Blood Pressure Chart by Age

These are the adult categories used by the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology. A reading falls into a higher category if either number qualifies — 118/85 mmHg counts as stage 1 hypertension because of the diastolic value.

European guidelines draw the treatment line differently: the 2024 ESC guideline keeps hypertension at 140/90 mmHg and labels 120–139/70–89 "elevated," and the UK's NICE guidance — which the NHS follows — also diagnoses from 140/90 (a home average of 135/85). Your doctor will use the standard for your country; our country guides cover the UK (NHS and NICE), US, Canada, Australia, Germany, France, and Japan in detail. A reading above 180/120 with symptoms such as chest pain, shortness of breath, or vision changes is an emergency: call your local emergency number — 911 in the US, 999 in the UK, 112 across the EU, 000 in Australia.

The chart above applies to all adults — current US guidelines do not set different "normal" targets for different ages. What does change with age is what's typical: arteries stiffen over time, so average systolic pressure tends to climb. The figures below are population averages, not targets.

Being "typical for your age" is not the same as being healthy: a 65-year-old averaging 145/85 is common and still has stage 2 hypertension worth discussing with a doctor. For older adults, target blood pressure is individualized — frailty, other conditions, and medications all factor in, which is another reason age-based charts should guide questions, not decisions.

The same question arrives at every age: what should my blood pressure be at 40, at 60, at 75? The answer has two halves. The definition of normal — below 120/80 mmHg — does not change with age under current US guidelines. What changes is what is typical: the decade figures below are population averages drawn from the same surveys as the table above, not targets to aim for.

In your 40s

Averages sit around 118–128 over 74–82 mmHg. This is the decade when readings quietly leave the “normal” band for many people, which is why regular checks start to matter: hypertension found at 45 is far easier to turn around than the same numbers discovered at 60.

In your 50s

Typical averages are around 122–132 over 76–82 mmHg. From about 50 onward, systolic pressure is the stronger predictor of cardiovascular risk, so a systolic number creeping through the 130s is worth acting on even when the diastolic looks fine.

In your 60s

Averages run around 128–138 over 72–80 mmHg. The pattern to know: systolic keeps rising while diastolic starts to fall, both driven by stiffening arteries. “Typical for 65” is not the same as healthy — 130/80 or above is still hypertension at any age.

In your 70s

Population averages sit around 130–140 over 68–78 mmHg — which means the average 70-year-old is at or above the hypertension threshold. Common is not the same as safe: treating high blood pressure in your 70s still clearly reduces strokes and heart attacks. Targets are set individually with your doctor, factoring in other conditions and medications.

In your 80s and beyond

Averages are around 130–142 over 66–76 mmHg, with a wide spread. Guidance here is genuinely individual: frailty, falls risk and other medications all shape the target, and a value your doctor is happy with at 85 might have been treated at 55. Bring a week of properly taken home readings to that conversation.

The categories in the chart apply equally to both sexes — there is no separate "women's chart", even though the search for one is common. What differs is the typical path through life:

• Before menopause, women tend to read lower. Through the 20s to 40s, women's averages run roughly 5–10 mmHg below men's of the same age — partly an estrogen effect on blood vessels.
• After menopause the gap closes, then reverses. Women's blood pressure rises faster from the 50s onward, and past about 65 women are more likely than men to have high blood pressure.
• The thresholds don't move. 130/80 mmHg is stage 1 hypertension for a woman and for a man, at 30 and at 70. A woman whose readings were always 100/65 should still treat a drift into the high 120s as a real change worth watching, precisely because it is a big move from her own baseline.
• Pregnancy is its own rulebook. Readings of 140/90 mmHg or higher during pregnancy need prompt medical attention, whatever your numbers were before — this is one situation where you should not wait and re-measure for a week.

Both. Systolic pressure is the stronger predictor of cardiovascular risk after about age 50, which is why doctors often focus on it in older adults. In younger adults, an elevated diastolic number is just as meaningful. And the gap between the two — pulse pressure — carries information of its own; a very wide gap in older adults can signal stiffening arteries.

Some apps and clinicians also track mean arterial pressure (MAP), a weighted average of the two numbers that estimates the pressure your organs actually experience through the whole heartbeat cycle.

If a single reading is high, don't panic — rest five minutes and measure again. What matters is the pattern:

• Normal: keep the habits that got you there, and re-check a few times a year.
• Elevated or stage 1: measure at home for a week using a proper technique, then bring the average to your doctor. Lifestyle changes — see how to lower blood pressure naturally — are usually the first step.
• Stage 2: book an appointment. Bring a log of recent readings; it makes the visit far more productive than one office measurement.
• Above 180/120: re-measure after a few minutes. If it's still that high, or you have symptoms, seek emergency care.