Normal total cholesterol for adults is less than 200 mg/dL, with LDL (the “bad” kind) below 100 mg/dL and HDL (the “good” kind) at 60 mg/dL or higher. These numbers come from a standard blood test called a lipid panel, which also measures triglycerides. Your results fall into healthy, borderline, or high categories that help determine your risk for heart disease.
What a Lipid Panel Measures
A cholesterol test reports four main numbers, each telling you something different about the fatty substances circulating in your blood. Total cholesterol is the overall count. LDL cholesterol is the type that builds up in artery walls and narrows them over time. HDL cholesterol works in the opposite direction, helping remove excess cholesterol from your bloodstream and carrying it back to the liver. Triglycerides are a separate type of blood fat that your body stores from unused calories.
Your body actually needs cholesterol. It’s a building block of every cell membrane, and your cells use it to produce vitamin D, stress hormones like cortisol, and sex hormones like testosterone and estrogen. The problem isn’t cholesterol itself but having too much of the wrong kind circulating in your blood for too long.
Healthy Ranges for Adults
For men and women age 20 and older, healthy cholesterol levels look like this:
- Total cholesterol: Less than 200 mg/dL
- LDL cholesterol: Less than 100 mg/dL
- Non-HDL cholesterol: Less than 130 mg/dL
- HDL cholesterol: 60 mg/dL or higher is ideal
The one place men and women differ is HDL. For men, HDL below 40 mg/dL is considered low. For women, that floor is higher: anything below 50 mg/dL is low. This means women need more of the protective cholesterol to maintain the same level of cardiovascular benefit.
If your total cholesterol lands between 200 and 239 mg/dL, that’s typically considered borderline high. At 240 mg/dL or above, it’s high.
Triglyceride Categories
Triglycerides get their own set of cutoffs:
- Healthy: Below 150 mg/dL
- Borderline high: 150 to 199 mg/dL
- High: 200 to 499 mg/dL
- Very high: 500 mg/dL or above
High triglycerides often show up alongside other risk factors like excess weight, high blood sugar, or heavy alcohol use. They tend to respond well to lifestyle changes, particularly reducing sugar, refined carbohydrates, and alcohol.
Cholesterol Ranges for Children and Teens
Children and teens have tighter thresholds. For anyone 19 or younger, a healthy total cholesterol is below 170 mg/dL, and LDL should stay under 110 mg/dL. HDL should be above 45 mg/dL. Triglycerides for children and teens ages 10 to 19 should be below 90 mg/dL, which is notably lower than the adult cutoff.
The CDC recommends children get their first cholesterol screening between ages 9 and 11, with a follow-up between ages 17 and 21. A child’s doctor may suggest earlier testing if there’s a family history of high cholesterol or early heart disease.
Why “Normal” Changes Based on Your Risk
The standard LDL target of under 100 mg/dL applies to generally healthy adults. But if you already have heart disease, diabetes, or certain other risk factors, your target drops significantly. Current guidelines set the goal at under 70 mg/dL for people with diabetes who also have risk factors like high blood pressure, smoking, kidney problems, or a family history of early heart disease. European guidelines push even further for the highest-risk patients, recommending LDL below 55 mg/dL for people who have already had a heart attack or stroke.
This is why two people can have the same LDL number and get very different advice from their doctors. A reading of 90 mg/dL is perfectly healthy for someone with no risk factors but may still be too high for someone with established cardiovascular disease. Your overall risk profile matters as much as the raw number.
How Often to Get Tested
Most healthy adults should have their cholesterol checked every four to six years. That schedule tightens if you have elevated levels, a family history of heart disease, diabetes, or if you’re already taking medication to manage cholesterol. After age 40, many doctors check lipids more frequently as part of routine cardiovascular risk assessment.
A lipid panel requires fasting for 9 to 12 hours beforehand in most cases, though some doctors now accept non-fasting results for initial screening. The test is a simple blood draw, and results typically come back within a day or two.
Converting Between Units
If you’re reading results from outside the United States, your numbers may be reported in mmol/L instead of mg/dL. To convert your total, LDL, or HDL cholesterol from mg/dL to mmol/L, divide by 38.67. For triglycerides, divide by 88.57. So a total cholesterol of 200 mg/dL equals roughly 5.2 mmol/L, and a triglyceride level of 150 mg/dL equals about 1.7 mmol/L.