How Many Steps Are in a Mile?

The average person takes between 2,000 and 2,500 walking steps per mile as counted by a fitness band, or phone motion sensor. Running steps have a longer stride length, which means you may take between 1,000 and 2,000 steps per mile.

A total of 10,000 steps equals 4 to 5 miles. The number of steps per mile varies from person to person and depends on your stride length. Knowing how many steps are typical for a mile, you can begin to envision how far you need to walk to log 10,000 steps per day.

It also works in reverse. The miles might not seem so long if you realize how many you manage to log during your daily activities. Keep moving and you will make it to your daily goal.

Walking and Running

For a quick rule of thumb, an older research study found these average steps per mile at walking and running speeds:

Using these averages, here is how far you might go using various step totals. Keep in mind this will vary depending on your individual step length.

Estimations by Height

Many fitness trackers use estimates based on height and ask for your height during setup. Rough estimates of steps per mile based on a stride-to-height ratio are:

Measuring Your Steps

You can use a step-counting fitness tracker or the step-counting function of your mobile phone to count your steps, or you can count them in your head. The best way to find your average steps per mile is to count them several times for a known distance and see your average:

Running Track

To find a measured mile, you can use a regulation quarter-mile track at a local school. You may have to ask the coach to ensure it is a quarter-mile track (1,320 feet) rather than a 400-meter track (1,308 feet). Walk in the inside lane only. Count your steps.

It's best to go around four times to get a full mile on a quarter-mile track, so you won't need to do any math. For a 400-meter track, go around four times and multiply your steps by 1.009.

Fitness Trackers

Fitness trackers, such as Fitbits or sports watches, will do the counting for you and can be a convenient way to track steps and a variety of other data, such as heart rate or stress scores, just by wearing it on your wrist. However, wearable devices tend to be an investment and reliable options can cost about $100 to $300 or more depending on the style and features included in it.

Apps

You can use a mobile app such as MapMyWalk that will count your steps and measure a mile with your phone's GPS at the same time. However, the mile distance can be off by 10% using GPS.

GPS signals travel between your phone and multiple satellites in orbit. They can get confused by buildings, trees, and hillsides, resulting in less accurate distance measurement. For better accuracy, choose a place to walk in an open area with a clear view of the sky and no twists or turns.

Measured Mile

Another method is to use an online mapping site to map a mile course in your local area, then walk it with a fitness tracker. For the best accuracy, choose a straight path without turns and curves.

Stride Length

An average stride length that you will see listed in many places is 2.2 feet (0.67 meters) for women and 2.5 feet (0.762 meters) for men, but it depends very much on height. Measuring your stride length will give you a much more accurate number of steps per mile.

Your stride length is the distance from the heel print of one foot to the heel print of the other foot. This is the distance traveled forward by a single leg.

Your stride length varies depending on whether you are walking or running and whether you are on hills or rough trails or crossing streets with starts and stops. To measure your stride length, you can use various methods such as walking a football field (300 feet) and stride length equations.

Device Correction

If you find that your fitness tracker tells you that you have gone farther than a mile in a measured mile, then increase the stride length programmed in the tracker. If it tells you that you have gone less than a mile in a measured mile, reduce your stride length programmed into the tracker.

Fitness trackers you wear on your wrist may be counting arm motion rather than steps. Read the instructions to see how to set its sensitivity so it isn't over-counting steps.

Research also shows that a fitness tracker on your non-dominate wrist is better for accuracy. For example, if you are right-handed, wear it on your left wrist.

Your steps per mile will be inaccurate when wearing a wrist-based fitness tracker if you don't use arm motion, such as when holding onto the handrails of a treadmill or pushing a baby stroller. They may also be inaccurate when using trekking poles and not moving them every step.

How many steps or strides it will take to walk a mile depends significantly on your individual step or stride length. This varies from person to person and can be influenced by your height, age, and fitness level. Use a fitness tracker to help you determine your steps per mile, along with the calculations for determining your personal step rate above.