Creatinine Levels: Normal Range by Age, Sex and Lab (Chart + Checker)

By Dr. Muhammad Awais Rabbani, MBBS · Updated 24 October 2026 · Editorial policy

A normal blood creatinine level for adults is about 0.7–1.3 mg/dL (62–115 µmol/L) in men and 0.5–0.95 mg/dL (44–84 µmol/L) in women, but the reference interval printed on your own lab report is the one that applies (MedlinePlus).

What is a normal creatinine level?

On a blood test, a normal adult creatinine level sits between about 0.5 and 1.35 mg/dL depending on sex and laboratory, and men run higher than women because they carry more muscle mass (Table A). Creatinine is a waste product of working muscle, and healthy kidneys filter creatinine out of the blood at a steady rate.

Table A: adult serum creatinine reference intervals

Source	Adult men	Adult women
MedlinePlus 003475	0.7–1.3 mg/dL (62–115 µmol/L)	0.5–0.95 mg/dL (44–84 µmol/L)
MedlinePlus CMP	0.6–1.3 mg/dL (53–115 µmol/L)	0.6–1.3 mg/dL, not split by sex
Labcorp	0.76–1.27 mg/dL	0.57–1.00 mg/dL
Mayo Clinic Laboratories	0.74–1.35 mg/dL (15+)	0.59–1.04 mg/dL (16+)

Each lab sets its interval from its own assay method and reference population. A woman’s 0.98 mg/dL sits above the MedlinePlus interval for women and inside the CMP, Labcorp and Mayo Clinic Laboratories intervals.

The interval on your own report is the one that applies.

Normal creatinine levels by age (chart)

Creatinine climbs through childhood, then shifts only modestly in adults. In the US NHANES III survey of 18,723 people aged 12 and over, examined 1988–1994, mean serum creatinine levels rose with age in both sexes, with age-group means of 0.88–1.10 mg/dL in women and 1.00–1.29 mg/dL in men (Jones et al., 1998).

Table B: creatinine by age group

Age group	Male (mg/dL)	Female (mg/dL)
0–11 months	0.17–0.42	0.17–0.42
1–5 years	0.19–0.49	0.19–0.49
6–10 years	0.26–0.61	0.26–0.61
11–14 (boys), 11–15 (girls)	0.35–0.86	0.35–0.86
15+ (men), 16+ (women)	0.74–1.35	0.59–1.04
12 and over, NHANES III means	1.00–1.29 (88–114 µmol/L)	0.88–1.10 (78–97 µmol/L)

Rows 1–5 are Mayo Clinic Laboratories reference intervals; the last row is a range of 1988–94 means.

NHANES III used an assay that was not IDMS-standardized (isotope dilution mass spectrometry). On the same samples, its readings ran 0.23 mg/dL higher than the MDRD study’s assay (Coresh et al., 2002), so modern labs report lower figures than that row. Use it to see the trend with age; cut-offs come from the reference intervals above it.

At 70, a normal creatinine does not guarantee normal filtration; Mayo Clinic Laboratories notes muscular young men can run far higher than older women with similar filtration. Hence which creatinine numbers need urgent attention depends on more than one value.

Creatinine levels in urine: normal range

Urine creatinine has no single normal range, because the result depends on which urine test was ordered. A 24-hour collection measures the total amounts of creatinine you excrete in a day, usually 500 to 2,000 mg, while a random urine sample reports a concentration in mg/dL (MedlinePlus).

Table C: urine creatinine tests

Test	What it reports	Normal range
24-hour urine	Creatinine excreted over 24 hours	500–2,000 mg/day (MedlinePlus)
Random (spot) urine	mg/dL; denominator in the albumin creatinine ratio	None published (Mayo Clinic Laboratories)
Drug-test validity	Dilute at ≥2 and <20 mg/dL with low specific gravity	A cut-off (49 CFR §40.93)

A 24-hour creatinine urine test also feeds creatinine clearance, comparing blood creatinine levels with urine output (Labcorp 003004).

Converting creatinine from mg/dL to µmol/L

To convert creatinine from mg/dL to µmol/L, multiply by 88.4; divide by 88.4 to convert back (PMC2664624). For mmol/L, divide the µmol/L figure by 1,000, so 88 µmol/L is 0.088 mmol/L. US labs usually report mg/dL, while labs using SI units report µmol/L, which is why the checker above accepts both units and shows each one.

mg/dL	µmol/L
0.6	53
0.8	71
1.0	88
1.2	106
1.5	133

How to read creatinine on your lab report

On a US lab report, creatinine is usually one line inside a basic metabolic panel (BMP) or a comprehensive metabolic panel (CMP), showing your value, the units, the lab’s reference interval and a flag column beside it (MedlinePlus BMP, CMP). An H/L flag means only that the value sits outside that lab’s interval for that sample.

