How many steps is 3 km?
About 4,300 steps for an adult of average height, from about 3,700 at 195 cm to 4,800 at 150 cm. Walked briskly, 3 km takes half an hour, which makes it the everyday unit of the WHO's activity guideline.
The numbers
Steps in 3 km, by height
| 150 cm (4 ft 11 in) | about 4,800 steps |
| 155 cm (5 ft 1 in) | about 4,700 steps |
| 160 cm (5 ft 3 in) | about 4,500 steps |
| 165 cm (5 ft 5 in) | about 4,400 steps |
| 170 cm (5 ft 7 in) | about 4,300 steps |
| 175 cm (5 ft 9 in) | about 4,100 steps |
| 180 cm (5 ft 11 in) | about 4,000 steps |
| 185 cm (6 ft 1 in) | about 3,900 steps |
| 190 cm (6 ft 3 in) | about 3,800 steps |
| 195 cm (6 ft 5 in) | about 3,700 steps |
Step length is about 41% of height. Give or take 10% for how you walk.
Against a daily step count
| A 5,000-step day | 85% of it |
| A 7,000-step day | 61% of it |
| A 10,000-step day | 43% of it |
For an adult of average height, walking only this distance.
On a reTrek route
3.0 km is 1/20 of the way to Everest Base Camp. At that distance a day, the whole route takes about 19 days.
About the Everest Base Camp routeTry your own distance
Steps
about 4,300
3,800 to 4,700 depending on your stride, about 0.70 m a step at this height.
Distance
3.0 km · 1.9 miles
Time on foot
36 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 Everest Base Camp.
How many steps is 3 km?
About 4,300 for an adult 170 cm (5 ft 7 in) tall. A walking step is roughly 41% of your height, about 0.70 m at 170 cm, so three kilometres takes 4,300 of them. Someone 150 cm tall takes about 4,800, and someone 195 cm about 3,700. Three kilometres is 1.86 miles.
Three kilometres and half an hour
At a brisk 6 km/h, three kilometres takes exactly 30 minutes, and at a normal 5 km/h, 36. That half hour is the useful part. The WHO recommends adults do at least 150 minutes of moderate activity a week, and brisk walking counts, so a brisk 3 km on five days of the week meets the minimum. In steps, that is about 4,300 a day on top of whatever the day already holds.
Three kilometres a day, counted toward somewhere
In reTrek those 4,300 steps become distance on a real trail. Pick a route, Everest Base Camp is free, and 3 km a day carries you from Lukla to Base Camp in about 19 days, with a short film about the place waiting at each milestone. Something to look forward to on the half hour you were going to walk anyway, and 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 · WHO guidelines on physical activity and sedentary behaviour, 2020