Average Marathon Time

Average marathon time: the published figures

There is no single average marathon time. The answer depends on who was counted: every timed race in a country, one large set of race results, or one event. These are the figures we could trace to a published source, with the people each one covers.

A median is the time of the middle finisher: half were faster and half were slower. A mean is every time added up and divided by the number of finishers, so a few very slow finishes move it more than they move a median. Two dashes mean the source gives no figure for that group. The shaded rows are not averages: they mark the fastest and slowest tenth of finishers.

Average marathon pace per mile and per km

The same averages as a pace: the finish time divided by 26.2188 miles, or by 42.195 kilometers. At the US average for 2024 a marathon is run at 10:27 per mile, which is 6:30 per km. The marathon pace chart has the pace for every finish time.

What is a good marathon time?

Good is a judgment, not a measurement, so this page does not name one good marathon time. What can be measured is where a time falls among finishers. In RunRepeat’s 35 million race results:

• The median was 4:26:33 (4:14:29 for men, 4:42:09 for women). A time under that was faster than half of the finishers.
• One finisher in ten was under 3:31:46 (3:22:40 for men, 3:49:22 for women).
• One in ten took longer than 5:41:45, so eight in ten finished between 3:31:46 and 5:41:45.

These marks come from one set of results and would shift with another. The calculator at the top shows which of them your time is faster than. One fixed line does exist for the marathon: a Boston Marathon qualifying time, which depends on age and sex. See the Boston qualifying times.

Average marathon time by age

RunRepeat’s report with World Athletics gives the average finish time of US marathon finishers in 2024 for six age groups. The fastest group was 18 to 24, at 4:19. The slowest was 65 and over, at 5:35. The report says every age group was a little faster in 2024 than in 2019.

Men and women together, elite runners left out. The report gives one group to the second and the others to the minute. It also charts an average pace by age group for men and for women, but the chart does not say which year or which unit it shows, so those figures are not used here.

Worldwide, the earlier report on 2018 names four groups: 4:32 for runners under 30, 4:24 for runners aged 30 to 50, 4:34 for runners aged 50 to 60 and 5:40 for runners over 70. It gives no figure in its text for ages 60 to 70.

How it works

Enter your marathon time. The calculator divides it by the distance to give your pace per mile and per kilometer, then sets your time beside each published figure for the marathon and shows the gap.

Choose men or women to keep that group’s figures. A source that gives one figure for everyone stays in the list either way. The count in the result, 6 of 10 for the time the page opens with, is how many of the averages in the list your time is faster than. The marks for the fastest and slowest tenth are listed below the averages and are not part of that count.

The second table gives the times at other distances that two standard formulas rate as equal to yours: Riegel’s formula, which the race time predictor uses, and the Daniels and Gilbert oxygen cost model, known as VDOT.

The formula

pace per mile = time ÷ 26.2188
pace per km   = time ÷ 42.195
gap           = your time − theirs
  under zero: you are faster

Equal time at another distance
Riegel: T2 = T1 × (D2 ÷ D1)^1.06
VDOT:   the time at D2 with the
        same VDOT score as T1 at D1

26.2188 is 42.195 km in miles (1 mile = 1.609344 km). T1 and D1 are your time and distance, and T2 is the equal time at distance D2. The VO2 max calculator shows how a VDOT score is worked out.

Worked example

A marathon in 4:30:00, compared with everyone.

1. Pace per mile: 4:30:00 ÷ 26.2188 miles = 10:18. Pace per km: 4:30:00 ÷ 42.195 = 6:24.
2. US marathon finishers, 2024, everyone (mean): 4:34. 4:30:00 is 4 min faster.
3. US marathon finishers, 2024, men (mean): 4:24. 4:30:00 is 6 min slower.
4. Marathon finishers worldwide, 2018, everyone (mean): 4:32:49. 4:30:00 is 2:49 faster.
5. Of the 10 averages in the list, 4:30:00 is faster than 6.
6. Equal half marathon time: Riegel gives 4:30:00 × (21.0975 ÷ 42.195)^1.06 = 2:09:30. The VDOT model gives 2:11:14.

