Deadlift standards for women

The median best-ever competition deadlift for women is 303 lb — among 90,335 female raw powerlifters aged 20–45, at all bodyweights. The 25th percentile is 259 lb and the 90th is 386 lb.

Percentile table

PercentileLift
5th204 lb (93 kg)
10th220 lb (100 kg)
25th259 lb (118 kg)
50th (median)303 lb (138 kg)
75th342 lb (155 kg)
90th386 lb (175 kg)
95th413 lb (188 kg)

Source: OpenPowerlifting database, build 2026-07-25-606a59af (public domain). Percentiles computed by Motus. Method.

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Who these numbers describe

Everyone in this table entered a judged powerlifting meet. They are not a sample of gym-goers and they are not a sample of the general population. People who compete in powerlifting have self-selected for being strong, have usually trained specifically for a one-rep max, and lift under competition commands — which is typically harder than the same lift performed in a gym.

If you have never competed, your comparison point is not the 50th percentile here. A more honest reading: this tells you what strong, specifically-trained women at your bodyweight actually do.

We publish no figure for the average woman in the general population, because no comparable dataset of measured one-rep maxes among non-competitors exists. Numbers of that kind circulating online generally come from user-submitted app data, from estimated rather than measured maxes, or from tables with no stated sample. Full method and limitations.

By bodyweight

Bodyweight is the single biggest driver of absolute strength, so the all-bodyweight table above is a blunt comparison. These are the same numbers computed within ±5 lb of each bodyweight:

110 lb120 lb130 lb140 lb150 lb160 lb

Training to move these numbers

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