Child and Teen BMI Percentile Calculator

CDC BMI-for-age · ages 2–19

A clear child and teen BMI check, step by step

Enter age, the CDC sex-reference chart, standing height, and weight. Your BMI, percentile, and screening range stay together in the result.

CDC ages 2–19

Enter the young person's details

Age and the selected CDC reference chart change the percentile. Use exact dates when they are available.

1Age & growth chart

A few months can change a growing child's reference position.

Completed years

Additional months

Sex used for the CDC growth chart

Male chartFemale chart

CDC publishes separate male and female BMI-for-age charts. Choose the chart recorded for this measurement.

2Standing height & weight

Measurement units

Metric · cm / kgUS · ft / in / lb

Standing height

Weight

For a reliable entryMeasure standing height without shoes and weight in light clothing on a level scale.

This result uses standard CDC charts for ages 2–19. If a clinician recommended a specialized growth chart, use that chart instead.

Engineering verified · independent pediatric review pending

ResultExample using the prefilled values

Formula 1.0.0

BMI19.5 kg/m²

BMI-for-age52.4 percentile

Healthy weight screening range

CDC BMI-for-age percentile position

For the entered age and selected CDC growth chart, BMI 19.5 is at the 52.4 BMI-for-age percentile. This falls in the healthy weight screening range.

Between the 5th and 85th percentile boundaries.

Below 5thUnderweight screening range

5th to below 85thHealthy weight screening range

85th to below 95thOverweight screening range

95th or higherObesity screening range

How to interpret the percentileA reference comparison with children of the same age and sex—not a score or body-fat measurement

Screening result only—not body-fat percentage, a diagnosis, or a weight target. The formula uses the unrounded BMI and the CDC 2000/2022 age-specific reference methods.

More result detail

BMI-for-age z-score: 0.06
95th-percentile BMI: 27.26 kg/m²
Reference method: cdc 2000 lms at or below 95th

Pediatric safety: this engineering preview is pending independent pediatric review. BMI is a screening measure, not a diagnosis, body-fat measurement, growth prediction, eating plan, weight target, or treatment recommendation.
Do not use this result to restrict food, prescribe exercise, start or stop care, or label a child. Recheck measurements and discuss growth over time, development, medical history, and any concern with a qualified pediatric clinician.
The CDC tables describe a U.S. reference population and provide only male/female sex-reference branches. This result must not be substituted for a clinician-selected specialized chart or for adult BMI categories.
The result uses the CDC 2000 LMS branch because BMI is at or below the age- and sex-specific P95.

Child and teen BMI-for-age guide

Interpret a young person's BMI through age-specific CDC curves, including the extended branch

A child's raw BMI uses the familiar height-and-weight equation, but its meaning depends on precise age and the CDC sex-specific reference. This page joins the 2000 LMS curves with the 2022 extended method for very high BMI instead of applying adult cutoffs.

Side-by-side guide · Child and teen BMI-for-age guide

The ordinary LMS curve and extended curve meet at the upper tail

Age scope: The calculator supports ages 2 through 19, represented as 24 to less than 240 months.
High-BMI branch: The 2022 CDC extended curves add percentiles above the historical high end.
Use case: BMI-for-age is a screening measure and cannot diagnose a child or direct treatment.

Through the 95th-percentile region
The 2000 CDC L, M, and S parameters transform BMI into a sex- and age-specific z-score and percentile. Full-precision age interpolation and BMI are kept until display.
Above the historical upper curve
CDC's 2022 extension uses the age- and sex-specific 95th-percentile value plus a sigma relationship derived with more recent high-BMI data. It provides continuous curves through the 99.99th percentile and plotting up to BMI 60.
Outside published support
The calculator stops rather than stretching beyond the official high curve, BMI maximum, age window, or extreme-value review limits. A stopped result calls for measurement review and professional interpretation, not a handmade extrapolation.

Interpret a young person's BMI through age-specific CDC curves, including the extended branch: The program chooses the published calculation branch from the measurement rather than asking families to guess one.

The same numeric BMI means something different before age 20

BMI is kilograms divided by height in meters squared, calculated from unrounded normalized measurements. During growth, however, a value must be compared with children of the same age and the same available CDC sex reference. A fixed adult boundary discards those two dimensions and can misclassify a young person.

People 20 and older should move to the Adult BMI Calculator, which applies CDC's fixed adult categories. Children younger than 2 belong in the WHO infant-growth framework and need recumbent-length measures; this teen-oriented page does not extrapolate the CDC school-age equations downward.

The ordinary LMS curve and extended curve meet at the upper tail

The program chooses the published calculation branch from the measurement rather than asking families to guess one.

Through the 95th-percentile region

The 2000 CDC L, M, and S parameters transform BMI into a sex- and age-specific z-score and percentile. Full-precision age interpolation and BMI are kept until display.

Above the historical upper curve

CDC's 2022 extension uses the age- and sex-specific 95th-percentile value plus a sigma relationship derived with more recent high-BMI data. It provides continuous curves through the 99.99th percentile and plotting up to BMI 60.

Outside published support

The calculator stops rather than stretching beyond the official high curve, BMI maximum, age window, or extreme-value review limits. A stopped result calls for measurement review and professional interpretation, not a handmade extrapolation.

