# Men getting taller after age 18-19. How common is this? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 28, 2013, 8:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-getting-taller-after-age-18-19-how-common-is-this/677346 "2013-12-28T08:40:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2013, 8:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-getting-taller-after-age-18-19-how-common-is-this/677346/1 "2013-12-28T08:40:03Z")
I was always a big, tall kid and really did not have (so far as I can recall) a big “growth spurt” in my mid teen years. It was more just a linear increase in height over time with my height topping out at just under 6’3" at age 18-19ish. In some stories I see descriptions of people gaining 2-3 inches in height after age 18. Does this happen often? I kind of got the impression from my own experience that if you were a man you were about as tall as you were going to be by age 18-19. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Mouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mighty_mouse/32/7776_2.png) [@Mighty\_Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Mouse)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2013, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-getting-taller-after-age-18-19-how-common-is-this/677346/2 "2013-12-28T15:45:44Z")
I was measured very carefully at age 19.5 for an immigration physical. It came out 5 ft 9 in exactly (the recorded precision was 1/4 of an inch). My younger brother, aged 18.0 was measured at one quarter inch less. Each of us had assumed that we were still at those heights for the last 25 years. Recently I was measured for a life insurance physical. I came in at just over 5’10". At my next annual physical I asked them to verify my self-reported height. It came in at just over 5’10" as well. I called my brother and he got himself measured at the doctors’ as well. He’s 5’11" now. My doctor told me you grow appreciably after 18, until 21 and then a tiny bit for a few years after that as well. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2013, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-getting-taller-after-age-18-19-how-common-is-this/677346/3 "2013-12-28T16:00:58Z")
My son has a constitutional growth delay, in which a few months of very slow growth as a newborn resulted in him being 3 years behind the average height for kids at each age (ie, at age 10 he was the height of an average 7 year old). He is almost 19 now, and is still growing, since he has those 3 years of lag to catch up with. His bone age was always three years behind, showing he still had all that growth potential. He picked up 2 inches in height his first semester in college, this year. ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2013, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-getting-taller-after-age-18-19-how-common-is-this/677346/4 "2013-12-28T16:05:53Z")
All the boys in the family of my brothers wife have dramatic growth after high school, until about age 25. Most of them will go from about 5’9" to well over 6 ft. Must not be too unusual. The boys in my family are done about 16 years old. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2013, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-getting-taller-after-age-18-19-how-common-is-this/677346/5 "2013-12-28T16:13:10Z")
According to [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puberty#Conclusion), men reach their maximum height at the _average_ age of 18, so if that’s correct (it’s not cited) then there must be a fair number of men who continued growing for a few years past that age. Anecdotally I have heard of some guys getting noticeably taller during college. On TV, _Glee_ star Chris Colfer (Kurt) shot up by what must have been several inches after the first season of the show, and while the character was only about 16 the actor was 19 or 20 at the time. ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2013, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-getting-taller-after-age-18-19-how-common-is-this/677346/6 "2013-12-28T20:12:36Z")
My grandmother was two inches shorter than my grandfather when they married. She was eighteen. Four years later, she was two inches taller than he was. ---
**Author:** ![SandyHook](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dec6dc/32.png) [@SandyHook](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SandyHook)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2013, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-getting-taller-after-age-18-19-how-common-is-this/677346/7 "2013-12-28T22:47:18Z")
Dennis Rodman was only 5’8 when he graduated from high school. He had a growth spurt and went to 6’8 in a year or so after leaving high school. He never played much high school basketball but decided to give it a try when he was taller and it worked out pretty well for him. ---
**Author:** ![actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e79b87/32.png) [@actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/actualliberalnotoneofthose)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2013, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-getting-taller-after-age-18-19-how-common-is-this/677346/8 "2013-12-28T22:49:27Z")
I was 5’9.5 barefoot when I graduated high school, 2 months after my 18th birthday. I topped out at 6’ exactly. If I played in the NBA, I would be listed at 6’1. Other things grew, too. I always heard Dennis Rodman was around 5’9 in high school and ended up at 6’8. I think David Robinson was “only” 6’8 (or 6’4-6’7 depending on source) when he entered the Naval Academy. He was listed at 6’11 a year later and played in the NBA at 7’1. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2013, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-getting-taller-after-age-18-19-how-common-is-this/677346/9 "2013-12-28T22:50:37Z")
> [@Lamia](#): > > According to [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puberty#Conclusion), men reach their maximum height at the _average_ age of 18, so if that’s correct (it’s not cited) then there must be a fair number of men who continued growing for a few years past that age. > > Anecdotally I have heard of some guys getting noticeably taller during college. On TV, _Glee_ star Chris Colfer (Kurt) shot up by what must have been several inches after the first season of the show, and while the character was only about 16 the actor was 19 or 20 at the time. My nephew, age 20, has gained a couple of inches over the past two years. Sporting a scruffy black beard during Christmas, along with the muscles from his workout regimen, he actually scared me (6’, 180) a little…:eek: ---
**Author:** ![jabiru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbce88/32.png) [@jabiru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jabiru)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2013, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-getting-taller-after-age-18-19-how-common-is-this/677346/10 "2013-12-28T22:55:30Z")
My son was a late starter in the height department. All his friends did the growth spurt thing early in their teens and we ended up taking him to an endocrinologist just to make sure everything was OK. He didn’t have an obvious growth spurt as such but he did continue to get taller well into his 20s and is now taller than most of the boys who towered over him at age 14. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2013, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-getting-taller-after-age-18-19-how-common-is-this/677346/11 "2013-12-29T00:05:53Z")
It’s more like that men will still be growing from 18 into the early 20’s than women, but it does happen. It probably happened more often in the past when people started puberty later and finished it later. ---
**Author:** ![Raygun99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Raygun99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raygun99)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2013, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-getting-taller-after-age-18-19-how-common-is-this/677346/12 "2013-12-29T00:39:45Z")
I was 6’4" when I graduated from high school and assumed that was as tall as I was getting. I had a mild surprise when I was measured for a physical at 22 that I was now 6’6". ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Goob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c77e96/32.png) [@Mr.Goob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Goob)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2013, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-getting-taller-after-age-18-19-how-common-is-this/677346/13 "2013-12-29T01:05:07Z")
I was 18 and 6 months old when I went to boot camp for the Navy and all my dress uniforms were fitted to me. Within 2 years all the pants were shorter, but passable. Most notably was the cuffs on my shirts were way too short. My peacoat was too tight across the shoulders, and the cuffs were so far off to even consider wearing. ---
**Author:** ![epbrown01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ba0ec/32.png) [@epbrown01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epbrown01)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2013, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-getting-taller-after-age-18-19-how-common-is-this/677346/14 "2013-12-29T01:07:32Z")
As stated, it’s actually fairly typical. I’m curious if anyone notices signs before the spurt. I was 5’7" at 18 and figured that was it - (men in the family were 5’8-5’10") - but I had big feet and somewhat long arms and my grandmother was certain I’d keep growing. I’d added almost 6" by the end of college. ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2013, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-getting-taller-after-age-18-19-how-common-is-this/677346/15 "2013-12-29T01:10:44Z")
I teach high school, and when the boys come back to visit after a few years, they are often taller-- enough so that I notice. ---
**Author:** ![SecretaryofEvil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@SecretaryofEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SecretaryofEvil)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2013, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-getting-taller-after-age-18-19-how-common-is-this/677346/16 "2013-12-29T06:38:36Z")
On the opposite end of the spectrum, I stopped growing taller when I was 14. My shoulders did grow much broader when I was about 16-17. And to this day I still seem to wake up each morning a bit hairier than the last. Truthfully, it’s becoming a bit worrisome. ---
**Author:** ![appleciders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@appleciders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/appleciders)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2013, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-getting-taller-after-age-18-19-how-common-is-this/677346/17 "2013-12-29T07:31:00Z")
It’s not usual, but it certainly does happen. ---
**Author:** ![JerrySTL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e274bd/32.png) [@JerrySTL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JerrySTL)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2013, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-getting-taller-after-age-18-19-how-common-is-this/677346/18 "2013-12-29T14:29:38Z")
I had a high school buddy who was about 6’ tall which was about my height. At our 10 year HS reunion he was much taller - 6’4". He had a growth spurt when he turned 20. The worst part was he was in submarine duty in the US Navy. Imagine walking around in a sub that tall. I think he was over the height limit as when his enlistment was over, he was given the choice of just getting out or transfer to non-submarine duty. ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2013, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-getting-taller-after-age-18-19-how-common-is-this/677346/19 "2013-12-29T14:46:23Z")
I’m sure that the bones can continue to develop past age 18. Several times I met a guy in the last year or two of college who I hadn’t seen since our high school graduation, and barely recognized him because his face had changed so much. ---
**Author:** ![tallcoldone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9a140/32.png) [@tallcoldone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tallcoldone)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2013, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-getting-taller-after-age-18-19-how-common-is-this/677346/20 "2013-12-30T14:59:26Z")
I had a growth spurt at 14 - went from 5’10" to 6’4"in six months (but barely gained a pound). My oldest brother had his at 18, from 5’6" to 6’ in six months also. My 2 other brothers are about the same height, but did not have growth spurts like that. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-getting-taller-after-age-18-19-how-common-is-this/677346.md?page=2)