How many steps is 4 miles?
About 9,100 steps for an adult of average height, from about 8,100 at 6 ft 4 in to 10,600 at 4 ft 10 in. Close to 10,000, but for most people not quite on its own. Here it is by height, and why your phone's number may not match.
The numbers
Steps in 4 miles, by height
| 4 ft 10 in (1.47 m) | about 10,600 steps |
| 5 ft (1.52 m) | about 10,200 steps |
| 5 ft 2 in (1.57 m) | about 9,900 steps |
| 5 ft 4 in (1.63 m) | about 9,600 steps |
| 5 ft 6 in (1.68 m) | about 9,300 steps |
| 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) | about 9,000 steps |
| 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) | about 8,700 steps |
| 6 ft (1.83 m) | about 8,500 steps |
| 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) | about 8,300 steps |
| 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) | about 8,100 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 9,700 steps |
| A man, 5 ft 8.9 in | about 8,900 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 | 183% of it |
| A 7,000-step day | 131% of it |
| A 10,000-step day | 91% of it |
For an adult of average height, walking only this distance.
On a reTrek route
6.4 km is 1/10 of the way to Everest Base Camp. At that distance a day, the whole route takes about 9 days.
About the Everest Base Camp routeTime and calories: How long does it take to walk 4 miles?
Try your own distance
Steps
about 9,100
8,200 to 10,100 depending on your stride, about 0.70 m a step at this height.
Distance
6.4 km · 4.0 miles
Time on foot
1 h 17 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 4 miles?
About 9,100 for an adult 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m) tall. Four miles is 6,437 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 9,700, and the average American man, just under 5 ft 9 in, about 8,900. Every height from 4 ft 10 in to 6 ft 4 in is in the table above.
Does 4 miles make 10,000 steps?
On its own, only for people under about 5 ft 1 in. For an adult of average height 10,000 steps is about 4.4 miles, so four miles leaves roughly 900 steps to find elsewhere, and the rest of almost any day supplies them. In practice a daily four-mile walk is a 10,000-step day. 10,000 steps in miles works it from the other end.
Why your phone may count a different number
A 2015 study in JAMA had 14 adults walk 500 and 1,500 steps on a treadmill while a researcher counted, and compared that count with ten phones, apps and wearables. The smartphone apps came within 6.7% under to 6.2% over. On four miles, that is anything from about 8,500 to 9,700 steps for the same walk. Some wristbands did worse. One read more than 20% low. The study was small and done at a steady 3 mph, so take the spread as a rough guide, not a verdict on your phone.
The everyday causes are simpler. A phone left on the desk counts nothing, and two devices worn on the same walk will rarely agree to the step.
Four miles a day, counted toward somewhere
reTrek uses whatever count your phone keeps, from Apple Health or Health Connect, and turns it into distance on a real trail. Pick a route, Everest Base Camp is free, and four miles a day carries you from Lukla to Base Camp in about 9 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 · Body measurements, average height of US adults, CDC FastStats (NHANES August 2021 to August 2023) · Accuracy of smartphone applications and wearable devices for tracking physical activity data, Case et al., JAMA, 2015