How Many Steps Should You Aim for Each Day?

man checking watch and walking pace while walking on mountain trail

Verywell

Is 10,000 steps per day the right number to set as your daily target? You may wonder where that number came from and whether it is a good goal for most people. Does it really indicate that you are getting enough exercise for fitness, to reduce health risks, and to support weight loss?

Why Is 10,000 Steps the Magic Number?

The goal of 10,000 steps per day was created by a pedometer company in Japan in the 1960s as a promotion. The number wasn't based on research—it just sounded good. It became popular as it was adopted by walking clubs.

After the goal of 10,000 steps per day had been established, researchers tried to play catch-up. Studies found that the figure could be an indicator that a person was getting near the recommended amount of daily physical activity to reduce health risks.

Today, many activity monitors and pedometer apps use 10,000 steps as a standard goal.

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Watch Now: 5 Ways To Increase Your Daily Step Count

Are 10,000 Steps Enough or Too Much?

Many sophisticated pedometers and activity trackers also measure whether the steps you take are brisk enough to meet the standard of moderate-to-vigorous-intensity physical activity.

For example, Fitbit calls the measure active minutes and includes a daily goal of 30 minutes of "enhanced level of activity" (which is recommended to reduce health risks).

If 3,000 of the steps you take each day are at a pace of 100 per minute for at least 10 minutes, you will meet the goal.

10,000 steps can be too challenging for people who are elderly, sedentary, or who have chronic diseases. However, even a small increase in your steps per day above being inactive can make a difference to your health. Research has shown that as few as 6,000 steps per day correlated with a lower death rate in men.

If losing weight or preventing weight gain is your main concern, you may need more moderate-intensity physical activity—as much as 60 to 90 minutes most days of the week, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

To meet these goals, you'd need to boost to your step count with another 3,000 to 6,000 steps, bringing the total to up to 15,000 steps per day.

Studies in an Old Order Amish community found that members walked more than the recommended steps per day and had very low levels of obesity.

Experts view 10,000 steps per day as too few for children. Children need 60 minutes per day of moderate-to-vigorous-intensity physical activity—twice what is needed by adults.

The recommended number of pedometer steps per day for children aged 6 through 12 is 12,000 for girls and 15,000 for boys.

How Active Are You Based on How Many Steps per Day You Walk?

Catrine Tudor-Locke of the University of North Carolina-Charlotte has been studying pedometer walking for years. Her research established these categories for healthy adults based on the steps per day they logged.

  • Sedentary Lifestyle Index. Under 5,000 steps per day is an indicator of being inactive. Sitting too much is known to raise health risks.
  • Low Active. 5,000 to 7,499 steps per day is typical of daily activity excluding sports and exercise. This level might be considered low active. The average American walks 5,900 to 6,900 steps per day, meaning most people in the U.S. fall into the low active category.
  • Somewhat Active. 7,500 to 9,999 steps per day likely includes some exercise or walking, and/or a job that requires more walking. The level might be considered somewhat active.
  • Active. 10,000 steps per day is the point at which individuals are classified as being active. It's a good goal for healthy people who want an easy way to know if they are getting their daily exercise.
  • Highly Active. Individuals who take more than 12,500 steps/day are likely to be classified as highly active.

Increasing Your Daily Steps to Add the Equivalent of 30 Minutes of Walking

Instead of using a blanket 10,000 steps per day as a goal, you may want to take a more individualized approach. Your personal daily step goal should be based on your usual baseline plus incremental steps.

Adding 2,000 to 4,000 steps to your daily count will help you reach the recommended level of physical activity and increase your activity to burn more calories.

For example, put on a pedometer or fitness monitor or carry your smartphone with you throughout the day. Go about your usual daily activities. Check your step count at the end of the day on the device or in a pedometer app. Do this for a week to find your average.

You might note that you log only around 5,000 steps per day. Your goal should be to add the number of steps equivalent to walking for 30 minutes (which will be from 2,000 to 4,000 steps, depending on your walking speed). This is between 1 and 2 miles of walking. If getting outside makes this goal hard to achieve, a good under desk treadmill can help.

Your steps per mile are determined by your height and stride length. If your app or device logs active minutes note those as well. Aim to boost that number to 30 minutes per day.

What Should Your Pedometer Step Count Goal Be?

Tudor-Locke advises that a goal of 10,000 steps per day is a good baseline. She also offers other tips to match physical activity recommendations for heart health.

  • Increase your daily steps by 3,000 to 4,000 steps taken during bouts of 10-minutes or longer at moderate-to-vigorous intensity (a pace of brisk walking to jogging).
  • Try to reach a goal of 8,900 to 9,900 steps at least five days per week with at least 3,000 steps of moderate-to-vigorous intensity bouts of 10 minutes or more.
  • You can set a goal of 9,150 to 10,150 steps at least three days per week with at least 3,250 steps of vigorous-intensity bouts of 10 minutes or more.

A Word From Verywell

The average American logs from 5,000 to 7,000 steps per day, which falls short of most recommendations. It can be daunting to set a pedometer goal of 10,000 steps and see yourself falling short most of the time, but you can start lower.

If you want to get enough physical activity to reduce your health risks and manage your weight, look for ways to increase your daily pedometer step count toward a goal of 10,000 or more. For example, if you have a desk job, a treadmill desk allows you to log steps while you work.

Your goal can be an incentive to help you get at least 30 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous intensity exercise every day, as well as help you reduce long periods of sitting.

6 Sources
Verywell Fit uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
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  2. Dwyer T, Pezic A, Sun C, et al. Objectively measured daily steps and subsequent long term all-cause mortality: The Tasped Prospective Cohort Study. PLoS ONE. 2015;10(11):e0141274. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0141274

  3. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Keeping it off.

  4. Silva MP, Fontana FE, Callahan E, Mazzardo O, De Campos W. Step-count guidelines for children and adolescents: A systematic review. J Phys Act Health. 2015;12(8):1184-91. doi:10.1123/jpah.2014-0202

  5. Tudor-Locke C, Craig CL, Brown WJ, et al. How many steps/day are enough? For adults. Int J Behav Nutr Phy Act. 2011;8(1):79. doi:10.1186/1479-5868-8-79.

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Additional Reading

By Wendy Bumgardner
Wendy Bumgardner is a freelance writer covering walking and other health and fitness topics and has competed in more than 1,000 walking events.