1. Find the line, usually beside BUN and eGFR.
2. Compare your test results with that lab’s interval column.
3. Read the flag: H is above the interval, L is below, and neither names a cause.
4. Check the bill. Ordered alone, creatinine testing is billed as CPT 82565 (blood) or CPT 82570 (urine) on the CMS Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule. Inside a BMP (80048) or CMP (80053) the panel code covers it (AMA CPT), so an EOB listing 80053 plus 82565 for one draw is worth questioning.

What changes your creatinine besides your kidneys

Your creatinine reflects how much your muscles produce as well as how well your kidneys clear it. Anything that changes production or measurement can move the number without kidney damage: your build, a cooked-meat meal, hard exercise, fluids, some medicines and the lab’s assay method.

• Body: more muscle mass means a higher baseline, so men and people building muscle mass run higher (MedlinePlus).
• Meals: cooking turns the creatine in meat into creatinine; after a cooked-meat meal, median creatinine rose from 80.5 to 101 µmol/L within 1–2 hours (Preiss et al., 2007).
• Exercise: a 2025 meta-analysis found exercise raised serum creatinine in healthy people (Liu et al., 2025).
• Fluids: dehydration is a listed cause of a high result (MedlinePlus).
• Medicines: cimetidine, famotidine, trimethoprim and cefoxitin can affect it (MedlinePlus); cephalosporins within four hours of the draw can read falsely high (Labcorp).
• Method: the older Jaffe method reacts with some non-creatinine substances; an enzymatic assay is more specific (Bargnoux et al., 2018).

When muscle mass makes creatinine misleading, doctors can order cystatin C, a filtration marker largely independent of muscle mass (KDIGO 2024).

What creatinine says about kidney function

Serum creatinine is the raw measurement. The estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) is the kidney function estimate a lab calculates from that value plus your age and sex and prints alongside it, and labs such as Mayo Clinic Laboratories now use the race-free CKD-EPI 2021 equation to calculate that estimate for you (Inker et al., 2021).

One value is a snapshot. Creatinine often turns abnormal only after about half the nephrons stop working (Labcorp), so doctors also compare earlier creatinine results, eGFR and a urine albumin test. Chronic kidney disease needs findings lasting over three months (KDIGO 2024), and repeat tests track treatment.

A normal creatinine does not always mean normal kidney function, and a high one does not always mean kidney disease. eGFR, the trend over time and a urine test complete the picture.

Do you need to fast for a creatinine test?

Fasting is not routinely required for kidney function tests (Nair et al., 2014). The same draw is often a BMP or CMP, though, and MedlinePlus advises 8 hours without food or drink before a CMP (003468), so follow your order.

• Check whether the order says “fasting”.
• Skip cooked meat on the day of the draw; its effect was gone after a 12-hour fast (Nair et al., 2014).
• Tell the healthcare professional drawing blood about creatine supplements and every medicine you take (MedlinePlus).

Above or below your range: what it means

Your result here answers one question: does it sit inside, above or below the interval on your report? What it means for you depends on your symptoms, your eGFR, earlier results and your history, which is your doctor’s call to make. If you have symptoms, or your doctor flagged the result as urgent, contact them today.

Creatinine levels FAQ

Can creatinine levels fluctuate?

Yes. Meals, fluids, exercise and lab method move it. In NHANES III, repeat tests about 17 days apart put 90% of eGFR estimates within 21% of each other (Coresh et al., 2002).

How quickly can creatinine change?

Within hours. After a cooked-meat meal, median creatinine rose about 25% within 1–2 hours (Preiss et al., 2007).

Is 0.7 creatinine normal?

For women, 0.7 mg/dL (62 µmol/L) is inside every Table A interval. For men it meets the MedlinePlus lower limit but sits below Labcorp’s and Mayo’s.

Is a creatinine of 1.4 normal?

At 1.4 mg/dL (124 µmol/L) it is above every adult upper limit in Table A. Read it against your lab’s interval and eGFR, because high creatinine levels have several causes.

Method and sources

Reference intervals come from MedlinePlus, Labcorp and Mayo Clinic Laboratories as published on 4 October 2026, the date every source below was accessed. The checker uses the same intervals as Tables A and B. This page is educational information, not a diagnosis; your lab’s reference interval and your doctor’s reading take precedence.

1. MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia. Creatinine blood test. https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/003475.htm (reviewed 13 July 2025)
2. MedlinePlus. