Glucose by age and sex

What’s typical for glucose at every adult age, from a U.S. government health survey of 9,324 people, next to the usual ranges labs print.

NHANES 2015–2016, 2017–March 2020 (pre-pandemic), August 2021–August 20239,324 adultsAI-verified against cited sources. Awaiting expert review

What’s typical at one age

Pick a sex and an age to see the spread among U.S. adults like that, and type a result to see where it falls.

Age: 45

U.S. women aged 40–49

735 people in NHANES, 2015–2016, 2017–March 2020 (pre-pandemic), August 2021–August 2023.

Median (half are lower): 99 mg/dL
Middle half of people: 93 to 107
Middle 90% of people: 86 to 151
Usual range a lab prints: 70 to 99

Shaded: the middle 90% and middle half of people. Dark line: the median. The bracket above: the usual range.

Your result (optional, in mg/dL)

Nothing you type here leaves your browser.

Across adult life

NHANES describes the US civilian, non-institutionalized population, not a 'healthy' reference group. People with disease, on medication, fasting or not (except fasting-subsample markers), smokers and so on are all included. A percentile says where a value sits among Americans of that sex and age, not whether it is normal.

How Glucose varies with age in the U.S.Shaded: middle 90% and middle 50% of people. Line: the median. mg/dL. Point at any age, or focus the chart and use the arrow keys, to read both sexes in words.

Reference data derived from CDC/NCHS National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), cycles 2015-2016, 2017-March 2020 (pre-pandemic), August 2021-August 2023. Analysis by bloodtesttracker.com; not endorsed by CDC, NCHS or HHS.

Every percentile

Download this table (CSV)

The 25th percentile means a quarter of people in that group had a lower result. In mg/dL. A dash means too few people were measured for the survey to publish that number.

Women

Glucose percentiles for U.S. women by age, in mg/dL, NHANES 2015–2016, 2017–March 2020 (pre-pandemic), August 2021–August 2023
Age	People	2.5th	5th	10th	25th	Median	75th	90th	95th	97.5th
18–29	776	81	83	85	89	94	99	105	111	117
30–39	721	82	85	87	91	97	103	111	121	152
40–49	735	83	86	88	93	99	107	123	151	206
50–59	846	83	86	89	95	102	111	130	165	186
60–69	1,016	83	88	91	97	104	117	135	169	214
70–79	540	85	88	92	98	105	117	132	151	174
80+	269	–	89	93	97	105	119	137	164	–
All adults	4,903	83	85	88	93	99	108	124	146	183

Men

Glucose percentiles for U.S. men by age, in mg/dL, NHANES 2015–2016, 2017–March 2020 (pre-pandemic), August 2021–August 2023
Age	People	2.5th	5th	10th	25th	Median	75th	90th	95th	97.5th
18–29	764	83	85	88	93	98	104	109	113	125
30–39	603	85	87	90	95	100	107	114	121	142
40–49	640	84	88	92	97	103	112	125	169	238
50–59	684	87	89	94	99	107	119	162	238	298
60–69	921	89	93	96	101	109	126	158	200	212
70–79	553	88	91	95	104	112	130	163	196	220
80+	256	–	92	95	103	110	127	155	182	–
All adults	4,421	85	88	91	97	103	113	134	173	220

About these numbers

NHANES describes the US civilian, non-institutionalized population, not a 'healthy' reference group. People with disease, on medication, fasting or not (except fasting-subsample markers), smokers and so on are all included. A percentile says where a value sits among Americans of that sex and age, not whether it is normal.
Assays differ between labs and between NHANES cycles. Values from a commercial lab can sit a few percent higher or lower than NHANES for the same blood. Earlier cycles were bridged to the 2021-2023 method with NCHS equations where NCHS recommends it.
Age 80 and over is top-coded at 80 in public NHANES files, so the 80+ cell mixes everyone 80 and older.
2021-2023 (cycle L) had a 25.7% exam response rate and no race/income oversampling; NCHS advises caution when combining it with earlier cycles.
Fasting plasma glucose (fasting subsample). Non-fasting glucose is not summarized.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS). National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey Data. Hyattsville, MD: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2015-2016, 2017-March 2020 (pre-pandemic), August 2021-August 2023. https://wwwn.cdc.gov/nchs/nhanes/

How we use survey data

The usual adult range

Labs print one adult range for glucose, whatever your age.

Adults70–99 mg/dL

Every range and its source