Vertical Jump Averages by Age and Sport
Typical vertical jumps for adult men and women, how jump height changes with age, and what NBA, NFL and NHL athletes actually post.
A typical untrained adult man jumps about 16 to 20 inches straight up. A typical adult woman jumps about 12 to 16 inches. Pro athletes in jumping sports are far above that: NFL prospects averaged about 33 inches at 2021 pro days, and only about 7% of NBA Draft Combine players over 25 years hit a 40-inch max vertical. Jump height usually peaks in your late teens or twenties and drops slowly after that.
The details below tell you how to measure your own jump so you can compare it fairly, and which numbers are worth comparing yourself to.
Average vertical jump for adults
The most widely cited rating scale comes from Topend Sports. It's based on a standing jump off two feet, with no run-up and a full arm swing. Its author says the scale comes from his own testing experience, not from one big study, so treat it as a rule of thumb.
Men:
- Excellent: over 28 inches
- Very good: 24 to 28 inches
- Above average: 20 to 24 inches
- Average: 16 to 20 inches
- Below average: 12 to 16 inches
- Poor: 8 to 12 inches
Women:
- Excellent: over 24 inches
- Very good: 20 to 24 inches
- Above average: 16 to 20 inches
- Average: 12 to 16 inches
- Below average: 8 to 12 inches
- Poor: 4 to 8 inches
If you're a guy who plays pickup basketball and you measure 22 inches, you're above average. If you measure 30, you'd stand out on most rec-league courts.
How vertical jump changes with age
Nobody has published a clean US table of average jump height by age. The best large dataset comes from the China National Health Survey, which tested 19,269 people aged 8 to 80. It found two patterns:
- Men: jump height climbed through childhood and peaked around age 18, then slowly dropped with each age group after that.
- Women: jump height stayed fairly flat from childhood into early adulthood, then started dropping after about age 30.
The middle values in that survey were 20.3 cm for men and 14.1 cm for women, roughly 8 inches and 5.5 inches. Those are far lower than the Topend scale because each test is run differently. Some use a jump mat, some don't allow an arm swing, and some measure from standing reach. That's the main reason vertical jump numbers online don't agree. Only compare yourself to a number that was measured the same way you measured.
Training slows the drop but doesn't stop it. A study of 240 masters track and field athletes aged 35 to 91, tested at the 2018 World Masters Athletics Championships, found jump height and power still dropped with age. Men and women lost it at about the same rate. These were people who compete in their sport, so if they lose height, you will too.
In practice:
- Teens: the biggest gains come from growing and getting stronger. A 14-year-old's number can jump several inches in a year without any special training.
- 20s to early 30s: your best years to set a personal record.
- 40s and up: a jump that holds steady from one year to the next means you're doing well. Comparing yourself to your own number from last year tells you more than comparing yourself to a 22-year-old.
Vertical jump by sport
These are the most solid pro and pre-pro numbers.
Basketball (NBA)
- Topend Sports puts the average NBA vertical around 28 inches.
- At the NBA Draft Combine, 129 of 1,795 players (7.19%) over 25 years posted a max vertical of 40 inches or more, according to NBA.com.
- The combine record is 48 inches, set by Keon Johnson in 2021. Kenny Gregory is next at 45.5 inches (2001).
The combine tests two jumps. The standing vertical is from a stop. The max vertical comes off a few running steps. The max is usually several inches higher, so always check which one a number refers to.
Football (NFL)
- Across 497 players at 2021 pro days, the average was 33.1 inches.
- The best at the 2016 Combine was 41.5 inches, from Daniel Lasco and Jalen Ramsey.
- Receivers, running backs and defensive backs tend to post the highest numbers. Linemen and quarterbacks tend to post the lowest.
Hockey (NHL)
- The NHL average was about 26.1 inches in 2009 testing. That's lower than football or basketball because hockey doesn't reward jumping.
Soccer (MLS)
- The best at the 2017 MLS Combine was 36.5 inches (Chris Odoi-Atsem).
The pattern is simple: the more a sport rewards getting off the ground, the higher its players jump. Volleyball and basketball players train for it every practice. Hockey players don't.
How to measure your own vertical
You don't need a $700 jump mat. A wall, some chalk and a tape measure give a usable number.
- Chalk your fingertips. Stand sideways to a wall with your feet flat and reach as high as you can with the hand nearest the wall. Mark it. That's your standing reach.
- From a standstill, with both feet planted, dip and jump. Swing your arms and touch the wall as high as you can.
- Measure from your standing-reach mark to your highest touch. That gap is your vertical.
- Take three tries with a full minute of rest between them and keep the best one.
If you want the "max" number the NBA uses, add two or three steps of run-up. Write down which version you did, so next fall you're comparing the same test.
A few things that throw the number off:
- Reaching lazy: if you don't fully stretch on the standing reach, your vertical looks bigger than it is.
- Shoes and floor: concrete in running shoes and a gym floor in court shoes give different numbers. Test on the same surface every time.
- Being tired: test before a workout, not after. A cold garage on a November morning will cost you an inch or two unless you warm up properly first.
What to do with your number
If you're under the average for your sex, the fastest gains usually come from getting stronger in the legs and practicing jumping itself. Our vertical jump plan lays out a week-by-week approach. If you've never done jump training, start with plyometrics for beginners and box jumps done safely before you add volume.
If the weather has you stuck indoors, these indoor jump workouts work in a basement or living room.
Your next step
- Measure your standing vertical with chalk and a tape this week. Do three tries and keep the best one.
- Write down the date, the surface, your shoes and whether you used a run-up.
- Compare it to the adult scale above, not to NBA highlight clips.
- Retest in 6 to 8 weeks, under the same conditions.
Most people who train consistently gain a few inches over a season. Don't expect 10.
Sources (5)
Photo by taoonex on Pixabay.