18th |
| 162 cm / 5'4" | 0.0 | 50th |
| 168 cm / 5'6" | 0.9 | 82nd |
| 175 cm / 5'9" | 2.0 | 98th |
| 181 cm / 5'11" | 2.9 | 99th+ |
What percentile counts as tall or short?
There is no fixed cutoff, but a common informal pattern treats the 84th percentile and above (roughly one standard deviation above average) as "tall" and the 16th percentile and below as "short" for everyday conversation. That lines up with the thresholds used in What Height Is Considered Tall: 183 cm for men and 170 cm for women in most Western countries sit close to the 80th to 85th percentile range shown in the tables above.
Why the same height gives a different percentile in different countries
Percentile depends entirely on which population you compare against. A 183 cm man is around the 82nd percentile against the 175 cm US average, but only around the 50th percentile in the Netherlands, where the average adult male height is closer to 182–183 cm. See Average Height by Country for a fuller set of country averages if you want to recalculate your percentile against a different population.
Try it yourself
Use the height calculator to convert your height to centimetres if you only know it in feet and inches, then use the tables above to estimate your percentile. To see what your height actually looks like next to an average-height reference or a celebrity, open the free height comparison tool and add both to the same chart.