Key Takeaways
- From a wall test, jump height is your touch minus your flat-footed standing reach. From flight time it is g × t² / 8, so 0.5 s in the air is 30.6 cm (12.1 in).
- Flight time assumes you leave and land in the same position, and the studies on phone apps and jump mats do not agree on how close they get to a force plate. Use one method every time you compare jumps[4][7][8].
- Peak power comes from the Sayers equation, which has a standard error of 355 W. It was built from jump-and-reach heights in 108 college-age athletes and non-athletes[1].
- The percentile table is Canadian force-plate data. Its authors say to compare it only with data from the same force plate, so a wall reach result is a rough fit at best[2].
- I found no verified sport-by-sport benchmarks and no validated way to predict your jump from your squat, so this page does not offer either.
How to Measure Your Vertical Jump
Three ways to get a number, and what each one is really measuring.
The classic home test is the jump-and-reach. Stand side-on to a wall, feet flat, and reach up as high as you can to mark your standing reach. Jump, touch as high as you can, and subtract.
The result includes how well you reach at the top of the jump, so a small slip in either mark goes straight into the answer. Sayers and colleagues used this test, with a force platform alongside, to build the power equation below[1].
Flight time comes from a jump mat, an optical timer, a force plate or a phone app. You jump, the device times how long you were airborne, and the height follows from physics. The third route is a height you already have from one of those devices, which you can type in directly.
I did not find one standard protocol across the sources I read, so the practical rule is to keep yours the same every time. The Canadian survey used the best of 3 to 5 trials of a two-leg countermovement jump, with arm swing allowed[2].
Jump Height From Flight Time
One equation, and the one assumption that can break it.
In the air, only gravity acts on you. You rise for half the flight time and fall for the other half, so the height is h = g × t² / 8, with g = 9.80665 m/s².
Linthorne lists flight time as one of three ways to get jump height from a force platform[3].
Worked example: 0.5 seconds
| Flight time | Height (cm) | Height (in) |
|---|---|---|
| 0.40 s | 19.6 | 7.7 |
| 0.50 s | 30.6 | 12.1 |
| 0.60 s | 44.1 | 17.4 |
Height for a few flight times, from h = g × t² / 8
Because time is squared, doubling the flight time quadruples the height. It also means a small timing error grows in the result.
The equation assumes your body is in the same position when you leave the ground and when you touch down. That is basic mechanics, not a study result. If you land with bent knees, your centre of mass is lower at touchdown, so it falls further and the time in the air runs long.
Studies of devices that time flight do not agree. A meta-analysis pooled 21 studies of the My Jump app and found no significant difference in raw scores against criterion methods, though it says take-off velocity methods still need to be compared[4].
A small study of 15 men found that a jump mat, an optical system and My Jump all underestimated jump height against a force plate and motion capture[8].
In 135 adults aged 18 to 39, Vertec heights were significantly higher than My Jump heights, and the authors advise against swapping one for the other[7].
The practical rule is to pick one device and one method, and compare your jumps only against your own earlier ones.
Peak Power From Your Jump
A published equation with a known error, not a measurement.
Sayers and colleagues tested 108 college-age male and female athletes and non-athletes on a force platform while they also did the jump-and-reach test[1]. Their equation predicts peak power from jump height and body mass:
Peak power (W) = 60.7 × jump height (cm) + 45.3 × body mass (kg) − 2055
Worked example: 40 cm and 75 kg
The authors derived the equation from squat-jump data. It underestimated peak power by under 1% with a standard error of 355 W. When countermovement jump data went into the same equation, it overestimated peak power by 2.7%[1].
They found one equation worked for both sexes, with only a slight gap of about 5% of power output[1].
The abstract does not say how it performs outside college-age people. For boys aged 12 to 14, a 2021 study of 188 players developed its own equation[9], which this tool does not use, so power for children and teenagers is rougher still.
The equation used jump-and-reach heights. If your height came from flight time or a mat, the tool still gives a power figure but flags that it is a rougher fit.
How High Is a Good Vertical Jump?
The only reference table I could verify, and why it comes with a warning.
Hoffmann and colleagues published jump-height percentiles for ages 8 to 69 in Statistics Canada's Health Reports, using the Canadian Health Measures Survey (2016 to 2017)[2]. Jumps were two-leg countermovement jumps with arm swing, on a Leonardo Mechanograph force plate, and the highest of 3 to 5 trials counted.
