BMI Calculator
Body Mass Index from height and weight, with a healthy-range estimate. Metric and imperial supported.
Your BMI
22.5
Healthy
Healthy weight for your height: 53.5 – 72.0 kg
BMI range
BMI is a screening tool, not a diagnosis. Athletes with high muscle mass often score "overweight" despite being healthy. Children, pregnant women, and elderly need different metrics. Talk to a clinician for personal advice.
Body Mass Index from height and weight, with a healthy weight-range estimate. Metric and imperial supported.
BMI Calculator computes Body Mass Index — the ratio of weight (kg) to height squared (m²). It's a rough screening tool used by clinicians to flag who might be underweight, overweight, or obese for further evaluation. Not a diagnosis, but useful as one data point.
Pickrack's BMI Calculator supports both metric (cm/kg) and imperial (ft+in / lb). It shows your BMI value, the category band (underweight under 18.5, healthy 18.5-24.9, overweight 25-29.9, obese 30+), and the *healthy weight range for your specific height* — often more actionable than the BMI number itself.
Browser-side. Free, no signup. No data leaves your device — BMI is sensitive information and we treat it that way (no logging, no analytics on the input fields).
Key features
- Metric and imperial units — Toggle between cm/kg and ft+in/lb. Conversions are automatic and exact (1 inch = 2.54 cm, 1 lb = 0.453592 kg).
- Healthy weight range output — Shows the kg or lb range that would put you in BMI 18.5-24.9 for your height. Often the more useful number than the BMI itself.
- Visual gauge with category bands — Color-coded bar showing where your BMI falls relative to the 4 standard bands (under/healthy/over/obese).
- Browser-side, no logging — Height and weight never leave your device. No analytics on the input fields.
- Clinical-grade formula — Uses the standard WHO formula. No 'adjusted' BMI gimmicks (those are unvalidated).
How to use
- Step 1: Choose your unit system — Metric (cm/kg) is default — the WHO standard. Switch to Imperial (ft+in/lb) if that's how you measure.
- Step 2: Enter your height — Metric: enter cm (e.g., 170 for 5'7"). Imperial: enter feet and inches separately (5 and 7).
- Step 3: Enter your weight — Use today's morning weight after using the bathroom, before food/water. That's the most reproducible measurement.
- Step 4: Read the result — BMI value, category, and healthy weight range for your height. The gauge bar shows where you are on the BMI scale.
When to use
- Routine health check — track your BMI quarterly to spot trends (10+ point swing is significant)
- Weight loss goal-setting — see the kg range you'd need to be in the healthy band, then break it into 0.5kg/week targets
- Pre-clinical visit — bring your BMI history to your annual physical, ask the doctor what the trend means for you specifically
- Insurance/visa paperwork — some forms ask for BMI; calculate it before filling them out
- Athletic context — bodybuilders with high muscle mass score 'overweight' on BMI; the gauge tells you where you'd be without muscle adjustment
- Children/teens BMI — note that this calculator uses adult ranges; for under-18, use the CDC growth charts which are percentile-based
Frequently asked questions
Is BMI an accurate health indicator?
BMI is a screening tool, not a diagnosis. It's accurate at population scale (epidemiologists use it for disease risk correlation) but can mislead at individual scale — muscular athletes score 'overweight', frail elderly score 'healthy'. Always combined with other measures: waist circumference, body fat %, fitness level, family history.
Why is the healthy range 18.5 to 24.9?
These cutoffs come from the World Health Organization based on mortality and chronic disease risk studies in large populations. Below 18.5 correlates with malnutrition or eating disorder; above 25 correlates with elevated diabetes/cardiovascular risk. The cutoffs are slightly different for Asian populations (some guidelines use 23 as the overweight threshold) — talk to a clinician familiar with your background.
Should athletes use BMI?
With caveats. A bodybuilder at 200 lb / 5'10" has BMI 28.7 (overweight by category) but may have 10% body fat — clearly healthy. For muscle-heavy bodies, ignore the category and look at body fat %, waist measurement, and fitness performance instead. BMI is most useful for sedentary or lightly-active people.
What about kids and teens?
BMI for under-18 uses percentile charts (CDC growth charts), not the adult fixed cutoffs. A 14-year-old at the 50th percentile is healthy regardless of absolute BMI. This calculator uses adult ranges — don't apply it to children.
Does BMI work the same for all ethnicities?
The 18.5-25 healthy band was derived primarily from European populations. South Asian and East Asian bodies typically have higher body fat % at the same BMI, so some guidelines suggest a lower 'overweight' threshold of 23. African and Pacific Islander populations have the opposite pattern. For ethnic-specific guidance, talk to a clinician.
What about pregnant women?
BMI for pregnancy uses pre-pregnancy BMI to set healthy weight-gain targets (typically 11-16 kg total for normal pre-BMI). This tool computes current BMI; don't use it to assess pregnancy weight gain directly.
Is my height and weight sent to your servers?
No. All computation happens in your browser using JavaScript. No network calls, no logging. You can verify in DevTools → Network: zero requests when you change the input fields. This matters because height/weight is medical-adjacent data.
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