Average mile time for women, by age (and what's good)

The average mile time for women, in the biggest race dataset we can verify, is about 12 minutes per mile. The median female 5K finisher in RunRepeat's race-results dataset runs 37:28, which works out to roughly 12:04 per mile. In longer races the median woman actually runs each mile faster, about 10:46 at the 10K.

One honesty note before the tables. Nobody publishes a large, checkable dataset of ordinary women running a single all-out mile. Road miles are rare, and fitness-test results aren't published in a form anyone can verify. So what follows is the average mile run time for women inside real races, by percentile and by age, plus how to test your own. If you'd rather have your paces set from your own running than from a crowd, that's the job of apps for runners who lift.

This post sits under our wider guide for female runners, which covers training, pacing and racing from the 5K up.

Average mile time for women: the race data

All of these finish times are RunRepeat's 50th-percentile (median) times for women, from 35 million results across more than 28,000 races over 20 years (published 2017, updated March 2024). The per-mile and per-km paces are our arithmetic.

Source: RunRepeat.

Why is the 5K the slowest pace of the lot? Different people. RunRepeat's State of Running report calls the 5K the entry distance for almost all runners who race, and the distance with the most novices. The women lining up for a marathon have, by definition, done a lot more running.

A median is the runner in the exact middle: half of women finished faster, half slower. Call it the average women's mile time if you like, but know it describes a crowd of first-timers, run-walkers and club runners all at once.

The number moves with training, not with wishing. Following a strength plan for women that has three or four runs a week built in will move your mile far more than reading this table twice.

Average women's mile time by percentile

RunRepeat also publishes the full spread of women's 5K finish times. Here it is converted to mile pace. Read the 10th percentile as "10 in every 100 women finished faster than this".

Source: RunRepeat. Mile paces are our arithmetic.

Two useful reference points:

• ›A 10-minute mile, held for a full 5K, is a 31:04. That's just inside the 20th percentile line, so roughly the fastest fifth of women in RunRepeat's data.
• ›A 30-minute 5K is about 9:39 per mile. RunRepeat says that time makes a woman faster than more than 70% of women in its data.

The full 5K picture, with what counts as good at each level, is in the average 5K time for women.

Average mile time for women by age

RunRepeat doesn't publish its results by age. RunBundle does, for the 5K, using times submitted by users of its running calculators. Here are its women's median 5K times by age, as of its September 2, 2026 update, with the per-mile pace RunBundle prints for each:

Source: RunBundle.

Three caveats, and they matter:

1. ›These are 5K paces, not mile times. Your all-out mile will be quicker than your 5K pace.
2. ›RunBundle's data is self-submitted. People who use running calculators tend to be keener than the average race entrant, which is why these medians are several minutes faster than RunRepeat's race-field median of 37:28.
3. ›The numbers update as people add times, so they'll drift.

The shape is the useful part. Women's pace barely changes from the 20s through the 40s in this data, then slows gradually from the 50s. If you're 45 and comparing yourself with a 25-year-old, the data says you're not giving much away. Training history matters more than the number on your birthday cake.

What is a good mile time for a woman?

Depends on what you've done. As a coaching-practice guide for an all-out mile (not a dataset): 12 minutes and slower is run-walk territory and where most people start; 10 to 12 minutes is a newer runner or a solid effort from a casual one; 8 to 10 minutes is a consistent recreational runner; under 8 means you've trained, probably with some speed work. Those bands apply to women and men alike. What changes the band you sit in is consistency, not sex.

The better benchmark is your own last test. A mile that drops from 11:30 to 10:15 over a training block is a better story than any percentile.

How to test your mile

1. ›Find a flat, measured mile. Four laps of a standard 400 m track is 1,600 m, about 9 meters short of a mile. Close enough.
2. ›Warm up. Ten minutes of easy jogging, a few drills, two or three short strides.
3. ›Pace it evenly. Most first tests go out too fast and fall apart on lap three. Aim for even laps.
4. ›Write it down. Retest in 6 to 8 weeks, in similar conditions.

How to run a faster mile

The mile is short, but it's still mostly aerobic. What moves it:

• ›Run three or more times a week, mostly easy. Conversational pace builds the engine the mile still runs on.
• ›Add one faster session. Short repeats of 200 to 400 m at around mile effort with full recovery, or strides after easy runs.
• ›Keep lifting. A systematic review by Blagrove and colleagues (2018) found strength training generally improved running economy by 2–8% compared with running alone, and time-trial performance over 1.5 to 10 km tended to improve too. If you want numbers for the gym side, strength standards for women cover the average squat, deadlift and leg press.
• ›Keep heavy legs away from your fast session. Not the day before. Put heavy lower-body work on an easy-run day or later on the same day as the hard run.

Recovery is the boring part that pays. What to eat after 5k races and hard mile sessions mostly comes down to a normal meal with carbohydrate and protein, not a special product.

From the mile to longer races

Once the mile feels sharp, longer races are where that speed pays off.

• ›The average half marathon time female runners post in RunRepeat's data is 2:24:03, almost exactly 11 minutes per mile. That's why the 11-minute-mile half marathon is such a common first goal: an 11-minute-mile half marathon finishes in about 2:24, right on the women's median.
• ›The average marathon time for women in the same dataset is 4:42:09, about 10:46 per mile.
• ›And if you like your running with sleds and wall balls attached, hyrox women race 8 km of running split into 1 km pieces, where a solid mile pace makes every run cheaper.

How exrsz handles this

exrsz builds a periodized plan from your goal, schedule, level and equipment, with your runs and lifts balanced in one plan. It adapts each week to how you actually trained and reshuffles missed sessions, so your paces follow your fitness rather than a crowd median.

FAQ

What is the average mile time for women?

There's no reliable dataset of women running one all-out mile. In race data from RunRepeat, the median woman averages about 12:04 per mile in a 5K and about 10:46 per mile in a 10K.

What is the average mile time for women by age?

In RunBundle's self-submitted 5K data, women's median pace is about 9:45 to 9:56 per mile from age 20 to 49, then 10:34 in the 50s and 11:24 in the 60s. Race-field medians are slower than these.

Is a 10-minute mile good for a woman?

Yes. Held for a whole 5K, a 10-minute mile is about 31:04, which sits around the fastest fifth of women in RunRepeat's data. As a single all-out mile, it's a solid recreational result.

What is the average mile run time for women in a 5K?

The women's median 5K in RunRepeat's dataset is 37:28, which works out to about 12:04 per mile.

How can a woman run a faster mile?

Run three or more times a week, mostly easy, add one session of short fast repeats, and keep lifting. Retest every 6 to 8 weeks so you're chasing your own number, not a chart.