Pretty much everyone has an opinion on how many steps you should take in a day. My Oura Ring sets a goal based on how much rest I got the night before, while influencers online always seem to be peddling the magical 10,000-step count. And it’s not just influencers.
At this point, we’ve all heard about the 10,000-step rule, whether it’s something your mom’s walking group aims for, your high-achieving friend hits like clockwork, or a goal you feel internal pressure to hit. But this number is more arbitrary than you think. Though the 10,000-step rule of thumb—which shakes out to about five miles—has been around since the 1960s, there’s little evidence to support that it should be your target, according to a 2022 review in The Lancet.
Luckily, there is some newer research that helps clarify what an ideal step goal is, and spoiler alert: It’s lower than 10,000 per day. Here’s how to determine how much you should actually walk per day, according to experts. Meet the experts: Alexander Rothstein, CSCS, ACSM-EP, is an exercise physiologist and instructor for the exercise science program at the New York Institute of Technology.
Richardson, PhD, is a professor of applied exercise science and movement science at the University of Michigan School of Kinesiology. On the low end, anything above 2,200 steps (which is roughly over a mile) was associated with lower mortality and cardiovascular disease, according to a 2024 study in the British Journal of Sports Medicine. Remember: Any movement is better than nothing, and for people who are just starting out, the payoffs of shorter distances can be huge.
But, if you want a step count to aim for, the most recent research suggests it should be around 7,000. Per a 2025 meta review in the The Lancet Public Health that analyzed data from 88 different studies, 7,000 steps every day is enough to reduce your risk of dementia, cancer, type 2 diabetes, and depression, particularly when compared to people who walk 2,000 steps a day. Additional steps beyond 7,000 only saw marginal benefits. (Basically, don’t let anyone make you feel bad for not hitting a full 10K steps.) One thing to keep in mind is that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that adults get 150 minutes of moderate- to vigorous-intensity exercise per week, so if walking is your main form of exercise, you want to make sure that you’re hitting this number of minutes—no matter what the step count is, says Alexander Rothstein, CSCS, an exercise physiologist and instructor for the exercise science program at the New York Institute of Technology.
This might mean walking for about 22 minutes every single day or for 30 minutes, five days a week. Since time is what matters and everyone walks at a different pace, there’s a range of how many steps and miles this would shake out to. Another thing that’s non-negotiable is making sure your walks fall into that moderate- to vigorous-intensity range.
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