If you judge a 5K by age grading, the threshold for “good” is 60%, which the standard guidelines call local class. On the 2025 road tables that works out to 23:16 for a 30-year-old woman and 21:22 for a 30-year-old man. At 40 it is 24:23 for women and 22:33 for men. At 50 it is 26:58 and 24:21, and at 60 it is 30:24 and 26:27. You need about 70% to be competitive at regional level, and 80% puts you among the best in the country for your age.
These figures are not averages. Age grading compares your time with a near-world-best standard for your exact age and sex. That gives a fair way to compare a 47-year-old with a 27-year-old, but it says nothing about where you finish among everyone else in the race. The section on average 5K times below covers that question.
How age grading turns a 5K time into a percentage
Each road age-grading table gives two numbers for every event and sex category:
- an open standard, close to the world best at peak age. In the 2025 tables it is 12:49 for men and 13:54 for women at 5K.
- an age factor for each single year of age, which falls as age rises.
The age grader multiplies your finish time by your age factor and divides the open standard by the result:
age grade % = open standard ÷ (finish time × age factor) × 100
The site uses the CC0 road tables developed by Alan Jones, with single-age bests from Tom Bernhard. They were approved on 10 January 2025 by the USATF Masters Long Distance Running Council (Age-Grade-Tables repository). These are USATF masters tables, not an official World Masters Athletics 2025 release.
What 60%, 70%, 80% and 90% mean
The performance bands most race results use come from the guideline note published with the WMA 2010 road standards (WMA 2010 explanatory note):
| Age grade | Guideline label |
|---|---|
| 100% | Approximate world-record level |
| Above 90% | World class |
| Above 80% | National class |
| Above 70% | Regional class |
| Above 60% | Local class |
Read these as rough guides, not rankings. A 70% runner often places near the top of their age group at a small local race. At a big championship field, the same runner can finish mid-pack.
5K time by age chart: women
Computed with the Endurance Toolbox age grader using the 2025 USATF MLDR road age-grading tables. Each cell is the finish time that produces that age grade, rounded to the nearest second.
| Age | 50% | 60% (local) | 70% (regional) | 80% (national) | 90% (world) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30 | 27:55 | 23:16 | 19:56 | 17:27 | 15:30 |
| 35 | 28:23 | 23:39 | 20:17 | 17:45 | 15:46 |
| 40 | 29:16 | 24:23 | 20:54 | 18:17 | 16:16 |
| 45 | 30:37 | 25:31 | 21:52 | 19:08 | 17:01 |
| 50 | 32:21 | 26:58 | 23:07 | 20:13 | 17:59 |
| 55 | 34:17 | 28:35 | 24:30 | 21:26 | 19:03 |
| 60 | 36:29 | 30:24 | 26:03 | 22:48 | 20:16 |
| 65 | 38:57 | 32:28 | 27:50 | 24:21 | 21:39 |
| 70 | 41:48 | 34:50 | 29:52 | 26:08 | 23:13 |
| 75 | 45:06 | 37:35 | 32:13 | 28:11 | 25:03 |
| 80 | 49:17 | 41:05 | 35:12 | 30:48 | 27:23 |
5K time by age chart: men
Same method and tables, male category.
| Age | 50% | 60% (local) | 70% (regional) | 80% (national) | 90% (world) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30 | 25:38 | 21:22 | 18:19 | 16:01 | 14:15 |
| 35 | 26:06 | 21:45 | 18:38 | 16:18 | 14:30 |
| 40 | 27:03 | 22:33 | 19:19 | 16:55 | 15:02 |
| 45 | 28:05 | 23:25 | 20:04 | 17:33 | 15:36 |
| 50 | 29:13 | 24:21 | 20:52 | 18:15 | 16:14 |
| 55 | 30:26 | 25:21 | 21:44 | 19:01 | 16:54 |
| 60 | 31:45 | 26:27 | 22:40 | 19:50 | 17:38 |
| 65 | 33:11 | 27:39 | 23:42 | 20:44 | 18:26 |
| 70 | 34:52 | 29:03 | 24:54 | 21:47 | 19:22 |
| 75 | 37:26 | 31:12 | 26:44 | 23:24 | 20:48 |
| 80 | 41:24 | 34:30 | 29:34 | 25:53 | 23:00 |
What about runners in their 20s? The site’s age grader only covers ages 30 to 99, so the charts start at 30. The age-30 factors are 0.9959 for women and 0.9999 for men, so the age-30 row is effectively the open standard. That makes it the closest reference this data gives a runner under 30, but it is not a graded result for that age.
How the 5K standards change with age
The charts show three patterns.
