reTrek

How many steps is 4 km?

About 5,700 steps for an adult of average height, from about 5,000 at 195 cm to 6,400 at 150 cm. On its own, 4 km takes nearly anyone past the 5,000 steps below which research calls a day sedentary.

The numbers

Steps in 4 km, by height

150 cm (4 ft 11 in)about 6,400 steps
155 cm (5 ft 1 in)about 6,200 steps
160 cm (5 ft 3 in)about 6,000 steps
165 cm (5 ft 5 in)about 5,900 steps
170 cm (5 ft 7 in)about 5,700 steps
175 cm (5 ft 9 in)about 5,500 steps
180 cm (5 ft 11 in)about 5,400 steps
185 cm (6 ft 1 in)about 5,200 steps
190 cm (6 ft 3 in)about 5,100 steps
195 cm (6 ft 5 in)about 5,000 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 day114% of it
A 7,000-step day81% of it
A 10,000-step day57% of it

For an adult of average height, walking only this distance.

On a reTrek route

4.0 km is 1/12 of the way to Everest Base Camp. At that distance a day, the whole route takes about 15 days.

About the Everest Base Camp route

Try your own distance

Who is walking?
Pace

Steps

about 5,700

5,100 to 6,300 depending on your stride, about 0.70 m a step at this height.

Distance

4.0 km · 2.5 miles

Time on foot

48 min

at 5 km/h, no stops

Calories

Depends on your weight more than anything else. Enter it to see an estimate.

On a reTrek route

That is 1/12 of the way to Everest Base Camp.

How many steps is 4 km?

About 5,700 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 four kilometres takes 5,700 of them. Someone 150 cm tall takes about 6,400, and someone 195 cm about 5,000. Four kilometres is 2.49 miles, about 48 minutes at a normal pace.

Four kilometres and the 5,000-step line

Step researchers use 5,000 steps a day as the line below which a day counts as sedentary. Four kilometres is past it on its own for everyone shorter than about 193 cm, before a single step of the rest of the day is counted. So a daily 4 km walk does one clear thing: by that definition, it rules out a sedentary day, whatever else the day holds.

Four kilometres a day, counted toward somewhere

In reTrek those 5,700 steps become distance on a real trail. Pick a route, Everest Base Camp is free, and 4 km a day carries you from Lukla to Base Camp in about 15 days, with a short film about the place waiting at each milestone. Something to look forward to, 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 · A step-defined sedentary lifestyle index, Tudor-Locke et al., 2013