A “good” VO2 max is one above the median for your age and sex — there is no single universal number. In the 2022 update of the FRIEND registry (34 US exercise laboratories, 22,379 cardiopulmonary exercise tests on apparently healthy adults aged 20–89), median treadmill values fall from about 45 mL/kg/min for men aged 20–29 to about 24 for men aged 60–69, and from about 36 for women aged 20–29 to about 19 for women aged 60–69. Above your group's median means you scored better than half of apparently healthy adults your age; the top quarter begins at the 75th-percentile column below.
The reference tables
Percentiles of peak oxygen uptake (mL/kg/min) from treadmill cardiopulmonary exercise testing, as published in the 2022 FRIEND registry update (Kaminsky et al., Mayo Clinic Proceedings, 2022). The subset shown required a true maximal effort (respiratory exchange ratio ≥ 1.10).
| Men — age | 25th percentile | Median | 75th percentile |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20–29 | 37.3 | 45.4 | 52.6 |
| 30–39 | 31.3 | 38.6 | 46.5 |
| 40–49 | 28.4 | 34.8 | 41.8 |
| 50–59 | 23.9 | 29.4 | 35.5 |
| 60–69 | 19.7 | 24.4 | 29.9 |
| 70–79 | 16.8 | 20.6 | 25.0 |
| 80–89 | 15.9 | 17.7 | 20.9 |
| Women — age | 25th percentile | Median | 75th percentile |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20–29 | 28.6 | 35.6 | 42.2 |
| 30–39 | 23.1 | 28.3 | 34.5 |
| 40–49 | 21.3 | 25.9 | 30.9 |
| 50–59 | 19.5 | 23.1 | 27.3 |
| 60–69 | 16.4 | 19.4 | 23.1 |
| 70–79 | 14.8 | 17.1 | 20.0 |
| 80–89 | 12.8 | 15.1 | 17.2 |
Source: Kaminsky et al., “Updated Reference Standards for Cardiorespiratory Fitness… Data from the FRIEND Registry,” Mayo Clinic Proceedings, 2022. Reference group: apparently healthy US adults, treadmill testing, ages 20–89. Cycling tests have separate, generally lower standards.
How to read these tables
A percentile is a position within the reference group, not a grade. At the 50th percentile (the median), half of apparently healthy adults your age and sex scored lower. The 75th percentile is where the top quarter begins. A score between two columns falls somewhere inside that gap — the tables give three points, not every value.
Two caveats before comparing yourself. First, the reference values are lab-measured during a maximal test with a breathing mask — not watch estimates. Second, the reference group is apparently healthy US adults who volunteered for exercise testing: a general reference, not an elite-athlete standard, and not adjusted for altitude, body composition or clinical conditions.
Why your Apple Watch number will not match
Apple Watch and other consumer devices estimate VO2 max from outdoor walk and run data — pace, heart rate, sometimes grade or your profile — rather than measuring the air you breathe. That makes the number useful for tracking your own direction over months, and unreliable for precise placement against a lab table or against other people. Individual error can be large, so treat the tables as orientation and your own trend as the signal. See how VO2 max is measured for the lab-versus-watch comparison.
If your watch reads several points below the table for your group, that is common and usually means nothing on its own. What matters is whether your own number is drifting up, holding, or sliding.
Why the numbers drop with every decade
In the 2022 FRIEND update, median cardiorespiratory fitness declined with age in every decade for both sexes — roughly 13.5% per decade, about 4.0 mL/kg/min per decade on treadmill testing over the six-decade span. That decline is the normal background: training slows it rather than stopping it, and the useful comparison is against your own trajectory, not against a 25-year-old.
Note also that the 2022 update lowered the treadmill reference standards by 1.5–4.6 mL/kg/min compared with the 2015 edition, because the registry now covers more of the population. If you are reading an older chart, expect its numbers to run a little high. For context on why clinicians take this metric seriously at all — the American Heart Association treats cardiorespiratory fitness as a clinical vital sign — see what VO2 max is.