About 14% of US adult men are 6’0” (182.9cm) or taller, based on the CDC/NHANES adult male reference. That’s because 6’0” sits at roughly the 86th percentile for height — so 86% of men are that height or shorter, leaving 14% taller.
The numbers at a glance
| Height | US male percentile | Share of US men this tall or taller |
|---|---|---|
| 5’8” (172.7cm) | 37th | ~63% |
| US average (176.9cm) | ~50th | ~50% |
| 6’0” (182.9cm) | 86th | ~14% |
| 6’2” (188cm) | ~96th | ~3.6% |
The 5’8” and average-height rows are shown for context; the focus of this article is the 6’0” and 6’2” thresholds, both worked out below.
Check any height against the same US reference, or switch to the WHO reference for an international comparison.
This reference covers ages 2-20; using the nearest available data point for age 30.
Percentile
86th
At 182.9 cm and age 30, you are taller than approximately 86% of the CDC reference population for your sex.
z-score 1.08
The maths in plain English
Height percentile calculations use the LMS method: a person’s height is converted into a z-score against a reference population’s median (M) and spread (S) for their age and sex, then that z-score is converted into a percentile using the standard normal distribution.
For 6’0” (182.9cm) against the CDC/NHANES US adult male reference (M = 175.1cm, S = 0.041064), the z-score works out to about 1.082. A z-score of 1.082 converts to roughly the 86.0th percentile — meaning 86% of the reference population is that height or shorter.
To get “percentage 6’0” or taller,” subtract the percentile from 100: 100 − 86.0 = 14.0%. That’s the whole calculation — no separate formula is needed for “or taller” figures, since percentile and its complement always sum to 100%.
Percentile is not the same as average
It’s easy to conflate “percentile” with “average,” but they answer different questions. Average height is one number — the midpoint of a population, 176.9cm for US adult men. Percentile describes where any specific height falls across the full spread of that population, from the shortest to the tallest.
6’0” isn’t just “above average” — it’s a specific distance above it. The gap between 176.9cm and 182.9cm is about 6cm, and because height is roughly normally distributed, that 6cm gap translates into a fairly large percentile jump, from the 50th percentile at the average up to the 86th at 6’0”. Height percentiles compress in the middle of the distribution and stretch out towards the tails, so equal centimetre gaps don’t produce equal percentile gaps everywhere on the scale.
Why this figure only applies to the US
The 14% figure is anchored to the CDC/NHANES adult male reference — a US population sample. Average male height differs meaningfully between countries, so the share of men reaching 6’0” varies too.
Countries with a higher average male height than the US, such as the Netherlands or several Nordic countries, will see a larger share of men at 6’0” or above. Countries with a lower average will see a smaller share. This site’s country average tool covers a 69-country subset of NCD-RisC’s 2019 data, useful for a rough sense of how a given country’s average compares, though it isn’t a substitute for a country-specific percentile calculation.
If you want the equivalent “percentage taller than X” figure for a different country, the most reliable approach is to check that country’s own reference data rather than assuming the US figure transfers directly.
A second data point: 6’2”
Using the same method, 6’2” (188cm) works out to a z-score of about 1.79 against the CDC/NHANES adult male reference, which converts to roughly the 96th percentile. That leaves about 3.6% of US adult men at 6’2” or taller — meaningfully rarer than the 14% figure for 6’0”.
The jump from 6’0” to 6’2” — just two inches — cuts the “taller than this” share by roughly three-quarters, from 14% down to about 3.6%. That’s a good illustration of how quickly the tail of a height distribution thins out.
Percentile, percentage and rank aren’t quite the same thing
These terms get used loosely, so it’s worth being precise. Percentile describes a position within a distribution — 6’0” is at the 86th percentile, meaning 86% of the reference group is at or below that height. Percentage-taller, the figure most people actually want (“what percentage of men are 6 foot or taller?”), is simply 100 minus the percentile.
Rank is different again — it would mean literally ordering every individual in a population from shortest to tallest and counting a position, which isn’t practical for a population of millions. Percentile is the standard, and much more usable, substitute: it approximates rank using a smooth statistical model fitted to sampled data rather than measuring every person.
Where the reference sample comes from
The CDC/NHANES figures used here come from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, a large, ongoing US health survey that includes measured (not self-reported) height for a representative sample of the population. That matters, because self-reported height tends to run slightly optimistic compared with measured height in most surveys.
The specific table behind this calculator’s adult figures is Fryar et al. (2016), covering the 2011-2014 NHANES cycles. It reports observed percentiles for the sampled population rather than the original 2000 CDC growth chart’s fitted LMS constants, which is why this site’s documentation describes the CDC results as a close approximation rather than an exact match to that older, more commonly cited chart.
What this percentage doesn’t tell you
A population-level percentage like “14% of men are 6’0” or taller” describes the whole reference group, not any individual within it. It says nothing about health, genetics passed to the next generation, or anything else beyond where a given height sits in a measured distribution.
It’s also worth remembering this is one country’s sample at one point in time. Average height shifts gradually across generations as childhood nutrition and healthcare change, so a percentage like this one is a snapshot rather than a fixed, permanent figure.
How these figures were calculated
Both percentiles were calculated using the LMS method against the CDC/NHANES adult (20+) reference point for men: M (median) = 175.1cm, S (coefficient of variation) = 0.041064, L = 1. For 6’0” (182.88cm, shown as 182.9cm to one decimal place), z ≈ 1.082, giving the 86.0th percentile. For 6’2” (188cm), z ≈ 1.794, giving approximately the 96.4th percentile.
The CDC/NHANES adult figure is a single aggregate for everyone aged 20 and over, not broken out by decade — see the percentile tool’s own “Method and sources” section for the full data-provenance notes, including why this uses the 2011-2014 NHANES table rather than the original 2000 CDC growth chart constants.
Because the CDC/NHANES adult S value here is estimated from published percentile columns rather than an official LMS fit, treat both figures as close approximations rather than exact matches to any single authoritative table. The broad picture — 6’0” as a genuinely tall height, 6’2” as rarer still — holds regardless of the small margin of approximation involved.
Try the full percentile calculator to check any height against the US or WHO reference, see average heights by country for how the 6’0” threshold shifts elsewhere, or open the comparison board to see 6’0” stood next to another height.