What this calculator does
It turns a step count from a phone or fitness tracker into miles or kilometers, or tells you how many steps a walk will take. The key number is your step length: the distance from one heel strike to the next heel strike of the other foot. Measure it if you can. If not, the calculator estimates it from your height.
How it's calculated
Steps = distance ÷ step length
Height estimate: step length ≈ 0.42 × height
One mile is 63,360 inches and one kilometer is 100,000 cm. Some sources call the same distance "stride length", but in gait research a stride is usually two steps.
How to measure your step length
- Mark a starting line and walk 20 normal steps at your usual pace.
- Measure from the start to the heel of your front foot.
- Divide by 20. Repeat once or twice and average the results.
Walking faster or running makes your steps longer, so measure at the pace you want to track.
Worked example
With a measured step length of 30 inches, 10,000 steps cover 10,000 × 30 = 300,000 inches. Divided by 63,360, that's 4.73 miles (7.62 km). One mile takes 63,360 ÷ 30 = 2,112 steps.
Using the height estimate instead, someone 5 ft 9 in (69 in) gets 0.42 × 69 = 28.98 inches per step, so 10,000 steps is about 4.57 miles.
Steps per mile by step length
| Step length | Steps per mile | Miles in 10,000 steps |
|---|---|---|
| 24 in (61 cm) | 2,640 | 3.79 |
| 27 in (69 cm) | 2,347 | 4.26 |
| 30 in (76 cm) | 2,112 | 4.73 |
| 33 in (84 cm) | 1,920 | 5.21 |
| 36 in (91 cm) | 1,760 | 5.68 |
How good is the height estimate?
The 42% rule is a common shortcut. Barreira, Rowe and Kang (2010) tested it on 130 healthy young adults walking at a moderate pace. The rule predicted an average step of 0.71 m, but their measured steps averaged 0.78 m, and the two were only moderately related (r = .46). So for many people the height estimate comes out short, and a measured step length is much better.
Limitations
- Trackers miss some steps and count some arm movements as steps, so the step count itself can be off.
- Hills, stairs, crowds and slow strolling all shorten your steps.
- This converts distance only. For calories, use the calories burned calculator.