Turn a dated measurement into a reproducible BMI-for-age point

The age clock and the ruler deserve the same care as the formula.

Establish age on the measurement date
Use birth and measurement dates when possible, or completed months with the stated midpoint convention. Whole years alone can shift the reference during periods of rapid growth.
Collect height and weight together
Measure standing height without shoes and weight without heavy clothing. The Height and Weight Percentile Calculator can display the two component indices separately when a clinician or caregiver wants to understand the inputs behind BMI.
Read the raw threshold
The category is assigned using calculated boundary measurements, not a rounded percentile label. Save BMI, percentile, percent of the 95th percentile, age basis, and measurement date together.

Screening bands organize follow-up but do not grade a child

CDC bands are below the 5th percentile, 5th to below 85th, 85th to below 95th, and at or above the 95th. Severe obesity is a subset defined at or above 120 percent of the 95th percentile or BMI 35 kilograms per square meter. These labels support clinical screening and communication; they are not character judgments or complete health assessments.

Medical history, growth trajectory, physical findings, health behaviors, laboratory information, medications, development, and family context can all matter. Do not prescribe restriction, supplements, exercise, or a goal weight from the category. Concerns belong in a supportive conversation with a pediatric health professional, not in unsupervised treatment based on an online output.

Use neighboring growth tools without inventing a care plan

Each related calculator answers a narrower question and retains its own boundary.

Use the Height Calculator only for a rough parent-based adult-height midpoint; it cannot explain or override the current BMI percentile.
Plot or record serial measurements consistently. A single BMI-for-age point cannot diagnose undernutrition, obesity-related disease, an eating disorder, or a growth disorder, and this page is not clinical guidance.
Seek timely professional review for symptoms, rapid or unexpected change, feeding or eating concerns, medication effects, pregnancy, specialized growth contexts, or any result outside the published reference support.

Important limitations

Child and Teen BMI Percentile Calculator returns body mass index, bmi-for-age percentile, bmi-for-age z-score, and CDC median BMI only for the stated population, method, and source period. It is an informational calculation rather than a diagnosis, treatment plan, dosing instruction, exposure assessment, or individualized clinical recommendation.

This formula passed its registered engineering tests and is published under an explicit site-owner policy authorization. No independent expert, QA, editorial, legal, or third-party review is claimed. Verify consequential results with a qualified professional.

This subject may affect health, finance, tax, legal, or other consequential decisions. It has not received an independent domain-expert review; consult a qualified professional before relying on it.

Child and teen BMI-for-age guide

Interpret a young person's BMI through age-specific CDC curves, including the extended branch

Side-by-side guide · Child and teen BMI-for-age guide

The ordinary LMS curve and extended curve meet at the upper tail

Age scope: The calculator supports ages 2 through 19, represented as 24 to less than 240 months.
High-BMI branch: The 2022 CDC extended curves add percentiles above the historical high end.
Use case: BMI-for-age is a screening measure and cannot diagnose a child or direct treatment.

Through the 95th-percentile region
The 2000 CDC L, M, and S parameters transform BMI into a sex- and age-specific z-score and percentile. Full-precision age interpolation and BMI are kept until display.
Above the historical upper curve
CDC's 2022 extension uses the age- and sex-specific 95th-percentile value plus a sigma relationship derived with more recent high-BMI data. It provides continuous curves through the 99.99th percentile and plotting up to BMI 60.
Outside published support
The calculator stops rather than stretching beyond the official high curve, BMI maximum, age window, or extreme-value review limits. A stopped result calls for measurement review and professional interpretation, not a handmade extrapolation.

The same numeric BMI means something different before age 20

The ordinary LMS curve and extended curve meet at the upper tail

The program chooses the published calculation branch from the measurement rather than asking families to guess one.

Through the 95th-percentile region

The 2000 CDC L, M, and S parameters transform BMI into a sex- and age-specific z-score and percentile. Full-precision age interpolation and BMI are kept until display.

Above the historical upper curve

Outside published support

Turn a dated measurement into a reproducible BMI-for-age point

The age clock and the ruler deserve the same care as the formula.

Establish age on the measurement date
Use birth and measurement dates when possible, or completed months with the stated midpoint convention. Whole years alone can shift the reference during periods of rapid growth.
Collect height and weight together
Measure standing height without shoes and weight without heavy clothing. The Height and Weight Percentile Calculator can display the two component indices separately when a clinician or caregiver wants to understand the inputs behind BMI.
Read the raw threshold
The category is assigned using calculated boundary measurements, not a rounded percentile label. Save BMI, percentile, percent of the 95th percentile, age basis, and measurement date together.

Screening bands organize follow-up but do not grade a child

Use neighboring growth tools without inventing a care plan

Each related calculator answers a narrower question and retains its own boundary.

Use the Height Calculator only for a rough parent-based adult-height midpoint; it cannot explain or override the current BMI percentile.
Plot or record serial measurements consistently. A single BMI-for-age point cannot diagnose undernutrition, obesity-related disease, an eating disorder, or a growth disorder, and this page is not clinical guidance.
Seek timely professional review for symptoms, rapid or unexpected change, feeding or eating concerns, medication effects, pregnancy, specialized growth contexts, or any result outside the published reference support.