MCH calculator (hemoglobin and red cell count)
How much hemoglobin, on average, each of your red blood cells carries. Type your results in the units on your report and it works out MCH as you type, in your browser.
AI-verified against cited sources. Awaiting expert reviewLast reviewed 2026-10-03Blood Cells
Type your results above, or fill in the example, to see MCH.
Nothing you type here leaves your browser.
Educational information, not medical advice. Blood Test Tracker doesn’t diagnose or treat, and it doesn’t replace your clinician. Talk with your clinician before changing medications, supplements or care.
How it’s worked out
The formula
MCH (pg) = Hemoglobin (g/dL) × 10 ÷ RBC (×10^6/µL)
A worked example
Example numbers, not anyone’s real results, run through the same code as the calculator above.
| Hemoglobin | 14 g/dL |
|---|---|
| RBC | 4.7 ×10⁶/µL |
| MCH | 29.8 pg |
For an adult, this result is in the usual range.
What MCH tells you
Mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH) is the average amount of hemoglobin in one red blood cell, measured in picograms (pg). Hemoglobin is the protein that carries oxygen. Your lab calculates MCH by dividing your total hemoglobin by your red blood cell count. It usually moves in step with MCV (cell size), because bigger cells have room for more hemoglobin.
MCH helps explain why hemoglobin or red cell counts might be low. Cells with too little hemoglobin look pale under a microscope. This is most often linked to low iron or to thalassemia trait, an inherited difference in hemoglobin that usually causes no symptoms. A high MCH usually goes along with large red cells. In pregnancy, screening programs use a low MCH as an early flag to look for thalassemia carrier status.
Read the full page on MCH, with what a high or low result can mean.
Usual ranges
The ranges the result above is placed on. Your own lab’s printed range comes first if it gives one.
Sources
The equation
13 more sources for the ranges and the explanation
- Complete Blood Count with Differential (Parkview Laboratory test directory), Parkview Health Laboratory
- RBC indices, MedlinePlus, National Library of Medicine
- Sample report, CBC, Platelet, No Differential (test 028142), Labcorp (2020)
- Sample report, CBC With Differential/Platelet (test 005009), Labcorp
- CBC with Platelet Count and Automated Differential (ARUP test 0040003), reference intervals effective March 1, 2021, ARUP Laboratories (2021)
- CBC with Differential: reference ranges (OHSU Lab Services test directory), Oregon Health & Science University Lab Services
- SCT screening: handbook for antenatal laboratories, NHS England (NHS Sickle Cell and Thalassaemia Screening Programme) (2024)
- Alpha- and Beta-thalassemia: Rapid Evidence Review, American Family Physician (2022)
- Answer to Case on Crazy CBC Values (cold agglutinin disease), The Blood Project
- How to handle lipemic CBC samples on Sysmex hematology analyzers?, Advances in Laboratory Medicine (2025)
- Assessment of Oxidative Stress Biomarkers in Rat Blood (states the hemoglobin monomer molar mass, 16,114.5 g/mol), Bio-protocol (2023)
- Evaluation of Macrocytosis, American Family Physician (2009)
- Measurement of Red Cell Lifespan and Aging, Transfusion Medicine and Hemotherapy (2012)
AI-verified against cited sources. Awaiting expert review. Last reviewed 2026-10-03. The calculator is version 1.0.0 of our code for this equation, tested against published examples. How we build and check these pages.