- The 30s barely move the standard. A man’s 60% time slows only 1:11 between 30 and 40. A woman’s slows 1:07.
- Women’s standards slow faster through midlife. From 40 to 60, the women’s 60% time slows by 6:01 (24:23 to 30:24). The men’s slows by 3:54 (22:33 to 26:27). Put another way, the women’s 60% time at age 60 is 31% slower than at 30, while the men’s is 24% slower.
- The decline steepens after 70. For men, the 60% time slows 1:24 from 65 to 70, then 2:09 from 70 to 75 and 3:18 from 75 to 80.
So “a good 5K time for a 50-year-old” depends on sex more than many runners expect. At 60%, a 50-year-old woman needs 26:58 and a 50-year-old man needs 24:21.
Worked example 1: a 47-year-old woman runs 26:30
- Age factor (female, 47, 5K): 0.8883
- Age-adjusted time: 26:30 × 0.8883 = 23:32
- Age grade: 13:54 ÷ 23:32 × 100 = 59.1%
That sits just under the local-class line. The woman’s chart shows the 60% time at 45 is 25:31 and at 50 is 26:58. At 47 exactly, the 60% mark is 26:05, so she is 25 seconds short. If she runs 25:00 at the same age, she grades 62.6%. The 25:00 5K pace chart breaks that into 5:00/km (8:03/mile) splits.
Worked example 2: the same 22:45, at 40 and at 52
Two men each run 22:45 in the same race.
| Runner | Age factor | Age-adjusted time | Age grade |
|---|---|---|---|
| Man, 40 | 0.9475 | 21:33 | 59.5% |
| Man, 52 | 0.8635 | 19:39 | 65.2% |
They cross the line together, but the 52-year-old scores almost six points higher. This is what age grading is for: it rewards the result that sits closer to the best possible performance for that age. A 52-year-old man reaches the regional-class line (70%) at 21:12. A 40-year-old needs 19:19.
The 40-year-old’s local-class line (22:33) is close to the 22:30 5K pace chart, which shows it per kilometer.
Average 5K time by age: what finishers actually run
Age-grade tables describe elite-relative standards, not the typical participant. For averages, the largest published dataset is RunRepeat’s State of Running 2019, built with the IAAF from 107.9 million race results recorded between 1986 and 2018 (Andersen, 2019). It reports:
- an average 5K pace of 7:04 per km for men, about 35:20 for a 5K
- an average 5K pace of 8:18 per km for women, about 41:30 for a 5K
- a rise in the average age of 5K participants from 32 to 40 over roughly the last seven years of the data
The report does not break 5K finish times down by age group, so this article does not invent one. To connect the two measures, a 40-year-old man running 35:20 grades 38.3%, and a 40-year-old woman running 41:30 grades 35.3%. A 60% age grade is well ahead of the typical finisher. That fits the 5K’s role as the entry distance with the most first-time racers, which the same report notes.
Use both numbers. “Better than the average participant” and “local class for my age” are different standards, and many runners clear the first years before the second.
Limitations of 5K age grading
- Course and conditions are not adjusted. The tables assume a certified, roughly flat road 5K. A hilly course, heat, wind, or a short course (common at unofficial events) all distort the percentage. A grade above 100% almost always means a measurement error, not a world record.
- The tables are built from the best performers. Factors come from single-age best times, not population averages. They describe how the fastest runners slow down, which may not match how a runner who started at 45 progresses.
- Ages 30–99, four road distances. The site’s calculator grades 5K, 10K, half marathon, and marathon only. It does not grade track 5,000 m, trail or cross-country courses, or runners under 30.
- Two sex categories. The tables publish male and female factors only.
- The bands are conventions. “Local class” or “national class” are 2010 guidelines, not ranking cut-offs. Race directors and series sometimes use their own.
- It is not a health benchmark. A low age grade says nothing about fitness or health. If you are returning to running after illness, injury, or a long break, talk to a qualified professional before chasing a number in the chart.
How to grade your own 5K
Open the age grader and enter:
- Age on race day (a whole number from 30 to 99)
- Gender: Male or Female, the table’s two categories
- Distance: 5K
- Finish time from your official result
It returns your age-grade percentage, the age factor it used, your age-adjusted time, and the open standard it compared you against. Compare that percentage with the bands above to see where the race sits.
To set a target, pick the band you want from the charts and turn that time into splits in the pace charts. The 20:00, 27:30, and 30:00 5K pages cover common targets. The VDOT calculator turns the same 5K result into equivalent times at other distances and training paces, and the VDOT chart lists those equivalents for VDOT 30 to 70. Use them to build training toward your target grade, rather than just measuring it after the race. For the longer distance, see good marathon time by age.