The values below come from smooth percentile curves the authors fitted to the survey data, so they are modelled percentiles and not the raw figure for each group[2].
| Group | P5 | P50 | P95 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Males, 20 to 24 | 32.6 (12.8) | 49.4 (19.4) | 63.8 (25.1) |
| Males, 30 to 34 | 30.1 (11.9) | 45.8 (18) | 59.1 (23.3) |
| Males, 40 to 44 | 27.5 (10.8) | 41.1 (16.2) | 53.3 (21) |
| Males, 50 to 54 | 24.8 (9.8) | 36.4 (14.3) | 47.6 (18.7) |
| Females, 20 to 24 | 22.8 (9) | 31.8 (12.5) | 41.4 (16.3) |
| Females, 30 to 34 | 21.7 (8.5) | 30.9 (12.2) | 40.7 (16) |
| Females, 40 to 44 | 20.1 (7.9) | 29.1 (11.5) | 38.7 (15.2) |
| Females, 50 to 54 | 17.7 (7) | 26.1 (10.3) | 34.9 (13.7) |
Jump height percentiles in cm (in), from Table 4 of Hoffmann et al. (2019)
For males aged 20 to 24, the median is 49.4 cm and the 95th percentile is 63.8 cm. For females of the same age the figures are 31.8 and 41.4 cm. The calculator holds all 32 age and sex groups and interpolates between the published points.
A wall test is not a force plate
You may have seen tiers for football, basketball or other sports. I could not verify the source behind them, so there are none here.
Does Squat Strength Predict Your Jump?
Related, yes. A usable prediction, no.
Nuzzo and colleagues tested 12 male college football and track athletes. Squat strength relative to body mass correlated significantly with countermovement jump height, while absolute squat strength did not[5].
Wisløff and colleagues tested 17 elite male soccer players and reported a strong correlation between half-squat strength and jump height[6].
Both are small groups of male athletes, and neither gives an equation for turning a squat into a jump. I found no validated one, so the tool does not guess.
If you are working on lower-body strength, the One Rep Max Calculator and the Squat to Deadlift Ratio Calculator cover the strength side, and the Dynamic Strength Index Calculator compares jump force with isometric force.
Limits and What Is Left Out
What the tool does not do, so you do not read more into it than is there.
It does not predict how much your jump will improve, and it does not rate you against a sport or position. It does not convert a squat into a jump height.
The entry checks are my own guards against typos and mixed-up units: heights from 1 to 150 cm, flight times from 0.05 to 1 s, and body mass from 20 to 300 kg. They are not published limits.
Everything is calculated in your browser, and the page remembers your entries on this device. Reset clears them.
Frequently Asked Questions
Sources & References
- Cross-validation of three jump power equations. Sayers SP, Harackiewicz DV, Harman EA, Frykman PN, Rosenstein MT. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise 31(4):572-577 (1999)
- Normative-referenced percentile values for physical fitness among Canadians. Hoffmann MD, Colley RC, Doyon CY, Wong SL, Tomkinson GR, Lang JJ. Health Reports (Statistics Canada, catalogue no. 82-003-X), Table 4 (2019)
- Analysis of standing vertical jumps using a force platform. Linthorne NP. American Journal of Physics 69(11):1198-1204 (2001)
- Validity and reliability of "My Jump app" to assess vertical jump performance: a meta-analytic review. Gençoğlu C, Ulupınar S, Özbay S, Turan M, Savaş BÇ, Asan S, İnce İ. Scientific Reports 13:20137 (2023)
- Relationship between countermovement jump performance and multijoint isometric and dynamic tests of strength. Nuzzo JL, McBride JM, Cormie P, McCaulley GO. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research 22(3):699-707 (2008)
- Strong correlation of maximal squat strength with sprint performance and vertical jump height in elite soccer players. Wisløff U, Castagna C, Helgerud J, Jones R, Hoff J. British Journal of Sports Medicine 38(3):285-288 (2004)
- The reliability of vertical jump tests between the Vertec and My Jump phone application. Yingling VR, et al.. PeerJ 6:e4669 (2018)
- Countermovement Jump Analysis Using Different Portable Devices: Implications for Field Testing. Rago V, Brito J, Figueiredo P, Carvalho T, Fernandes T, Fonseca P, Rebelo A. Sports 6:91 (2018)
- A new peak-power estimation equations in 12 to 14 years-old soccer players. Gülü M, Akalan C. Medicine 100:e27383 (2021)
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Disclaimer: This calculator is for informational and personal journaling purposes only. It logs measurements and compares them to published reference values. It is not health, medical, or nutrition advice.