Stronger
Units

By age · boys and girls, men and women

Average Deadlift by Age: 13 to 70+ (Chart)

Nobody has measured an average deadlift for every age, so we show the honest number instead. It is the median among lifters of each age who compete in our data. Boys go from 243 lb110 kg at 13 to 452 lb205 kg at 18; girls from 187 lb85 kg to 270 lb122 kg. Competition benchmarks for each age, not general-population averages. Every teen point below is a page with its own standards by bodyweight.

  1. 1324311018785
  2. 1429013220995
  3. 15347157231105
  4. 16397180243110
  5. 17421191254115
  6. 18452205270122

boys, median competitor girls, median competitorage · lbkg · among lifters of that age who compete in our data

The full table

Median deadlift for every age

The median best deadlift among lifters of that age who compete in our data, 13 to 70+. Competitors are the strong end of every age, so read each row as a competition benchmark; the age pages put the six-level scale beside it.

Median competition deadlift by age · lbkg · among lifters of that age who compete in our data
AgeBoys / menGirls / womenStandards
13 years old24311018785Standards at 13
14 years old29013220995Standards at 14
15 years old347157231105Standards at 15
16 years old397180243110Standards at 16
17 years old421191254115Standards at 17
18 years old452205270122Standards at 18
19 years old474215276125
20–24502228298135
25–29518235303137
30–34524238303137
35–39513233302137
40–44502228292132
45–49485220281127
50–54455206270122
55–59441200259117
60–64405184243110
65–69375170226103
70+31514319890

Find your rank

Where does your deadlift sit?

Against adults your size. On each age page the same module scores you against your own age.

Sex

1 rep = your one-rep max. Enter a set of up to 12 reps and we estimate it (Epley).

Calculations run in your browser. We measure usage, including strength levels and broad bodyweight ranges.

Your deadlift

480lb

Advanced

at or above 58% of men competing in the data at your bodyweight

NOVINTADVELITEWC
480 lb218 kg

A 2.67× bodyweight deadlift is Advanced for a 180 lb82 kg man. Elite starts at 540 lb245 kg, 60 lb27 kg away.

Age and strength

How the deadlift changes with age

13 to 18. This is the steepest part of the curve and the least predictable. Two 15-year-olds can be years apart in growth, so the teen pages give standards by bodyweight, which tracks maturity far better than a birthday does. Among competitors in our data, the median deadlift climbs more pounds between 13 and 18 than the median squat or bench press. The years before the number matters are the years to make the set-up automatic.

20s and 30s. Peak territory. Bodyweight, training age and technique explain almost everything; the calendar explains almost nothing. The adult standards on the main page are built for this range.

40 and up. Strength declines slowly for people who keep training and faster for people who stop. Recovery takes longer, the hips and low back want a longer warm-up, and the heavy pulls get fewer and further apart. None of that stops a 50-year-old from pulling a number that is Advanced for a 25-year-old. Masters powerlifting is full of them.

Women, at every age. The shape of the curve is the same, the numbers are lower, and the women's standards are their own table for that reason. The deadlift is the lift where women sit closest to men, and a woman who pulls twice her bodyweight at 40 is doing something most women of any age never do.

How we calculate

Where these numbers come from

Percentiles are built from 1,366,901 verified deadlift attempts by 480,472 lifters, updated September 2026. We show the method so you can judge it.

The distribution. Our percentiles come from competition results in the OpenPowerlifting open dataset: each lifter's best successful raw deadlift, with sex, bodyweight and age recorded at the meet. These numbers describe competitive powerlifters, people who entered a sanctioned meet and trained for it. They are stronger than the general gym population, and far stronger than the general public. We say so wherever a percentile appears. Drug-tested divisions deadlift less at the median than untested ones (men: 474 lb vs 496 lb); the headline numbers pool both.

The levels. Six bands, the same six Stronger uses to score every lift in the app, and read the same way. The app divides your best estimated one-rep max by your bodyweight and compares it with a set of multipliers for each lift, so each cutoff is the floor of its band for that bodyweight, and crossing it puts you in. World Class starts at 1.2 times the Elite floor. We do not redraw the scale from the competition data; we put the competition percentile beside every floor so you can see how rare each level is among people who compete.

The lift. The standards assume a barbell deadlift from the floor on a standard bar, conventional or sumo, no straps, pulled in one movement, locked out and held. That is the lift a meet judges and the one the competition percentiles come from. Trap-bar pulls, rack pulls and strapped maxes are different lifts.

Testing a one-rep max. Warm up to it in jumps that get smaller as the bar gets heavier, take three to five minutes between the last attempts, and keep the back set and put the bar down the moment the position goes; a deadlift needs no spotter. If you would rather not max out, take a set of two to six clean reps and let the calculator estimate it; the Epley formula we use is accurate to within a few percent under ten reps.

Beginner
Can perform the movement with the empty bar or light weight; strength is still mostly a skill and nervous-system story.
Novice
Ahead of most people who do not train. Typically a few months of consistent, progressive work.
Intermediate
Ahead of the majority of regular gym-goers. Usually one to two years of structured training.
Advanced
Rare in a commercial gym. Years of programming, technique and bodyweight management.
Elite
The second-highest band on Stronger’s scale. Competition rankings are shown separately.
World Class
The highest band on Stronger’s scale, not a claim of a federation record or qualification.

Sources

1 more cited source

Questions people ask

Deadlift by age, answered

What is the average deadlift by age?

Nobody has measured it for the general population, so we show the next best thing. It is the median best deadlift among lifters of each age who compete in our data, from 243 lb110 kg for 13-year-old boys to 524 lb238 kg at 30–34 for men, and from 187 lb85 kg to 303 lb137 kg for women. Those are competition benchmarks, not general-population averages. People who enter a meet are the strong end of their age. Bodyweight explains more of the number than age does, which is why every age page is a table by bodyweight.

At what age is deadlift strength highest?

In our data the median competitor deadlift is highest at 30–34 for men and 25–29 through 30–34, a plateau for women. After that, strength declines slowly for people who keep training and much faster for people who stop. The teenage years are where the number moves fastest.

What is a good deadlift for a teenager?

It depends on the year and, more than that, on bodyweight. Among teenagers who compete in our data, the median deadlift for boys goes from 243 lb110 kg at 13 to 452 lb205 kg at 18; for girls from 187 lb85 kg to 270 lb122 kg. Those are competitors, so treat them as competition benchmarks. Each age has its own page with the six-level scale by bodyweight, which is the honest way to call a teenager's deadlift good.

How much should a 40, 50 or 60 year old deadlift?

The table above gives the median competitor deadlift for each age band, which is what the strong end of each decade lifts, not what everyone should. Bodyweight still matters more than age until the sixties, so the adult standards apply at any age; use the age-band row here to see how rare your number is among people your age who compete.

Can I still improve my deadlift after 40, 50 or 60?

Yes. Masters powerlifting is full of lifters whose deadlift is Advanced on the adult scale, and the decline in the data is slow for people who keep training. What changes is the recovery: fewer heavy pulls, a longer warm-up for the hips and low back, more attention to the set-up than to the number, and smaller jumps. The Find-your-rank module above scores you against adults your size; Stronger keeps the log as the years go by.

Is there a deadlift chart for teenagers?

Yes: the chart at the top of this page covers 13 to 18, and each of those ages has its own page with a six-level table by bodyweight for boys and girls, a responsible-training block built on the NSCA and AAP guidance, and a Find-your-rank module scored against lifters of that age. 13 · 14 · 15 · 16 · 17 · 18

Stronger · Strength Score

Score every set against lifters your age and size.

Stronger adjusts its Strength Score for your bodyweight and sex, keeps the log as the years go by, and shows you which muscle is holding the deadlift back. The chart above is one snapshot; the app is the whole curve.

Download Free

Free on iOS & Android · 7-day free trial of premium

Keep going

Median deadlift by age among competitors in our data: 13 years old: men 243 lb, women 187 lb; 14 years old: men 290 lb, women 209 lb; 15 years old: men 347 lb, women 231 lb; 16 years old: men 397 lb, women 243 lb; 17 years old: men 421 lb, women 254 lb; 18 years old: men 452 lb, women 270 lb; 19 years old: men 474 lb, women 276 lb; 20–24: men 502 lb, women 298 lb; 25–29: men 518 lb, women 303 lb; 30–34: men 524 lb, women 303 lb; 35–39: men 513 lb, women 302 lb; 40–44: men 502 lb, women 292 lb; 45–49: men 485 lb, women 281 lb; 50–54: men 455 lb, women 270 lb; 55–59: men 441 lb, women 259 lb; 60–64: men 405 lb, women 243 lb; 65–69: men 375 lb, women 226 lb; 70+: men 315 lb, women 198 lb. Reference lifter 180 lb82 kg.