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VO2 Max by Age & Sex

VO2 max may be the single strongest predictor of how long you live — and it falls ~10% per decade if you don't train it. See where you stand against population norms, and what the evidence says.

Norms from the Cooper Institute / ACSM (80,000+ treadmill tests). Not a diagnosis.

What is a good VO2 max for your age?

Half of men in their forties test at 37.8 ml/kg/min or better, and half of women at 26.7. That is the middle of the population, not a goal. Researchers on tape name roughly 30–31 ml/kg/min as the floor for staying independent in your eighties, and 50–55+ as the range worth training toward. Full table below — it is the same one the calculator scores you against.

Median man, 20s → 70+

48.0 → 24.4

Median woman, 20s → 70+

37.6 → 18.3

About half the number, across fifty years, without training. That decline is the part you can change.

VO2 max percentiles by age and sex

Cooper Institute / ACSM norms, ml/kg/min. Find your age row, then read across to see where a number lands.

Women

Age 5th 10th 25th 50th 75th 90th 95th Sources
20–29 21.7 23.9 30.5 37.6 44.7 51.3 56.0 at least 35 men, 30 women4
30–39 19.0 20.9 25.3 30.2 36.1 41.4 45.8 at least 35 men, 30 women4
40–49 17.0 18.8 22.1 26.7 32.4 38.4 41.7 at least 35 men, 30 women4
50–59 16.0 17.3 19.9 23.4 27.6 32.0 35.9 at least 35 men, 30 women4
60–69 13.4 14.6 17.2 20.0 23.8 27.0 29.4 at least 35 men, 30 women4
70+ 13.1 13.6 15.6 18.3 20.8 23.1 24.1 high 20s to 30, last decade1
over 30 at 80 is top 2.3%2
18 is the line of independence3

Men

Age 5th 10th 25th 50th 75th 90th 95th Sources
20–29 29.0 32.1 40.1 48.0 55.2 61.8 66.3 at least 35 men, 30 women4
30–39 27.2 30.2 35.9 42.4 49.2 56.5 59.8 at least 35 men, 30 women4
40–49 24.2 26.8 31.9 37.8 45.0 52.1 55.6 at least 35 men, 30 women4
50–59 20.9 22.8 27.1 32.6 39.7 45.6 50.7 at least 35 men, 30 women4
60–69 17.4 19.8 23.7 28.2 34.5 40.3 43.0 at least 35 men, 30 women4
70+ 16.3 17.1 20.4 24.4 30.4 36.6 39.7 high 20s to 30, last decade1
18 is the line of independence3
Below 20th Poor 20–40th Fair 40–60th Average 60–80th Good 80–95th Excellent 95th+ Superior

The 70+ row is the oldest published band, so we compare anyone 80 or over against it rather than extrapolating past the data.

Sources for the highlighted column

The highlighted column is not from a population table. Each number is what a researcher said on tape, verbatim, at the second linked below. Where no researcher names a number for a row, the column shows a published study instead.

  1. 1

    high 20s to 30, last decade · 80 and over

    “people at least based on what they're telling you they want to be able to do in the last decade of their life are going to require a V2 Max of about 30 so high 20s to 30”

    Peter Attia, on The Drive, at 46:51
  2. 2

    over 30 at 80 is top 2.3% · women, 80 and over

    “that will fall such that by the time a woman is 80 to be in the top 3% pardon me the top 2.3% she would have to be greater than 30 millit per kilogram per minute”

    Peter Attia, on The Drive, at 16:21
  3. 3

    18 is the line of independence · old age floor

    “And so a standard number is about 18, is what we call the line of independence. So if your VO2 max is below 18 milliliters per kilogram per minute, it's very hard for you to live by yourself.”

    Dr. Andy Galpin, on Huberman Lab, at 21:26
  4. 4

    at least 35 men, 30 women · every adult

    “So in general, for men, a minimum number we want to look at here is 35 milliliters per kilogram per minute. And for women, that would be about 30.”

    Dr. Andy Galpin, on Huberman Lab, at 112:51
  5. 5

    elite for two decades younger

    “you pretty much need to be two decades younger at the elite level if you're thinking you're going to live to be about 90”

    Peter Attia, on The Drive, at 17:27
  6. 6

    falls 8–10% per decade

    “that declines at about 8% to 10% per decade. So if you have to be at 30, and let's just assume you're going to be doing that at 90”

    Dr. Peter Attia, on Huberman Lab, at 36:16
  7. 7

    about 10% per decade from your 40s

    “in general people think V2 Max declines about 10% per decade starting in the fourth decade so sometime in your 30s”

    Dr. Mike Joyner, on The Drive, at 53:40

Find your exact percentile

Enter your number, or estimate it from a 12-minute test.

Apple Watch, Garmin, Whoop, and Oura all estimate this. Wearable estimates are approximations — fine for tracking your trend.