You must be at least 18 years old to donate a kidney in the United States, though some transplant hospitals set their minimum at 21. There is no upper age limit. People in their 50s, 60s, 70s, and beyond have successfully donated kidneys, and the decision comes down to your overall health rather than a number on your birth certificate.
The Minimum Age: 18 or 21
Federal guidelines require living kidney donors to be at least 18. This is a legal threshold tied to the ability to give informed consent as an adult. In practice, some transplant centers raise their cutoff to 21, so the specific hospital handling the transplant matters. If you’re 18 to 20 and considering donation, check with the transplant program directly to confirm their policy.
Can Someone Under 18 Donate?
In extremely rare cases, minors have been allowed to donate a kidney. This is not a standard pathway. The US Live Organ Donor Consensus Group has stated that minors should not be routine donors and may only be considered in the rarest circumstances, such as when no suitable adult donor exists due to organ size, immune compatibility, or other medical barriers.
When it does happen, the requirements are strict. Parental permission is mandatory in every state except Michigan. The minor must also give their own age-appropriate agreement, and a pediatric-trained donor advocacy team must be involved to ensure the child’s interests are protected independently from the family’s wishes. These safeguards exist because a child’s ability to fully understand and freely consent to major surgery is fundamentally different from an adult’s.
No Upper Age Limit Exists
One of the most common misconceptions about kidney donation is that you age out of eligibility. You don’t. There is no maximum age for living or deceased kidney donation. What matters is kidney function, cardiovascular health, and your ability to safely undergo surgery.
A large study tracking over 1,200 living kidney donors found that donors aged 70 to 89 had safe surgical outcomes comparable to younger groups. None of the donors in any age group developed kidney failure during the follow-up period. Donors over 70 did show less kidney function recovery after surgery, which is expected given normal aging, but the results still supported the safety of donation at that age. Mortality was higher in the 70-plus group, but researchers attributed this to natural life expectancy rather than the donation itself.
Kidneys From Older Donors Work Well
If you’re an older adult wondering whether your kidney would even help someone, the answer is a clear yes. A study comparing transplant outcomes found that kidneys from older living donors (over 60) had a graft failure rate of 16%, which was actually lower than the 20.4% failure rate seen with standard deceased-donor kidneys. When researchers compared older living donor kidneys directly to younger living donor kidneys, the difference in graft survival was not statistically significant.
In other words, a healthy kidney from a 65-year-old living donor typically outperforms a kidney from a younger deceased donor. Living donation itself, regardless of the donor’s age, gives the recipient a meaningful advantage because the kidney spends less time without blood flow and can be transplanted under planned, optimal conditions.
What Actually Determines Eligibility
Age gets you in the door, but the medical evaluation is what determines whether you can donate. Transplant centers run a thorough workup that typically takes weeks to months. They’re looking at your kidney function, blood pressure, blood sugar, body weight, heart health, and whether you have any conditions that could put you at higher surgical risk or compromise your remaining kidney down the road.
Conditions that commonly disqualify potential donors include uncontrolled high blood pressure, diabetes, active cancer, chronic kidney disease, and significant heart or lung disease. A history of kidney stones, obesity, or certain infections may also raise concerns depending on severity. The evaluation protects you as much as the recipient: the guiding principle is that donation should not put the donor’s long-term health at meaningful risk.
For younger donors in their late teens or early twenties, transplant teams also consider the decades of life ahead with one kidney. For older donors, the focus shifts toward current organ function and surgical tolerance. At every age, the same question applies: can this person safely live a full, healthy life with one kidney?