How long does it take to walk a mile?
About 19 minutes at a normal walking pace, 15 at a brisk one, 24 at a stroll. It changes with age less than you would think. Here is the whole picture: by pace, by age, in steps and in calories.
The numbers
1.6 km · 1.0 miles, in steps
| A child, 1.2 m (3 ft 11 in) | about 3,200 steps |
| 1.6 m (5 ft 3 in) | about 2,400 steps |
| 1.7 m (5 ft 7 in), the average adult | about 2,300 steps |
| 1.8 m (5 ft 11 in) | about 2,200 steps |
| 1.9 m (6 ft 3 in) | about 2,000 steps |
| A giraffe, 5.5 m (18 ft) | no idea, sorry |
Step length is about 41% of height. Give or take 10% for how you walk.
How long it takes to walk
| A stroll, 4 km/h | 24 min |
| A normal walk, 5 km/h | 19 min |
| A brisk walk, 6 km/h | 16 min |
Walking without stops, on level ground.
Calories, by body weight
| 55 kg (121 lb) | about 56 kcal (75 incl. resting) |
| 70 kg (154 lb) | about 72 kcal (95 incl. resting) |
| 85 kg (187 lb) | about 87 kcal (116 incl. resting) |
| 100 kg (220 lb) | about 103 kcal (136 incl. resting) |
The walk's own cost at 5 km/h. The second number adds what you would have burned sitting still, which is what some fitness trackers show.
On a reTrek route
1.6 km is 1/20 of the way to Inca Trail to Machu Picchu.
About the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu routeTry your own distance
Steps
about 2,300
2,100 to 2,500 depending on your stride, about 0.70 m a step at this height.
Distance
1.6 km · 1.0 miles
Time on foot
19 min
at 5 km/h, no stops
Calories
Depends on your weight more than anything else. Enter it to see an estimate.
That is 1/20 of the way to Inca Trail to Machu Picchu.
How long does it take to walk a mile?
About 19 minutes at a normal pace of 5 km/h (3.1 mph), which is the speed most adults settle into when they are walking somewhere rather than strolling. A brisk walk at 6 km/h (3.7 mph) takes 16 minutes, and a stroll at 4 km/h (2.5 mph) takes 24. Those are level-ground figures without stops. Hills, crossings and a dog add minutes.
Does age change it?
Yes, but less than people expect. A meta-analysis of 41 studies and 23,111 healthy adults measured normal walking speed by decade: the fastest group, men in their forties, averaged 1.43 m/s, which is a mile in about 19 minutes, and the slowest, women over eighty, averaged 0.94 m/s, about 28 minutes a mile. Everyone in between is within that band, and the decline is gradual through the sixties and seventies. A healthy walker of any age covers a mile in 18 to 28 minutes.
How many steps is a mile?
About 2,300 for an adult of average height, 2,000 for a tall one and 2,500 for a short one. A walking step is about 41% of your height, and 1,609 metres divided by a 0.70 m step is 2,290.
How many calories does walking 1 mile burn?
About 70 kcal for a 70 kg (154 lb) adult at a normal pace, from roughly 55 kcal at 55 kg (121 lb) to 105 kcal at 100 kg (220 lb). Weight decides most of it, pace barely matters between 4 and 6 km/h on the flat, and that is the walk’s own cost above sitting still. Some fitness trackers add the resting share and come out about a third higher.
The same 1 mile, counted toward somewhere
1 mile is a small first stretch of the Inca Trail. Walk it every day and reTrek turns the repetition into a journey: pick a route, Everest Base Camp is free, and 1 mile a day gets you from Lukla to Base Camp in about 36 days, with a short film about the place waiting at each milestone. Something to look forward to. Progress you can see on the map every evening.
Someone who notices is the third part. Walk the same route with a friend and pool your steps, or race them to Base Camp and find out which of you skips fewer evenings.
Other distances
Sources: Normal walking speed, a descriptive meta-analysis, Bohannon and Williams Andrews, Physiotherapy, 2011 · Energy expenditure during level human walking, Ludlow and Weyand, Journal of Applied Physiology, 2016