Average 5k Times

The average 5k time is 34:17, based on 252,963 race results.

The average time for women is 35:22, and the average time for men is 33:11.

Comparison of 5k Times by Age & Gender

Mean 5k Times by Age Category

Mean is the average time. It's calculated by adding all times together and dividing by the number of runners.

View by: time | mins/mile | mins/km | mph | kph
Age Cat. Men Women
5–9 33:46 42:23
10–14 29:13 30:51
15–19 28:20 29:02
20–29 30:19 32:46
30–39 29:58 33:09
40–49 30:32 33:03
50–59 32:43 35:38
60–69 35:48 38:59
70–79 43:49 44:48

Median 5k Times by Age Category

Median is the middle time. It’s the time that falls exactly halfway through the results when all finish times are listed in order.

View by: time | mins/mile | mins/km | mph | kph
Age Cat. Men Women
5–9 29:48 35:48
10–14 27:36 29:08
15–19 25:30 27:36
20–29 28:38 30:00
30–39 28:14 31:30
40–49 28:32 31:48
50–59 31:12 33:44
60–69 34:02 36:22
70–79 39:30 41:12

Mean 5k Times by Country

View by: time | mins/mile | mins/km | mph | kph
Country Men Women
AUS 29:57 34:30
CAN 32:53 34:58
GBR 30:24 34:35
USA 31:49 33:01
View by: All | Men | Women

Average 5k Time in Australia

In Australia, the average 5k time is 32:13, the fastest among the four countries featured.

Australian men run an average of 29:57, and women come in at 34:30.

Average 5k Time in the United States

The average 5k time in the United States is 32:25.

American women typically run 33:01, while the average for men is 31:49.

Average 5k Time in the United Kingdom

Runners in the UK average a 5k time of 32:30.

For UK women, the average is 34:35; for men, it’s 30:24.

Average 5k Time in Canada

The typical 5k finish time in Canada is 33:56.

Women average 34:58, and men average 32:53.

Average Age Gradings for 5k

The average 5k age grading for all runners is 48.96%.

The average for women is 46.89%, and the average for men is 51.02%.

Mean Age Grades By Age Category

Age Cat. Men Women
5–9 55.77% 44.15%
10–14 54.35% 51.21%
15–19 50.45% 49.28%
20–29 46.01% 42.60%
30–39 47.48% 42.96%
40–49 50.10% 46.23%
50–59 52.21% 48.01%
60–69 54.18% 50.01%
70–79 52.40% 49.95%

Visit our age grading calculator

Average VO2 Max for 5k

The average 5k Vo2 max for all runners is 26.98.

The average for women is 25.86, and the average for men is 28.11.

Mean Vo2 Max By Age Category

Age Cat. Men Women
5–9 27.42 20.50
10–14 32.12 29.86
15–19 33.14 32.28
20–29 30.55 27.83
30–39 30.95 27.42
40–49 30.32 27.46
50–59 27.80 25.15
60–69 24.91 22.57
70–79 19.94 19.10

Visit our Vo2 max calculator

How It Works

Race Data

We collect anonymized, aggregated running performance data from users of our Age Grading Calculator and Race Profile Tool. This gives us a large pool of real-world 5k times and other race results submitted by runners worldwide.

To ensure accuracy we filter out outliers and duplicates, especially when it's clear someone is experimenting or checking how different race times affect their results. And we apply minor corrections based on various signals, erratic patterns, or suspicious submissions, in order to ensure the data reflects genuine performances as much as possible.

From this clean and filtered data, we generate average 5k times by age, gender, and country, and then use those figures to calculate VO2 max and age-grading estimates. All data is fully anonymous and used only in aggregate.

Types Of Averages

There are three main types of average: mean, median, and mode.

Let's say we have five runners who have run the following times:

Runner Time
Runner 123:15
Runner 227:42
Runner 331:34
Runner 437:21
Runner 537:21

Mean

This is what most people are referring to when they talk about "average". It simply involves adding all times in your category together and dividing by the total number of times.

For the five runners in our example, the total time is 2 hours, 37 minutes, 13 seconds.

2:37:13 ÷ 5 = 31:27

So, the average time of these runners is 31:27

Median

The median is the exact middle value. Half the runners are slower than this time and half the runners are faster than this time. Median values tend to be less affected by very fast and slow values, so can give you a better idea of what a typical runner achieves.

In our example, the middle value is 31:34, so the median of these times is 31:34

Mode

Mode is the value that appears most often. For our purposes of reporting average race times it would be the most common finish time for 5k.

In the example above, the most-common time is 37:21, so the modal time is 37:21.