What is a good vertical jump for your age and sex?

Average Vertical Jump by Age Group (inches)

The tables below show representative vertical jump percentiles for men and women, synthesized from published strength and power testing literature. Values are in inches; to convert to centimeters multiply by 2.54.

Note: these figures describe the general adult population, including untrained and recreationally active people. Competitive athletes score far higher: varsity college jumpers and volleyball players routinely exceed 24-28 inches, and the standing vertical jump at the NFL Combine averages about 30 inches for skill-position players.

How to Read Your Percentile

Your percentile tells you how your jump compares to other adults of your age and sex. Values below the 10th percentile are rated Poor, between the 10th and 25th percentile Fair, between the 25th and 75th percentile Average, between the 75th and 90th Good, and above the 90th percentile Excellent.

• Below average jumps (Poor to Fair): common in sedentary adults and strongly related to leg strength and power. This is the group that gains the most from training, often 20-30% in the first months.
• Average: typical of a healthy, recreationally active adult. Roughly half of people your age fall in this band.
• Good to Excellent: reflects above-average lower-body power, usually built through sports or resistance training. Trained adults often jump 20-30% higher than untrained peers of the same age.

Jump height is one component of lower-body power, which matters for sports performance, everyday mobility, and fall risk in older adults. A higher vertical jump correlates with faster sprint times, better change of direction, and stronger performance in jumping sports from basketball to volleyball.

Jump-and-Reach vs Flight-Time: Two Ways to Measure

Before you compare your number to any norm, you need to know which measurement family it came from. The two methods answer slightly different questions, and they can differ by 2-4 inches for the same athlete.

Jump-and-reach methods, which include the wall-and-chalk test and the Vertec device, subtract your standing reach from your highest jump touch. They measure your ability to touch a target, so arm length, shoulder mobility, and technique are baked into the score. Tall athletes with long arms can score higher without jumping any higher. This is the method used at most combines and in most high school testing, so the athlete benchmarks you see quoted are usually jump-and-reach values.

Flight-time methods, which include contact jump mats, optical systems, and phone apps, measure how long you are airborne and convert that to height using the physics described by Bosco, Luhtanen and Komi (1983): height equals gravitational acceleration times flight time squared, divided by eight. This measures the actual rise of your center of mass, independent of arm reach. It is more objective, but it reads 1-3 inches lower than jump-and-reach because it ignores the reach component.

Nuzzo, Anning and Scharfenberg (2011) compared three devices used for measuring vertical jump height and found all of them reliable when used consistently, but the values across devices differed by more than 2 inches for the same jump. The practical lesson: pick one method, test the same way every time, and never compare a jump-mat number to a Vertec number as if they are the same measurement.

Vertec, Chalk, and Apps: Accuracy Trade-offs

• Vertec: the professional standard, with vanes spaced every half inch. Accurate to about an inch, consistent across testers, but costs a few hundred dollars and requires space to set up.
• Wall-and-chalk: free and accurate to 1-2 inches when done carefully. The biggest source of error is chalk smearing and reaching the wall at an angle instead of straight up.
• Jump mat: objective and repeatable, reads 1-3 inches lower than reach methods. The cost of entry is $50 to $200, and you need to land in the center.
• Phone apps: slow-motion video apps are surprisingly good, within 1-2 inches of a Vertec when the camera is fixed at the right height. Accelerometer-based apps are less reliable and should be avoided for tracking.

Whichever you choose, the most important variable is consistency, not precision. A well-run chalk test on the same wall beats a poorly run Vertec test for tracking progress. See how to measure vertical jump at home for the full step-by-step protocol.

Countermovement vs Squat Jump: Know What You Are Testing

Most norms and athlete benchmarks refer to a countermovement jump, which starts with a quick dip and an arm swing before takeoff. It uses the stretch-shortening cycle, where the muscles and tendons store elastic energy during the descent and release it during the ascent. This is why your countermovement jump is typically 1.5 to 3 inches higher than a jump from a static crouch.

A squat jump, by contrast, starts from a fixed crouched position with no countermovement and often no arm swing. It removes the elastic contribution and tests pure concentric force. Sports scientists use the difference between the two jumps to estimate how well an athlete can use elastic energy. A small gap suggests your technique is the limiting factor; a large gap means your raw leg strength is the weak link.

When you enter a number into this calculator, use a standard countermovement jump with an arm swing so your result matches the published norms, which are almost all countermovement values.

Sport-Specific Standards: Where You Stack Up

General population norms are useful, but athletes think in sport terms. Here are the ranges that matter in competitive settings:

• Basketball: the average standing vertical jump at the NBA Combine is around 28 inches, with the most explosive prospects pushing past 35 inches. College scholarship hopefuls usually need a standing vertical above 24 inches.
• Volleyball: elite male volleyball players reach standing vertical jumps of 30-36 inches and female international players 24-28 inches. Lower-body power is the difference between a block and a roof.
• Football: the NFL Combine average for the vertical jump is about 30 inches across all positions, with wide receivers and defensive backs often clearing 36 inches. Running backs and cornerbacks live on explosive power.
• Track and field: high jumpers and long jumpers are the outliers, with standing vertical jumps of 32-40 inches common among national-level competitors.
• General fitness: for a recreationally active adult, a 20-inch jump for men and 16-inch jump for women is a reasonable goal that puts you in the top quarter of your age group.

The horizontal cousin of the vertical jump is the standing long jump, which uses the same explosive leg power and correlates strongly with sprint speed and the vertical itself.

