The average adult man in the United States stands 5 feet 8.9 inches tall (about 175 cm), based on CDC measurements collected from 2021 to 2023. Globally, averages vary widely by country, ranging from roughly 5 feet 3 inches to just over 6 feet depending on where you look.
Average Male Height in the US
The CDC’s most recent National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey puts the measured average for American men aged 20 and older at 68.9 inches, which works out to just under 5 feet 9 inches. That’s a measured value, not self-reported, so it’s more reliable than what you’d get from a survey or a dating profile.
Most men fall within a fairly predictable range. The 5th percentile sits at about 5 feet 4.4 inches, and the 95th percentile reaches 6 feet 2 inches. So if you’re between those two numbers, you’re statistically in the middle 90% of the male population. Being outside that range doesn’t indicate a problem; it just means you’re at one end of a normal bell curve.
How Averages Differ by Country
The Netherlands has the tallest average male height in the world at 183.78 cm (roughly 6 feet 0.3 inches), followed closely by Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina. At the other end, men in Timor-Leste average about 160.13 cm (5 feet 3 inches), with Laos and the Solomon Islands not far behind.
That 23-centimeter gap between the tallest and shortest countries is actually slightly wider than it was a century ago. While nearly every population has gotten taller over the past 100 years, some countries gained height much faster than others. Iranian men, for example, grew an average of 16.5 cm taller over the century, while South Korean men gained about 15.2 cm. Populations that were already short and had limited improvements in nutrition or healthcare saw smaller gains, widening the global spread.
Why Humans Keep Getting Taller
The average young adult today is about 10 centimeters (roughly 4 inches) taller than someone born 100 years ago. That’s a 5% increase in a single century, which is far too fast to be explained by genetics alone. The main drivers are better childhood nutrition, fewer infections during growth years, improved sanitation, and access to healthcare. When children get adequate protein, vitamins, and calories during critical growth windows, they reach more of their genetic height potential.
That said, genetics still plays the dominant role in determining any individual’s height. Scientists estimate that about 80% of height variation between people comes down to DNA. Hundreds of genetic variants each contribute a small amount, collectively setting a rough ceiling for how tall you can grow. The remaining 20% comes from environmental factors, primarily nutrition during childhood and adolescence.
When Men Reach Their Full Height
Most men stop growing by age 18, when the growth plates at the ends of their long bones fuse and can no longer add new length. In rare cases, some men continue growing slightly into their early 20s, but this is uncommon. If you’re past 20 and wondering whether you have any height left to gain, the answer is almost certainly no.
Interestingly, your height isn’t perfectly fixed throughout the day. Spinal discs compress under the weight of gravity as you stand and move, so you’re measurably shorter by evening than you are first thing in the morning. One study of adults in Ghana found that men lost an average of 1.63 cm (about two-thirds of an inch) between morning and evening measurements. This is completely normal and reverses overnight as the discs decompress while you sleep. If you’ve ever measured yourself at different times and gotten different numbers, this is why.
Men vs. Women
Men are taller than women in every country on Earth, with the gap averaging about 12 cm (just under 5 inches) in recently born populations. A century ago, the difference was closer to 11 cm. The slight widening likely reflects the fact that improvements in nutrition and health have benefited male and female growth somewhat differently across populations, though both sexes gained roughly 8 to 9 cm on average over the past 100 years.