On this page is a BMI percentile calculator for men and women (for Body Mass Index), 18 years old and older in the United States in 2022.
BMI is a height and weight based formula to estimate whether a person has a healthy weight for their height. Use our BMI Calculator to compute a BMI using height and weight as inputs.
BMI Percentile Calculator for Men and Women in the United States
Median and Average BMI for Men and Women
As we mentioned in our post on the distribution of BMIs for the United States, the adult average BMI was 27.96 and adult median BMI was 27.3. Mean and median varied a bit for women and men in the sample.
Average and Median BMI for Women
In the United States in 2022 among adults, the median female BMI was 26.7. Women averaged a BMI of 27.8.
Average and Median BMI for Men
For men in the United States 18 or older in 2022, the median BMI was 27.4. Men averaged a BMI of 28.1.
Selected BMI Percentiles for Men and Women
As we mentioned in the introduction, men and women had BMI distributions which reasonably matched near the center of the BMI distribution. At the extremes is where we see a divergence: men had higher BMIs at the lower percentiles, and women had higher BMIs at the higher percentiles of the BMI distribution.
Here are some selected breakpoints for men and women at various percentiles:
| Percentile | Male BMI | Female BMI |
| 5% | 21.1 | 19.8 |
| 10% | 22.3 | 20.8 |
| 15% | 23.2 | 21.6 |
| 20% | 23.9 | 22.3 |
| 25% | 24.4 | 23.2 |
| 30% | 25.1 | 23.8 |
| 35% | 25.8 | 24.5 |
| 40% | 26.2 | 25.3 |
| 45% | 26.6 | 26.0 |
| 50% | 27.4 | 26.7 |
| 55% | 28.1 | 27.6 |
| 60% | 28.7 | 28.3 |
| 65% | 29.4 | 29.3 |
| 70% | 30.1 | 30.4 |
| 75% | 31.0 | 31.6 |
| 80% | 32.1 | 32.9 |
| 85% | 33.3 | 34.5 |
| 90% | 34.9 | 36.6 |
| 95% | 37.3 | 39.5 |
Healthy and Non-Healthy BMI Distribution for Men and Women
While it has failings on an individual level, BMI is an excellent indicator for health status on a population basis. Over a large population, body composition, diet, and exercise habits even out making classifications by BMI broadly useful.
The CDC splits BMI into 4 categories for adults:
- < 18.5 Underweight
- 18.5 – 25 Healthy Weight
- 25 – 30 Overweight
- 30 and up Obese
Applying the CDC guidelines to male and female BMIs in the United States, here's the estimated breakdown of BMI categories:
| American BMI Category | Estimated Women | Percentage of Women | Estimated Men | Percentage of Men |
| Underweight | 1,687,090 | 1.43% | 349,198 | 0.307% |
| Healthy Weight | 42,623,063 | 36.11% | 30,797,053 | 27.08% |
| Overweight | 35,235,961 | 29.85% | 46,760,482 | 41.12% |
| Obese | 38,485,239 | 32.61% | 35,798,870 | 31.48% |
How About an Anorexia BMI?
Please note that BMI is not the only criteria for the eating disorder Anorexia Nervosa, nor does a sufficient BMI rule it out (consult a doctor to be sure). Neither is anorexia the only eating disorder that causes low BMI. However, one of the diagnostic criteria for anorexia is (or was) a BMI of 17.5 or below.
To be careful, we will call our division "maximum BMI of 17.5". Here's how many men and women we estimate maintained that BMI or below in 2022:
| BMI 17.5 or Below in the US, Estimated | |||
| Adult Females | Prevalence | Adult Males | Prevalence |
| 482,175 | 0.41% | 77,347 | 0.07% |
Note that the data is skewed by this article's focus on adult males and females. Anorexia is most common for females between the ages of 15-24 so we are missing some important ages.
Methodology for the BMI by Gender Comparison Calculator
Data comes from 25,222 adults in the CDC's 2022 NHIS survey (11,646 men, 13,576 women). See more methodology in the BMI comparison calculator. Further, we used the IPUMS harmonization of the survey data.
Heights and weights are self-volunteered as part of an in-person or phone interview. The 2015-2016 version of the male and female BMI comparison tool used the CDC NHANES survey, which has a superior methodology with mobile examinations. When NHANES releases sufficient data again, we'll switch our source.
Citation:
Lynn A. Blewett, Julia A. Rivera Drew, Miriam L. King, Kari C.W. Williams, Annie Chen, Stephanie Richards and Michael Westberry. IPUMS Health Surveys: National Health Interview Survey, Version 7.3 [dataset]. Minneapolis, MN: IPUMS, 2023. https://doi.org/10.18128/D070.V7.3
American BMI Distributions for Women and Men
Disclaimer: Nothing on this site, including BMI numbers and categories, is medical advice. Always consult a doctor, nutritionist, trainer, or other professional with concerns about your health or BMI. Also to be clear, BMI is not the best indicator of healthy weight status in an individual: it ignores individual body composition.
As we've mentioned before, BMI is a useful indicator but not necessarily the best number to target for your own goals. Readings that incorporate more inputs (such as body fat percentage) give a better picture of body composition. That doesn't mean this data is "bad", though - on a population level variations smooth out. We can say that the majority of both men and women were either overweight or obese in 2022.
