There is no single number of steps in a mile. It depends on how far you travel with each step. A mile is 63,360 inches, so the steps in a mile are 63,360 divided by your step length in inches. In metric, a kilometre is 100,000 cm, so divide 100,000 by your step length in centimetres.
Enter your step count and step length to get miles and kilometres. Or switch to distance and enter how far you want to go to see how many steps that takes.
How many steps are in a mile
Steps per mile = 63,360 ÷ your step length in inches.
| Step length | Steps per mile | Steps per km |
|---|---|---|
| 24 in (61 cm) | 2,640 | 1,640 |
| 27 in (68.6 cm) | 2,347 | 1,458 |
| 30 in (76.2 cm) | 2,112 | 1,312 |
| 33 in (83.8 cm) | 1,920 | 1,193 |
These rows are worked examples of the formula, not averages for any group of people. Your own step length is the only number that gives your answer.
Measure your step length
- Find a distance you know exactly, such as a marked track or a measured stretch of path.
- Walk it at your normal pace and count every step.
- Divide the distance by the number of steps.
For example, 100 ft is 1,200 in. If that takes you 40 steps, your step length is 1,200 ÷ 40 = 30 in. A longer distance gives a better answer, because a part step at the end matters less.
Your step length changes with pace. Measure your walking step and your running step separately, and use the one that matches the steps you are converting.
The formula in plain words
Steps to distance: multiply your steps by your step length, then divide by 63,360 to get miles. Multiply miles by 1.609344 to get kilometres.
Distance to steps: convert the distance to inches (miles × 63,360), then divide by your step length.
Both conversions are exact. One inch is 2.54 cm and one mile is 1.609344 km by definition, as listed in NIST Special Publication 811. The only uncertain number is your step length.
Worked example
You walked 10,000 steps and your step length is 30 in.
10,000 × 30 = 300,000 in. Then 300,000 ÷ 63,360 = 4.73 miles.
4.73 miles × 1.609344 = 7.62 km.
Going the other way: a 5 km walk with a 76 cm step length is 500,000 cm ÷ 76 = 6,579 steps.
Step or stride
In gait research, a step runs from one foot landing to the other foot landing, and a stride is two steps. Many pedometers and phone apps use the word stride to mean one step. This calculator wants the distance covered by one step, which is what the measuring method above gives you.
Why there is no estimate from height
You will see factors online that turn your height into a step length. We could not trace them to a published study, so this calculator does not use them. Measuring takes a few minutes and gives a number that fits you. If your device asks for a stride length, the same measured number is the one to enter.
For other measures, see the body fat calculator and the lean body mass calculator.