How the average marathon time has changed

Worldwide, the average finish time was 3:52:35 in 1986 and 4:32:49 in 2018, in RunRepeat’s set of 107.9 million race results. In the United States it was 4:39 in 2019 and 4:34 in 2024, which that report calls the first improvement in decades.

One race shows the long view. A 2026 review of 76 studies of the New York City Marathon puts its mean finish time in recent editions at about 4:40, about 40 minutes slower than in the 1970s, which the review puts down to far more recreational runners taking part.

Limits of the data: who was counted

Each figure on this page describes the people below and nobody else. All of them finished: people who started and dropped out are not in any of these averages. All of them entered a timed event, so no figure here describes runners who do not take part in one. The sources cover different events and different years, which is one reason their figures differ.

• US marathon finishers, 2024. Finishers of marathons in the United States in 2024, with elite runners left out. The report counts 432,562 participants that year, covers about 97% of US marathon results and gives most of its averages to the minute. Used here: the mean. Source: RunRepeat with World Athletics (2025).
• Marathon finishers worldwide, 2018. Marathon finishers around the world in 2018, with elite runners left out, in a set of 107.9 million race results from more than 70,000 events. The report counts 1.1 million marathon participants that year. Used here: the mean. Source: RunRepeat and the IAAF (2019).
• US marathon finishers, 2015. Finishers of timed marathons in the United States in 2015: 509,000 finishes, counted by Running USA with data from Athlinks. Used here: the median. Source: Running USA (2016).
• 35 million results, to 2017. RunRepeat’s comparison of 35 million results from more than 28,000 races over 20 years, published in 2017. It does not list the races. Its study of American runners the same year drew on 34,680,750 results from 28,732 races, 5,704,281 of them in the marathon. Used here: the median, fastest 10% mark and slowest 10% mark. Source: RunRepeat (2017).
• New York City Marathon, recent editions. All finishers of the New York City Marathon. A 2026 review of 76 studies of the race puts the mean finish time in recent editions at about 4:40, citing a study of 1,174,331 finishers from 1970 to 2017. Used here: the mean. Source: Knechtle and others, EXCLI Journal (2026).

Plates & Pace is not affiliated with any of these organizations.

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Sources

1. Running USA. 2016 State of the Sport: U.S. Road Race Trends. 5 May 2016. Finishers and median times in 2015, by distance and sex (data: Running USA powered by Athlinks). Read in the copy published by German Road Races.
2. Nikolova V. Compare Running Finish Times: 5K, 10K, Half Marathon, Marathon. RunRepeat; 15 November 2017, updated 1 March 2024. Percentiles from 35 million results in more than 28,000 races over 20 years.
3. Nikolova V, Andersen JJ. American Runners Have Never Been Slower (Mega Study). RunRepeat; 4 July 2017. 34,680,750 results from 28,732 races, with the number of results at each distance.
4. Andersen JJ. The State of Running 2019. RunRepeat, with the International Association of Athletics Federations (now World Athletics); 16 July 2019. 107.9 million race results from more than 70,000 events, 1986 to 2018.
5. Andersen JJ. The State of US Marathons 2025. RunRepeat, with World Athletics; 28 August 2025. 10,482,628 results from 6,352 US marathons, 1984 to 2025.
6. Knechtle B, Thuany M, Nikolaidis PT, Forte P, Leite LB, Lepers R, Chlíbková D, Weiss K, Rosemann T, Vancini RL, Duric S. The New York City Marathon: a systematic review of performance, participation, pacing, and health-related outcomes. EXCLI Journal. 2026;25:591-620.
7. Riegel PS. Athletic records and human endurance. American Scientist. 1981;69(3):285-290. The formula for equal times at other distances.
8. Daniels J, Gilbert J. Oxygen Power: Performance Tables for Distance Runners. 1979. The oxygen cost model behind VDOT.
9. National Institute of Standards and Technology. Guide for the Use of the International System of Units (SI), Special Publication 811, Appendix B.9: 1 mile = 1.609344 km exactly.
10. World Athletics. Marathon: 42.195 km.