How far is 10,000 steps?
About 7 km, or 4.4 miles, for an adult of average height. The distance depends on stride, and stride depends mostly on height: about 6.6 km at 160 cm, 7 km at 170 cm and 7.5 km at 180 cm. Enter your own steps and height below, or read the table.
Steps to distance by height
Stride taken as 0.414 of height, a common pedometer rule of thumb. Your own stride varies with pace: brisk walking lengthens it, a stroll shortens it.
| Steps | 160 cm | 170 cm | 180 cm |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1,000 | 0.7 km (0.4 mi) | 0.7 km (0.4 mi) | 0.7 km (0.5 mi) |
| 2,000 | 1.3 km (0.8 mi) | 1.4 km (0.9 mi) | 1.5 km (0.9 mi) |
| 3,000 | 2.0 km (1.2 mi) | 2.1 km (1.3 mi) | 2.2 km (1.4 mi) |
| 4,000 | 2.6 km (1.6 mi) | 2.8 km (1.7 mi) | 3.0 km (1.9 mi) |
| 5,000 | 3.3 km (2.1 mi) | 3.5 km (2.2 mi) | 3.7 km (2.3 mi) |
| 6,000 | 4.0 km (2.5 mi) | 4.2 km (2.6 mi) | 4.5 km (2.8 mi) |
| 7,000 | 4.6 km (2.9 mi) | 4.9 km (3.1 mi) | 5.2 km (3.2 mi) |
| 8,000 | 5.3 km (3.3 mi) | 5.6 km (3.5 mi) | 6.0 km (3.7 mi) |
| 10,000 | 6.6 km (4.1 mi) | 7.0 km (4.4 mi) | 7.5 km (4.6 mi) |
| 12,000 | 7.9 km (4.9 mi) | 8.4 km (5.2 mi) | 8.9 km (5.6 mi) |
| 15,000 | 9.9 km (6.2 mi) | 10.6 km (6.6 mi) | 11.2 km (6.9 mi) |
| 20,000 | 13.2 km (8.2 mi) | 14.1 km (8.7 mi) | 14.9 km (9.3 mi) |
How the estimate works
Distance is steps multiplied by stride. Pedometers without GPS estimate stride from height, and the rule used here puts an adult walking stride at about 0.41 to 0.42 of height: 70 cm for someone 170 cm tall. An iPhone starts from a similar estimate and refines it with GPS when you record an outdoor walk, and an Apple Watch calibrates its own, which is why a calibrated device can differ from this table by a few percent.
The step count itself does not depend on stride. If the goal is health, the research measures steps rather than kilometres: see how many steps a day do you actually need? For how long those steps take, see how long does it take to walk 10,000 steps?
Questions
How far is 10,000 steps in km?
About 7 km for a 170 cm adult with an average stride, roughly 6.6 km at 160 cm and 7.5 km at 180 cm. In miles that is 4.1 to 4.6. Longer strides at a brisk pace push the figure toward 8 km.
How many steps are in a kilometre?
About 1,400 for a 170 cm adult at an average stride, around 1,500 at 160 cm and 1,350 at 180 cm. A mile is about 2,250 steps at 170 cm.
Why does my phone show a different distance for the same steps?
The phone estimates stride from your height and adjusts it with GPS when you record an outdoor walk, and the Apple Watch calibrates its own estimate. A table like this one uses a fixed stride, so it will differ from a calibrated device by a few percent.