The Average One-Mile Run Times

The modern track and field world has long favored the metric system. All Olympic races, for example, are measured in meters. Nevertheless, the mile run survives. Part of the reason the mile is run, both in the United States and abroad, is its use as a physical fitness gauge. If your one-mile running time is above average, the chances are that you’re in good physical health.

  1. Mile Times in the 1980s

    • The most extensive study of average mile running times was performed in the United States in the early 1980s. A study of more than 4 million high school runners, over the course of two years, determined that high school boys ran the mile in an average of 7 minutes, 40 seconds, and high school girls averaged 9:51.

    Mile Averages in the 21st Century

    • Fitness trainer and author Jay Cardiello reports in “Men’s Fitness” magazine that men run a mile on the treadmill in an average of 8:34. According to 2008 statistics from the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, the average boy can run 1 mile in 9:45 at age 10, 9:20 at 11 years old, 8:40 at 12 and 8:00 as a 13-year-old. Mile times at the same ages for girls were 11:20, 11:15, 11:00 and 10:20, respectively.

    Mile Averages Are Declining

    • A review of 50 studies on running fitness conducted by Dr. Grant Tomkinson of the University of South Australia in 2013 examined the running performances of more than 25 million children, ages 9 to 17, in 28 countries. Tomkinson concluded that the average mile running times for today’s youth are 90 seconds slower than running times for kids in 1975, at comparable ages.

    Mile Averages Predict Long-Term Health

    • Studies performed by the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School and the Cooper Institute in 2011 demonstrated that your average mile time can foreshadow your long-term health. Based on treadmill tests, the researchers concluded that 50-year-old men who average eight minutes or less to run a mile are in good shape, as are 50-year-old women who can do the mile in an average nine minutes or less. Average men and women in the study could run the mile in 9:00 and 10:30, respectively. If your average mile time is slower than 10 minutes for men or 12 minutes for women, then you’re in poor shape.

    Mile Standards

    • You can put average mile running times in some perspective by comparing them with various world records. As of 2014, Hicham El Guerrouj of Morocco holds the men’s world record in the mile, with a time of 3:43.13. Svetlana Masterkova of Russia set the women’s record of 4:12.56. In the United States, Alan Webb holds the men’s record of 3:46.91, and Mary Slaney owns the women’s mark of 4:16.71. Vyacheslav Shavunin of Russia holds the world mile record for men 40 years old or older, with a time of 4:01.62. The men’s mark for 60 years old and above is 4:51.85, set by Tony McManus of New Zealand. The women’s records for the same ages are 4:23.78, by Yekatarina Podkopayeva of Russia, and 5:42.65, by American Kathryn Martin.