Below is a weight percentile calculator for men and women, 18 years old and older in the United States. You can toggle between imperial (pounds) and metric (kilograms) units to view the distribution of weights. We also have weight by age for adults.
Weight alone is not a good indicator of health. BMI is an improvement; BMI is a height and weight based formula estimating whether a certain height and weight is in a healthy range. Use our BMI Calculator to compute your – or any – BMI.
Weight Percentile Calculator for Men and Women in the United States
Data comes from adults in the CDC's 2015-16 NHANES survey. Weights were measured at a mobile examination center (MEC).
Median and Average Weight for Men and Women
As mentioned, knowing weight alone isn't enough to determine whether a person is healthy or unhealthy. For conditions such as metabolic syndrome doctors and medical staff measure an array of things: height, weight, blood pressure, cholesterol, triglycerides and more.
While the below statistics are accurate, due to the distribution of heights among Americans any terms are most useful for people near average. Keep that in mind while you browse the data.
Average and Median Weight for Women
In 2016 in the US, adult women averaged a weight of 170.3 lb. The median adult woman weighed 161.3 lb.
Average and Median Weight for Men
For men in the United States 18 or older in 2016, average weight was 197.1 lb. Men had a median weight of 189.4 lb.
Selected Weight Percentiles for Men and Women
Men and women have a very similar distribution shape for weights. However, male weights tend to be higher since men are on average taller. As you can see in our BMI distribution calculator for men and women, BMIs (which account for height and weight) are similar for males and females.
That caveat aside, here are selected weight percentiles for American men and women:
| Weight Percentile | Women (lbs) | Men (lbs) |
| 5.00% | 109.9 | 135.8 |
| 10.00% | 119.9 | 145.3 |
| 15.00% | 127.5 | 153.0 |
| 20.00% | 132.5 | 158.5 |
| 25.00% | 137.1 | 164.9 |
| 30.00% | 142.2 | 170.2 |
| 35.00% | 147.4 | 174.8 |
| 40.00% | 151.9 | 179.4 |
| 45.00% | 156.3 | 184.3 |
| 50.00% | 161.3 | 189.4 |
| 55.00% | 166.4 | 195.5 |
| 60.00% | 172.7 | 201.1 |
| 65.00% | 179.5 | 207.9 |
| 70.00% | 187.4 | 214.7 |
| 75.00% | 194.7 | 222.4 |
| 80.00% | 203.7 | 229.5 |
| 85.00% | 216.3 | 240.7 |
| 90.00% | 231.7 | 256.4 |
| 95.00% | 263.0 | 284.0 |
At the lowest extremes for adults, the 1st percentile is a weight of 97.7 lbs for women and 116.6 lbs for males. The 99th percentile for weight starts at 303.1 lbs for women and 341.4 lbs for men.
Weight alone doesn't tell you enough.
American Weight Distributions for Women and Men
Disclaimer: Nothing on this site, including weight, is medical advice. Consult your doctor, nutritionist, trainer, or other professional with concerns about your health or weight concerns.
As we've mentioned before, BMI is a useful indicator which better hints at health status. BMI combines weight with height to come up with a number which works decently across the population. Innately, everyone can do similar - weight only matters in the context of height.
In short: if you are 6'5", 200 lbs means something different than if you are 4'11".
Check out our BMI calculator and BMI distribution for women and men for more.
