The average person takes between 2,000 and 2,500 walking steps per mile as counted by a fitness band, or phone motion sensor. Running steps have a longer stride length, which means you may take between 1,000 and 2,000 steps per mile.How Many Steps Are in a Mile?
Ten thousand steps adds up to four or five miles. Depending on your stride length, the amount of steps you take in a mile can vary from person to person. You may start to visualize how far you need to walk in order to reach 10,000 steps per day after you know how many steps are usual for a mile.
It is also backwards compatible. When you consider how many miles you actually manage to log during your regular activities, the distance may not appear as far.You will reach your daily objective if you don’t stop moving.How Many Steps Are in a Mile?
 Average Steps Per Day: How Many Miles Adults Walk
Walking and Running
For a quick rule of thumb, an older research study found these average steps per mile at walking and running speeds:2
- Walking 20 minutes per mile (3 miles per hour): 2,252 steps per mile
- Walking 15 minutes per mile (4 miles per hour): 1,935 steps per mile
- Running 12 minutes per mile (5 miles per hour): 1,951 steps per mile
- Running 10 minutes per mile (6 miles per hour): 1,672 steps per mile
- Running 8 minutes per mile (7.5 miles per hour): 1,400 steps per mile
Using these averages, here is how far you might go using various step totals. Keep in mind this will vary depending on your individual step length.
| Steps | Walk (Shorter Stride) |
Brisk Walk/Jog (Moderate Stride) |
Run (Long Stride) |
Fast Run (Very Long Stride) |
| 1,000 | 0.4 miles | 0.5 miles | 0.6 miles | 0.7 miles |
| 2,000 | 0.9 | 1.0 | 1.2 | 1.4 |
| 3,000 | 1.3 | 1.5 | 1.8 | 2.1 |
| 4,000 | 1.8 | 2.1 | 2.4 | 2.9 |
| 5,000 | 2.2 | 2.6 | 2.9 | 3.6 |
| 6,000 | 2.7 | 3.1 | 3.5 | 4.3 |
| 7,000 | 3.1 | 3.6 | 4.1 | 5.0 |
| 8,000 | 3.6 | 4.1 | 4.7 | 5.7 |
| 9,000 | 4.0 | 4.6 | 5.3 | 6.4 |
| 10,000 | 4.4 | 5.1 | 5.9 | 7.1 |
| 12,000 | 5.3 | 6.2 | 7.1 | 8.6 |
| 15,000 | 6.7 | 7.7 | 8.8 | 10.7 |
| 20,000 | 8.9 | 10.3 | 11.8 | 14.3 |
| 25,000 | 11.1 | 12.8 | 14.7 | 17.9 |
| 30,000 | 13.3 | 15.4 | 17.6 | 21.4 |
| 40,000 | 17.8 | 20.5 | 23.5 | 28.6 |
Estimations by Height
Many fitness trackers use estimates based on height and ask for your height during setup. Rough estimates of steps per mile based on a stride-to-height ratio are:3
| Height | Steps per Mile |
| 4 feet 10 inches | 2,601 steps |
| 4 feet 11 inches | 2,557 steps |
| 5 feet even | 2,514 steps |
| 5 feet 1 inch | 2,473 steps |
| 5 feet 2 inches | 2,433 steps |
| 5 feet 3 inches | 2,395 steps |
| 5 feet 4 inches | 2,357 steps |
| 5 feet 5 inches | 2,321 steps |
| 5 feet 6 inches | 2,286 steps |
| 5 feet 7 inches | 2,252 steps |
| 5 feet 8 inches | 2,218 steps |
| 5 feet 9 inches | 2,186 steps |
| 5 feet 10 inches | 2,155 steps |
| 5 feet 11 inches | 2,125 steps |
| 6 feet even | 2,095 steps |
| 6 feet 1 inch | 2,067 steps |
| 6 feet 2 inches | 2,039 steps |
| 6 feet 3 inches | 2,011 steps |
| 6 feet 4 inches | 1,985 steps |
Measuring Your Steps
You can use a step-counting fitness tracker or the step-counting function of your mobile phone to count your steps, or you can count them in your head. The best method to calculate your average step count per mile is to count your steps multiple times over a predetermined distance to find your average:How Many Steps Are in a Mile?
Running Track
To find a measured mile, you can use a regulation quarter-mile track at a local school. You may have to ask the coach to ensure it is a quarter-mile track (1,320 feet) rather than a 400-meter track (1,308 feet). Walk in the inside lane only. Count your steps.
It’s best to go around four times to get a full mile on a quarter-mile track, so you won’t need to do any math. For a 400-meter track, go around four times and multiply your steps by 1.009.
Use a Football Field
A football field’s distance from one goal line to the other is 300 feet. As you move from the goal line to the goal line at your typical walking or running pace, count your steps. To find your steps per mile, multiply your total steps by 17.6.How Many Steps Are in a Mile?
Fitness Trackers
Fitness trackers, such as Fitbits or sports watches, will do the counting for you and can be a convenient way to track steps and a variety of other data, such as heart rate or stress scores, just by wearing it on your wrist. However, wearable devices tend to be an investment and reliable options can cost about $100 to $300 or more depending on the style and features included in it.How Many Steps Are in a Mile?
Apps
You can use a mobile app such as MapMyWalk that will count your steps and measure a mile with your phone’s GPS at the same time. However, the mile distance can be off by 10% using GPS.
GPS signals travel between your phone and multiple satellites in orbit. They can get confused by buildings, trees, and hillsides, resulting in less accurate distance measurement. Select a spot to stroll that is open, has a straight line of sight to the sky, and is free of curves or twists for greater accuracy.How Many Steps Are in a Mile?
Measured Mile
An alternative approach is to create a mile path in your neighborhood using an internet mapping tool, then walk it while wearing a fitness tracker. Select a path that is straight and devoid of curves for optimal accuracy.How Many Steps Are in a Mile?
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Stride Length
An average stride length that you will see listed in many places is 2.2 feet (0.67 meters) for women and 2.5 feet (0.762 meters) for men, but it depends very much on height. You may calculate the number of steps per mile considerably more precisely by measuring the length of your stride.How Many Steps Are in a Mile?
The distance between one foot’s heel print and the other foot’s heel print is your stride length. This is the total forward distance covered by a single leg.How Many Steps Are in a Mile?
Your stride length varies depending on whether you are walking or running and whether you are on hills or rough trails or crossing streets with starts and stops. To measure your stride length, you can use various methods such as walking a football field (300 feet) and stride length equations.How Many Steps Are in a Mile?