How many steps in a mile walking or running?

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How many steps in a mile? Whether you are doing a physical activity like running or walking, how many steps in a mile can you walk or run depends largely on your stride or step length, height and gender. An average tall person, has an average step length of about 2.6 feet, which means it would take about 2000 steps to walk a mile and less to run the same mile. Overall, most people make 1700 steps to 2500 steps to walk one mile and 1400 steps to 2100 steps to run a mile.

Why is knowing your steps per mile important? Steps you walk to complete a mile would help you set your daily fitness goals and focus on it everyday. Moreover, steps per miles helps to determine how mancy calories per step do you burn. If you want to know how many calories burned are in each step you take, use this online steps to calories calculator.

 

Factors that affect the number of steps per mile

You’re Walking or running?

Your steps change depending on your activity. You make shorter and plenty steps when walking, and longer, fewer strides while running. So there are many steps in a mile when walking and there are less number of steps per  mile running.

Peed or pace

There is no need denying that a fast (brisk) walker makes fewer steps to complete a mile than a slow walker. Again, a fast runner is going to complete 1 mile distance with fewer steps than a slow runner. Activity pace – walking speed, running speed, significantly affect how many steps in a mile you can make.

Your Height

The length of your steps or strides depends largely on your how tall your are. If you’re taller (6 feet and above), you got long legs and you are going to make fewer steps to complete a mile distance. I am a short person, slightly less than 5’5” in height. My legs look pretty short because I am short, so I am going to make many steps to travel a mile.

Your strides and step length

The longer your strides, the bigger your steps. Again, strides depends on your body height. Short strides make more steps per mile and long strides make fewer steps in one mile.

Gender (Sex)

Men and women have different biomechanics of walking and running, which affect their overall gait. Body composition affect they way humans run. Just a woman’s breast alone somehow limits how she runs or walks, and that is why men stride out further than ladies. – men make fewer steps per mile than women. Research in The University of Oklahoma has proven true that women have an average step length of 2.2 feet and an average strides of 4.3 feet.

Read more: How many calories burned per 5000 steps

The best pedometers to wear when walking or running

The best fitness tracker for walking and running

 

How many steps are there in one mile running?

When it comes to running activity, there is a very big range of number of steps in a mile. Most people have an average of 1500 steps per mile running. A greater number of person who can run make from 900 to 2100 running steps per mile.

The big gap shows that people vary in their running steps because of height, running speed and more.

Take for example, a 6-foot-tall runner, taking 5 minutes per mile, can more likely cover that distance with just about 1000 steps. If he decides to just creep along, spending  12 minutes per mile, he will for sure make up to 2000 steps to cover the same distance.

A majority of average height (5’6” tall) people who can run can make approximately 1500 steps at 10 minutes per mile.

Read More: How to walk 100000 steps per day for weight loss

 

How many step per mile running – by height

A 5 foot woman does not run same steps in a mile as a 6 foot lady. Again, a fast runner would complete a mile with fewer steps than a slow runner. Check the table below for approximate values steps per miles for vary height people running at different paces.

Height (feet)Fast run (6 min/mile)Slow run (12 min/mile)
5’0”11242000
5’3”11001960
5’5”10751939
5’7”10551900
5’9”10211862
5’10”10001850
6’0”9751826
6’2”9481804

 

Read more: Is a treadmill walking workout good for weight loss?

 

How many steps in a mile walking?

The rough estimate is that average people walk about 2200 steps in a mile. But because people’s  morphology and biomechanics or walking form differ, a majority of adults who can walk make at least 1700 steps per mile and at most 2500 steps in one mile.

The range of walking steps per mile is really big, because people have different step length. For example, a short guy measuring just about 5 feet walking at a leisure pace of less than 3 mph (approx. 20 minute per mile) would walk about 2400 steps in a mile.

The number of steps walked in one mile would be fewer for a 6 foot guy. AT the same pace, a 6 feet tall male athlete would walk roughly 2000 steps in a mile. People who are over 6 feet can walk as few as 1800 steps per mile.

