HDL by age and sex

What’s typical for HDL at every adult age, from a U.S. government health survey of 19,237 people, next to the usual ranges labs print.

NHANES 2015–2016, 2017–March 2020 (pre-pandemic), August 2021–August 202319,237 adultsAI-drafted. Awaiting verification

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

1,541 people in NHANES, 2015–2016, 2017–March 2020 (pre-pandemic), August 2021–August 2023.

Median (half are lower): 55 mg/dL
Middle half of people: 46 to 68
Middle 90% of people: 36 to 87
Usual range a lab prints: 40 to above

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)

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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 HDL 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

HDL 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	1,697	34	36	40	47	56	65	75	82	88
30–39	1,519	33	35	39	46	55	66	77	84	90
40–49	1,541	33	36	39	46	55	68	79	87	96
50–59	1,643	36	39	41	48	58	71	83	92	100
60–69	1,933	35	36	41	48	59	71	85	95	104
70–79	1,086	35	40	43	51	60	72	85	97	105
80+	587	37	40	42	51	60	73	85	94	98
All adults	10,006	34	37	41	48	57	68	81	89	97

Men

HDL 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	1,652	29	31	35	40	47	56	65	73	78
30–39	1,311	27	31	34	38	45	54	64	71	78
40–49	1,315	28	32	34	39	45	53	65	71	76
50–59	1,434	29	30	33	39	47	56	67	72	87
60–69	1,817	29	31	34	40	47	56	68	75	84
70–79	1,137	29	32	35	41	48	59	71	80	90
80+	565	29	33	35	41	48	60	70	77	82
All adults	9,231	29	31	34	40	46	55	66	73	80

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.

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 range at every age

The reference range labs print, for each age group. Ranges differ a little between labs, so the range on your own report is the one your result is judged against.

Usual range of HDL by age, in mg/dL
Who	Usual range
2–18	45 and above mg/dL
19+	40 and above mg/dL

Sources: Circulation, Labcorp, ARUP Laboratories, NIH / National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, The Lancet, European Heart Journal