How many steps is 3.5 miles?
About 8,000 steps for an adult of average height, from about 7,000 at 6 ft 4 in to 9,200 at 4 ft 10 in. That lands at the top of the range where, for adults over 60, research finds most of the benefit of daily steps has arrived.
The numbers
Steps in 3.5 miles, by height
| 4 ft 10 in (1.47 m) | about 9,200 steps |
| 5 ft (1.52 m) | about 8,900 steps |
| 5 ft 2 in (1.57 m) | about 8,600 steps |
| 5 ft 4 in (1.63 m) | about 8,400 steps |
| 5 ft 6 in (1.68 m) | about 8,100 steps |
| 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) | about 7,900 steps |
| 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) | about 7,700 steps |
| 6 ft (1.83 m) | about 7,400 steps |
| 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) | about 7,200 steps |
| 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) | about 7,000 steps |
Step length is about 41% of height. Give or take 10% for how you walk.
For the average American woman and man (according to the CDC)
| A woman, 5 ft 3.5 in | about 8,500 steps |
| A man, 5 ft 8.9 in | about 7,800 steps |
Average heights of US adults, from the CDC. A woman's step is almost the same share of her height as a man's, so the gap comes from height.
Against a daily step count
| A 5,000-step day | 160% of it |
| A 7,000-step day | 114% of it |
| A 10,000-step day | 80% of it |
For an adult of average height, walking only this distance.
On a reTrek route
5.6 km is 1/10 of the way to Everest Base Camp. At that distance a day, the whole route takes about 10 days.
About the Everest Base Camp routeTry your own distance
Steps
about 8,000
7,200 to 8,800 depending on your stride, about 0.70 m a step at this height.
Distance
5.6 km · 3.5 miles
Time on foot
1 h 8 min
at 5 km/h, no stops
Calories
Depends on your weight more than anything else. Enter it to see an estimate.
That is 1/10 of the way to Everest Base Camp.
How many steps is 3.5 miles?
About 8,000 for an adult 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m) tall. Three and a half miles is 5,633 m, and a walking step is roughly 41% of your height, about 0.70 m for that adult. The average American woman (according to the CDC), at 5 ft 3.5 in, takes about 8,500, and the average American man, just under 5 ft 9 in, about 7,800. At a brisk 3 mph it is about an hour and ten minutes of walking.
Three and a half miles and 8,000 steps
A 2022 meta-analysis in The Lancet Public Health (Paluch and colleagues) pooled 15 studies of 47,471 adults and found that the risk of dying during the study kept falling as daily steps rose, then levelled off. For adults 60 and over, it levelled off at about 6,000 to 8,000 steps a day, and for adults under 60 at about 8,000 to 10,000. Three and a half miles is about 8,000 steps on its own, the top of the range for over-60s and the start of it for everyone younger. How far should a 65 to 70 year old walk every day has more on the older end.
Three and a half miles a day, counted toward somewhere
In reTrek those 8,000 steps become distance on a real trail. Pick a route, Everest Base Camp is free, and three and a half miles a day carries you from Lukla to Base Camp in about 10 days, with a short film about the place waiting at each milestone. Progress you can see on the map every evening.
Or take someone with you: walk the same route with a friend and pool your steps, or race each other to Base Camp.
Other distances in steps
Sources: One-mile step count at walking and running speeds, Hoeger et al., ACSM's Health and Fitness Journal, 2008 · Body measurements, average height of US adults, CDC FastStats (NHANES August 2021 to August 2023) · Daily steps and all-cause mortality, a meta-analysis of 15 international cohorts, Paluch et al., Lancet Public Health, 2022