Brisk Walking Step in  a mile chart for men and women

Comparative view of women and men’s steps per mile at a brisk walking pace of 15 minutes /mile

Height (feet –inch)Women Brisk walking stepsMen’s brisk walking steps
5ft 0”21152030
5ft 3”20802000
5ft 5”20601975
5ft 7”20311945
5ft 9”20021916
5ft 10”19751890
6ft 0”19601861

Steps per mile Brisk walking for men and women

 

Slow Walking Step per mile for men and women

Comparative view of women and men’s steps per mile at same slow comfortable walking pace of 20 minutes /mile

Height (feet –inch)Women Brisk walking stepsMen’s brisk walking steps
5ft 0”23702280
5ft 3”23432250
5ft 5”23152225
5ft 7”22852195
5ft 9”22582171
5ft 10”22302142
6ft 0”22162115

Steps in a mile slow walking for men and women

 

 

How to get your accurate steps per mile

The number of steps in this guide are based on average data. If you want to know your accurate number of steps per mile, you can physically measure it yourself. If you have a longer track, street or football field around you, that is a great place to do the step per mile assessment.

If you don’t have a long path up to a mile, you got to count your steps over a fraction (a quarter or half ) mile and then do small math’s for a full mile.

In addition to a track, you also need a fitness tracker. Fitbit is best known advanced fitness trackers, but you can also try an advanced smartwatch like Apple watch.

There are many apps to track steps, like MapMyWalk, Footpath Route Planner and more. My fear is, sometimes, these GPS wearable devices can introduce slight error into the step counting. So I advice you measure your steps by reading it out to yourself.

#1. Use step counter

Wear a pedometer and walk a distance of exactly one mile on a street or pavement, at a pace of 2 mph Or walk  for 18-20 minutes until you complete the route. If there is no full mile, walk half mile and multiply the step count by two. The step count your fitness tracker displays is your number of steps in a mile of slow, leisure walking.

Wear the same pedometer and slight walk faster. A good brisk walking pace is about 3.5 mph or you should take 12 minutes to walk a mile. How many steps does your pedometer count? That is your steps per mile for a brisk walk.

Now, try going at 4.5 miles per hour (mph). I thing, you should run a mile for 6-8 minutes and check how many steps your pedometer has recoded during the run. That is your number of steps per mile running.

#2. Count your steps loud

Find a quarter mile track around s school. Start counting your steps as you walk normally go. When you complete the quarter mile, multiply the steps you counted in your brain, by 4. If you walked half a mile, times the steps counted by 2.

  • For a 400-meter track, walk or run round about 4 times, then multiply your step counts by 1.009
  • For a football field which has goal posts about 300 feet apart, walk from one goal line to another and note your steps. Multiply the steps counted by 17.6 to have your number of steps in a mile.

#3. Measure steps per mile using your step length

You can also estimate how many steps per mile you are walking, by calculating your step length. Your step length is the toe to toe or heel to heel distance, when you walked one full step. Here is a step by step guide how to measure your step and stride length. If you have taken your step length in feet, here is how to compute your steps per mile.

  • Steps in a mile  = feet in a mile divided by step length in feet
  • Steps per mile  = 5280 (feet in one mile) / your step length.

What if you have your step length in inches? You have to convert inches to feet or you simply divide 63360 by your step length in inches.

If your step length is 2.4 feet, Your steps per mile  = 5280/2.4 = 2200 steps in a mile.

 

Tips: how to limit errors in your steps to mile calculations

  • The secrete not to skew your step per mile result is to walk on a straight line.
  • Again, you can measure the steps many time and take the average.
  • Walking steps and different from running steps. You will walk more steps in a mile than you will run.
  • Incline steps are also different from decline steps. Also, the incline miles and the decline miles differ. The simple truth is, step length reduces as you go uphill and increases as you go downhill(aided by gravity)

Most people are nearer the average number of steps per mile walking or running. If someone else is taller than you and walk at same pace as you, he will make very few steps to walk or run a mile. An average height lady walking comfortably on a street and taking about 18 minutes per mile will travel 2200 steps per mile.

 

Comparing Average steps per mile for walking and running

Study at University of Oklahoma have found that women’s average stride length is 4.3 while their average step length is 2.2 feet (67 centimeters). Men’s step length show 2.5 feet(76.2 cm) as average step length and 5.2 as av stride length.

  • As such the average step per mile for women = 5280/2.2 = 2400 steps/mile
  • The average steps in a mile for men = 5280/2.5 = 2100 steps/mile.

It is actually no easy to tell how many steps you take in a mile walking, jogging or running. The table below show average estimates.

