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Testosterone Ranges – What is the Norm?

There are any number of reasons why you might want to boost your Testosterone. Improving your stamina in the gym or on the sporting field, promote a healthier immune system, or putting some bounce back into your bedroom are all positive outcomes to healthy testosterone levels. In fact, there are wide range of physical and mental issues affecting men that can be improved with an increase of testosterone. Low testosterone has been linked to depression, issues with memory, concentration, motivation and confidence, increases to body fat, decreased muscle mass, bone fragility and increase in fatigue. We recommend you seeing your doctor and getting a blood test if you recognise any of these symptoms creeping into your life. It could be because you suffer from low T levels.

So What are Healthy Levels?

Testosterone is measured in nanograms per decilitre (ng/dl). The consensus between multiple research centres is that a range of approximately 280-1050 ng/dl is considered to be a normal range. (1) (2) (3)

Testosterone declines in men over time and on average from the age of 30, levels can be expected to drop by approximately 1% per year.

This table outlines normal ranges for males over time :

Age:                                  T Level (ng/dL):
0-5 mo.                                 75-400
6 mos.-9 yrs.                        < 7-20
10-11 yrs.                             < 7-130
12-13 yrs.                             < 7-800
14 yrs.                                  < 7-1,200
15-16 yrs.                             100-1,200
17-18 yrs.                             300-1,200
19+ yrs.                                240-950
Avg. adult male                    270-1,070
30+ yrs.                                -1% per year


Determining abnormalities in T levels are often sufficiently conducted by tests for your total T. However, some irregularities may still exist despite ‘normal’ levels in which case free testosterone and bioavailable testosterone levels can also be assessed. Total testosterone is essentially comprised of 3 sub types of testosterone:

  1. Free testosterone. It’s labelled free as it isn’t attached to any proteins and can be utilised by the cells to help build muscle and boost your mood.
  2. SHBG bound testosterone. Sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG) is a protein, produced in the liver, that the majority of testosterone is bound to. The amount of SHBG in the body helps to regulate the amount of free testosterone. It cannot be unbound.
  3. Albumin bound testosterone. Albumin is also a protein produced in the liver that binds with testosterone. In this form it is not bioavailable, similar to SHBG bound T, however it can become unbound and utilised as free testosterone as the link between albumin and testosterone isn’t strong.

Historically, only the free testosterone was thought to be the biologically active component. It’s now recognised that albumin and testosterone are found to dissociate freely in the capillary bed, thereby making testosterone becoming readily available for tissue uptake. Therefore, all non-SHBG-bound testosterone is considered bioavailable.

Healthy ranges for free testosterone and bioavailable (free + albumin bound) testosterone appear below

Males (adult):
20-<25 years: 5.25-20.7 ng/dL
25-<30 years: 5.05-19.8 ng/dL
30-<35 years: 4.85-19.0 ng/dL
35-<40 years: 4.65-18.1 ng/dL
40-<45 years: 4.46-17.1 ng/dL
45-<50 years: 4.26-16.4 ng/dL
50-<55 years: 4.06-15.6 ng/dL
55-<60 years: 3.87-14.7 ng/dL
60-<65 years: 3.67-13.9 ng/dL
65-<70 years: 3.47-13.0 ng/dL
70-<75 years: 3.28-12.2 ng/dL
75-<80 years: 3.08-11.3 ng/dL
80-<85 years: 2.88-10.5 ng/dL
85-<90 years: 2.69-9.61 ng/dL
90-<95 years: 2.49-8.76 ng/dL
95-100+ years: 2.29-7.91 ng/dL

< or =19 years: not established
20-29 years: 83-257 ng/dL
30-39 years: 72-235 ng/dL
40-49 years: 61-213 ng/dL
50-59 years: 50-190 ng/dL
60-69 years: 40-168 ng/dL

Testosterone production lessens as we age and the symptoms of having low testosterone are detrimental to our health. If your lifestyle is being affected by any of these symptoms, it can’t hurt to ask your doctor if it could be due to low testosterone and be tested appropriately.

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One thought to “Testosterone Ranges – What is the Norm?”

  1. That range in huge. Any idea of the real world effect of raising T levels by like 300? Because that would double the amount of test for a adult male in the bottom of the healthy range.

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