The Research Behind the Numbers

Vertical jump height is the most widely used field test of explosive lower-body power. Bosco, Luhtanen and Komi (1983) developed a simple flight-time method for measuring mechanical power in jumping that is still the basis of modern jump mats and apps. Their approach treats the jump as a ballistic problem: measure airborne time, compute center-of-mass rise, and derive power output from body mass.

Markovic and Jaric (2007) showed that jump height is determined primarily by the mechanical output of the leg extensors at high velocity, which is why heavy strength alone transfers poorly to the jump without power and plyometric training. Their loading experiments demonstrated that the way you load a jump, heavy versus light, changes the mechanical profile of the movement in predictable ways.

Strength training is the foundation. A meta-analysis by Peterson, Rhea and Alvar (2004) found that novice and untrained athletes gain strength fastest with 3-4 sets per muscle group, 2-3 days per week. Wernbom, Augustsson and Thomeé (2007) similarly reported that whole-muscle hypertrophy requires progressive loading over several months. Applied to the jump, that means the best results come from combining a progressive squat and hinge program with plyometrics.

On the plyometric side, de Villarreal et al. (2009) meta-analyzed the variables that determine vertical jump gains and found that 4-6 week programs, 2-3 sessions per week, with roughly 10-20 jumps per session, produce the largest improvements. They also confirmed that combining plyometrics with strength training beats either alone.

Why Squat Strength Predicts Jump Height

The relationship between your back squat and your vertical jump is one of the most studied questions in strength and conditioning. In untrained and recreationally trained people, the correlation between relative squat strength and jump height is consistently strong, often in the range of 0.70 to 0.85. Athletes who can squat 1.5 to 2 times their body weight jump higher, on average, than equally powerful athletes who squat less.

The mechanics explain why. A jump is a 0.2 to 0.3 second maximum push against the ground, and takeoff velocity depends on how much force you produce in that window. A stronger athlete has more force available, which raises the ceiling. But strength alone is not enough: it must be expressed fast. This is why your strength-to-weight ratio matters more than your raw squat number. Two athletes can both squat 200 kg, but the one who weighs less has to accelerate less mass upward and will jump higher.

The training implication is clear. If your squat is below about 1.5 times body weight, heavy strength work is probably your fastest route to a higher jump. Above that level, additional squat strength produces diminishing returns, and power training and plyometrics take over as the driver of progress. Our guide to squats and the vertical jump covers this transfer in depth.

What Influences Jump Height

• Lower-body strength: squat and hip-extension strength correlate strongly with jump height. A heavier 1RM squat generally means more potential to jump higher, up to a point.
• Power and rate of force development: how fast you can produce force at the moment of takeoff matters more than absolute strength. This is what plyometrics develop.
• Body weight and composition: you must accelerate your entire body mass. Carrying excess fat lowers your jump for the same leg strength, which is why strength relative to body weight predicts jump height better than raw numbers.
• Age and sex: men jump about 4-5 inches higher than women on average, and both sexes peak in their early 20s before declining with age.
• Technique: arm swing, countermovement depth, and timing at takeoff add measurable height. Untrained people leave 2-4 inches on the table with poor technique.
• Fatigue and testing conditions: jump height drops 5-10% with fatigue and is measured lower after a heavy session. Always test fresh, after a consistent warm-up.
• Ankle stiffness: the calves and Achilles transfer force at takeoff. Stiff, strong ankles add the final inches to a jump, which is why pogo hops appear in every serious jump program.

How to Raise Your Vertical Jump

• Build strength: squat and hinge 2-3 days per week with progressive overload. A target of 1.5x bodyweight squat is a common strength ceiling for big jumps.
• Train power: add jump squats, trap-bar jumps, and loaded jump variations once strength is established. Keep loads light (20-30% of squat max) and reps low so every rep is fast.
• Add plyometrics: box jumps, depth jumps, and pogo hops develop the fast stretch-shortening cycle used in a jump. Ten to twenty maximal jumps beat fifty half-effort ones.
• Improve technique: practice full countermovement jumps with an active arm swing and focus on quick, forceful takeoff. Film yourself and compare your takeoff angle to good jumpers.
• Manage body weight: cutting excess fat while maintaining strength improves your jump without any added training. Every pound you do not have to lift is a pound of free height.
• Recover properly: jump progress is built during rest. Sleep 7-9 hours, space lower-body sessions 48 hours apart, and keep plyometric volume modest.

For a complete step-by-step plan, see our guide to increasing your vertical jump, or jump straight into the 8-week vertical jump training program. Both follow the strength-plus-plyometric structure that the research consistently supports.

How Jump Height Changes With Age

Vertical jump height is one of the most age-sensitive physical qualities. It peaks in the early 20s, holds through the 20s in trained athletes, and then declines by roughly 10% per decade in untrained people, accelerating after age 50. By age 60, an untrained man's jump is typically 25-30% lower than his peak. The decline is driven by loss of fast-twitch muscle fibers, reduced rate of force development, and gradual loss of leg strength and muscle mass.

Sex differences compound with age. Women start about 20-25% lower than men on average, and both sexes lose jump height at similar rates in absolute terms. Masters athletes who keep training, however, lose height much more slowly. Studies of veteran sprinters and jumpers show declines closer to 3-5% per decade in those who maintain regular power training.

The encouraging finding is that age-related jump decline is largely reversible in its early stages. Strength and plyometric training restores rate of force development in middle-aged and older adults, improves muscle quality, and reduces fall risk. A functional leg power measure like the vertical jump is a useful proxy for general mobility, alongside related measures like gait speed and grip strength, which also decline with age but respond to training.