VO2 max by age: chart for men and women, and what a good score is

A good VO2 max is at or above the 50th percentile for your age and sex. In lab-measured US treadmill data from the FRIEND registry, the median is 48.0 mL/kg/min for men and 37.6 for women in their 20s, falling to 32.6 and 23.4 in their 50s and 24.4 and 18.3 in their 70s. The 75th percentile and above counts as high fitness for your age.

The chart below gives the 25th, 50th, 75th and 90th percentiles for each decade from 20 to 79. The rest of this article explains what VO2 max is, why it matters for health, and how to read a watch estimate against a lab chart.

What is VO2 max?

VO2 max (maximal oxygen uptake) is the highest rate at which your body can take in and use oxygen during hard exercise. It is measured in milliliters of oxygen per kilogram of body weight per minute (mL/kg/min). It reflects how well the lungs, heart, blood and muscles work together, which is why it is the standard measure of cardiorespiratory fitness.

VO2 max is measured in a lab with cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET): you run on a treadmill or ride a bike at rising intensity while a mask measures the oxygen you breathe in and out. Watches and apps estimate it from heart rate, speed and personal details instead.

VO2 max chart by age and sex

This VO2 max chart shows percentiles from 7,783 treadmill tests of apparently healthy US adults in the FRIEND registry. A value at the 50th percentile means half of people that age and sex scored lower. The 75th and 90th percentiles mark high and very high fitness for the age group.

Men, VO2 max in mL/kg/min:

Age	25th percentile	50th percentile	75th percentile	90th percentile
20–29	40.1	48.0	55.2	61.8
30–39	35.9	42.4	49.2	56.5
40–49	31.9	37.8	45.0	52.1
50–59	27.1	32.6	39.7	45.6
60–69	23.7	28.2	34.5	40.3
70–79	20.4	24.4	30.4	36.6

Women, VO2 max in mL/kg/min:

Age	25th percentile	50th percentile	75th percentile	90th percentile
20–29	30.5	37.6	44.7	51.3
30–39	25.3	30.2	36.1	41.4
40–49	22.1	26.7	32.4	38.4
50–59	19.9	23.4	27.6	32.0
60–69	17.2	20.0	23.8	27.0
70–79	15.6	18.3	20.8	23.1

Caption: Kaminsky LA et al., Mayo Clin Proc 2015, FRIEND registry, Table 3. Treadmill tests with peak respiratory exchange ratio of 1.0 or higher, 8 US laboratories, 2014–2015.

A note on versions: a 2022 FRIEND update with 16,278 treadmill tests reported treadmill reference values 1.5 to 4.6 mL/kg/min lower than the 2015 standards shown here. If you compare yourself with this chart, the 2022 values would place you slightly higher in the percentile ranking.

What is a good VO2 max?

A good VO2 max is one at or above the median for your age and sex, and higher is better for long-term health. There is no single cut-off. Percentiles within your age group are the fairest comparison, because VO2 max falls with age in everyone. A 60-year-old man at 40 mL/kg/min is near the 90th percentile for his age.

How to read your percentile:

Your percentile	Practical reading
Below 25th	Low for your age. In observational studies, moving up from the lowest fitness group is linked to the largest drop in risk
25th–50th	Below average
50th–75th	Above average
75th–90th	High
Above 90th	Very high

Caption: percentile bands from FRIEND data. Descriptive labels are ours.

Apple uses the same registry for its low cardio fitness notification. For users aged 20 to 59, Apple sets the threshold at the lowest fifth (quintile) of the FRIEND data for age and sex. For users 60 and older, it uses 18 mL/kg/min for men and 15 for women, which Apple describes as thresholds for independent living.

Why does VO2 max matter for health?

VO2 max is one of the strongest predictors of long-term health in observational studies. In a 2009 meta-analysis of 33 studies, Kodama and colleagues found that each 1-MET higher fitness level was associated with a 13% lower risk of death from any cause. One MET is about 3.5 mL/kg/min of oxygen.

The largest single study points the same way. Mandsager and colleagues (2018) followed 122,007 adults who had a treadmill test. Compared with the most fit group, the least fit group had about 5 times the risk-adjusted mortality. The authors reported no observed upper limit of benefit. Low fitness was associated with risk comparable to, or greater than, smoking, diabetes and coronary artery disease.

These are associations, not proof of cause, and they come from people who were referred for exercise testing. They still explain why doctors and researchers increasingly treat fitness as a vital sign.

How does VO2 max change with age?

VO2 max declines with age in both men and women. In the 2022 FRIEND update, the median treadmill VO2 max fell by about 4.0 mL/kg/min, or 13.5%, per decade on average over six decades. In the 2015 chart above, the median for men falls from 48.0 in their 20s to 24.4 in their 70s.

Some of that decline reflects less activity with age, and some reflects aging itself. Apple's white paper notes that genetic factors are believed to explain roughly 50 to 70% of differences in VO2 max between people. Training can still move your number. Our guide on how to improve VO2 max covers the methods with the best evidence.

Can you compare a watch VO2 max with this chart?

You can, but with care. This chart uses lab measurements. A watch estimates VO2 max from heart rate during exercise. A 2025 study by Lambe and colleagues found that Apple Watch underestimated lab VO2 max by 6.07 mL/kg/min on average, with an average absolute error of 13.31%. Individual errors were larger.

Source of your number	Best use
Lab test (CPET)	Direct comparison with this chart
Watch estimate from outdoor workouts	Tracking your own trend over months
Estimate without exercise data (age, resting heart rate, activity)	Rough starting point only

Our article on Apple Watch VO2 max accuracy covers this in detail. Apple's own estimate needs outdoor walks, runs or hikes, and supports values from 14 to 65 mL/kg/min. If a watch flags your fitness as low and you also have symptoms such as shortness of breath or chest discomfort with light effort, see a doctor.

VO2 max also feeds other health estimates. See biological age for how fitness, resting heart rate and HRV can be combined into one number.

How Svanu estimates VO2 max

Svanu uses the VO2 max value in Apple Health when your watch provides one. If there is none, it calculates an estimate and labels it as one: from your resting heart rate and age (the Uth-Sorensen ratio) when it has a resting heart rate baseline, or otherwise from age, sex, BMI and average daily steps (a non-exercise model based on Jackson et al. 1990).

VO2 max is one of five signals the app can use for its biological age estimate, together with resting heart rate, HRV, sleep consistency and activity. The estimate needs at least 2 of the 5 and shows a wider likely range when fewer signals are available. The app also shows how each factor adds or takes years.

For the bigger picture of how fitness, recovery and load connect, read the recovery score guide. The core app is free. Learn more on the Svanu home page.