Average 5K Time by Age and Gender

How these 5K times are worked out

These 5K times come from the WMA/USATF 2025 road age-grading tables, approved by the USATF Masters Long Distance Running Council in January 2025. A percentage grade measures your time against the standard for your age and sex: 100% matches it, and 60% means you are running at 60% of its speed. The tables' 100% mark for 5K is 12:49 for men and 13:54 for women, each age has its own standard, and the time at any grade is the age standard divided by the grade.

So every figure is a target by age, not an average of real finishers. It shows what a time is worth once age and sex are allowed for, and the age-grade calculator does the same sum for your own result.

What is a good time on a 5K?

A good time on a 5K beats parkrun UK's 29:43 average, and a good target for your age is a 60% age-graded time, the level the RunReps Age-Grade Calculator calls club level on the WMA 2025 road tables: at 25, 21:22 for men and 23:10 for women.

Each grade has a name: 60% is club level, 70% regional class, 80% national class and 90% world class. The 50% column has no name of its own. At the very top, the tables' 100% mark is 12:49 for men and 13:54 for women, close to the world records.

If your best is over another distance, the race time predictor converts it into a likely 5K before you compare.

What's a good 5K time per age?

A good 5K time per age, at the 60% club-level grade on the WMA 2025 tables, slows from 22:33 at 40 to 26:27 at 60 for men, and from 24:23 to 30:24 for women.

As a pace, club level at 45 is 4:41 min/km (7:32 min/mile) for men and 5:06 min/km (8:13 min/mile) for women. The 5K pace chart lists the pace for other finish times.

What is the average 5K time for a woman?

The average 5K time for a woman is best taken from US road races, where the 2024 median for women was 39:00 against 32:00 for men (Brian Rock, Outside Run, 2.2 million results).

There is no men/women split of parkrun UK's 29:43 average. For an age-graded comparison, a woman of 35 needs 23:39 for a 60% club-level time and 20:17 for 70% regional class.

Why do average 5K times disagree?

Average 5K times disagree because they describe different crowds: parkrun UK's 29:43 average is for free weekly parkruns, with 79.8 million finishes on record, while Brian Rock's median of about 36:00 covers 2.2 million US road-race results from 2024.

They are different measures too. A median is the middle result, so half of the US results were faster than about 36:00, while a parkrun average counts every finish, so regular runners appear week after week.

At the sharp end, only 1.85% of the US results were under 20:00. If you race further as well, compare the average 10K time.

Is a 25 minute 5K good?

A 25 minute 5K is a good, club-level time for a man of 55 or a woman of 45, grading 60.9% and 61.2% on the WMA 2025 tables, and it beats parkrun UK's 29:43 average.

So a 25 minute 5K is not slow. At 25 it grades 51.3% for men and 55.6% for women, between a 50% and a 60% age grade, which leaves a clear next step: club level at that age is 21:22 for men and 23:10 for women.

A structured block from the running plan generator is the usual way to close that gap.

Is 5K in 30 minutes good?

A 5K in 30 minutes is a sound, ordinary result: it sits just behind parkrun UK's 29:43 average and well ahead of the US median of about 36:00 in Brian Rock's 2024 data.

On age grading it depends on who runs it: 30:00 grades 42.7% for a man of 25 but 64.9% for a woman of 65, club level. If it is your first 5K, that is already faster than the middle of the 2024 US field.