Calculate how many steps per day to hit an annual step goal
Do you have a goal of hitting a certain number of steps per year? Calculate steps, miles, and hours per day, week, and month to hit an annual step goal.
In January 2023 I set out to reach 5,000,000 steps in a year. I had to take 13,699 steps per day to reach that goal — or so I thought. The truth was more complex, but you can read my story of hitting 5 million steps another day.
If you're interested in hitting an annualized step goal, you can use the calculator below to figure out how many steps you'll need to take every day, every week, and every month of the year (assuming it's not a leap year).
Once you calculate your steps, use the Google spreadsheet below to keep track. ⤵
Annual Step Goal Calculator
Track your daily steps
Now that you've run the numbers you need to hit to reach your goal, take the next, natural step: Track how many steps you've taken with this 🧮 Google spreadsheet ↗. Open the link, assuming you're logged into your own Google account, click "File → Make a copy." Then click to copy your calculated data from the step calculator and follow the instructions on the sheet.
Once you've got your own Step Spreadsheet, you can enter your daily steps and track your running step total. The spreadsheet will also tell you how many steps remain until you hit your annual goal. Finally, it will also calculate the daily steps (pace) you need to achieve your goal.
Looking for tips and strategies to get more steps in your day? Learn from the collective wisdom of walkers:
Justin
Why add more movement to your day?
What's the backstory on this calculator? How does adding a target daily step goal impact your life? "Your mileage will vary," but I found having an annual goal — one that required daily effort to achieve — had all kinds of positive benefits to my life, from improved heart rate to even learning I could run (having given up on it for 20 years!).
Read my nearly two-year journey to achieve 5 million steps over a one-year period:
Justin
New to BirthdayShoes?
BirthdayShoes was founded in 2009 and was the original site for the "barefoot shoes" enthusiasts. BirthdayShoes is fundamentally about getting stronger and healthier from the ground up — literally through helping your feet move more naturally. This can mean going barefoot or just using "less shoe." Or it could mean simply learning to walk with less impact.
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