Distance (miles or km)Steps running andSteps walking
1 mile (1.6km)2200 feet as1500
2 miles (3.2km)42502900
3 miles (4.8 km)63204300
4 miles (6.4 km)85005700
5 miles (8.0 km)105007000
6 miles (9.6 km)130008500
7 miles (11.2km)1500010000

Related: What Cardio Machines Burn The Most Calories?

 

 

ACSM’s Average steps per mile

ACSM’s health and fitness journal have given their own average steps in a mile for walking, running and jogging.

ACSM’s Average step per mile walking

For a walking pace of 20 minutes mile, Men have 2176 steps per mile while women get 2310 steps /mile.

For a brisk walk  at the pace of 15 minutes mile, men show few 1868 steps per mile while ladies make 1987 steps in one mile.

ACSM’s Average step in a mile jogging

Considering a normal jogging or a a2- minutes mile, men jog 1919 steps in one mile whereas women get 1979 steps /mile

Fast jogging (10-minute mile) statistics shows that, men can jog 1634 steps per mile while women complete a mile by jogging average of 1709 steps.

ACSM’s Average steps in 1 mile running

Men run 1360 steps in a fast run or an 8-minute mile while women make 1469 steps per mile in the same fast run.

For a very fast running activity or 6 minute mile run, males show 1064 steps per miles while female athletes show about 1213 steps in single mile.

How to convert step to calories burned

 

 

Wrap up and Questions

Steps per  miles depends so much on a persons step length or stride length. It can also be affected by height, age and sex. So if you can’t rely on a fitness tracker to figure your number of steps per mile, you can measure it yourself on a pavement, a treadmill or anywhere on the street.

How long does it take to walk a mile

How long to walk 1 mile on a treadmill or on pavement? According to experts, average walkers should cover 1 mile in 20 minutes when walking at a moderate or normal speed, and 15 minutes when walking at a brisk pace.

How long does it take to walk 3 miles

How long does it take to walk 3 miles on a treadmill? At a <strong>moderate walking pace (2.5 mph to 4.0 mph) on a treadmill, it will take you from 45 minutes to an hour (60 minutes) to complete a <strong>distance equivalent to 3 miles. Other factors like your weight also play in. See factors that affect the Time taken to walk 3 miles.

How long can you walk 5 miles

How long do you have to walk 5 miles? The time to walk five miles is dependent on how fast you walk. Most people who walk briskly at  3.5 mph to 4mph (miles per hour), usually make 15-20 minutes per mile. This means a 5 mile quick walk takes as much as 1 hour 40 minutes. 

How long can you walk 10 miles

Walking on foot at 3 mph, you’ll be able to complete the 10 miles distance in about 3.5 hours. If you try brisk walking a bit faster at 4mph, you can cover a 10 mile distance in 2.5 hours. The time depends on nature of the terrain, your stride, height, weight and more.

How many steps are there in 2 miles distance?

What is 2 miles in steps? For an average step or stride length, 2 miles is made of 4000 to 5000 steps. The exact steps in a 2 mile distance depend on your height, step length and sex.

How many miles is 5000 steps

At a pace of 2000 walking steps in one mile, there are 2.5 miles in 5000 walking steps. Also, at an average running pace of 1667 running steps per mile, the distance in 5000 running steps is equal to 3 miles. The number of miles that makes up the 5000 steps largely depends on your stride and step length.

How many miles is 10000 steps?

On average walking speed of 3.5mph, 10,000 walking steps for a 6 feet persons equates to 5 miles approximately. For the same height individual running moderately at 6mph, 10,000 running steps is equal to around 6 miles. It all depends on the persons stride length or step length. See how many miles are there in 100000 steps walking?

how long to walk 10000 steps?

How long would 10000 steps take to walk? Range of time to walk 10k steps : 90 minutes to 2 hours. A fast walker, going at a brisk pace of 4mph or say 120 steps per minute would make 10,000 steps in 83 minutes (1 hour 20 minutes). A slow to moderate walker 10000 steps on a treadmill for close to 2 hours. See how long it take to walk 10 miles on treadmill.

how many miles is 15000 steps?

About 7.5 miles for walking and 9 miles for running.

how many miles is 4000 steps?

About 2 miles when walking and close to 2.4 miles when running. Someone walking 2000 steps in a mile will have to cover 2 miles when he makes up to 4000 steps. When you’re running, the step lengths and strides are much longer, so at a pace of 1667 steps run per mile, you distance got 4k steps would be approx. 2.4 miles.

Read: benefits of inclien treadmill walking

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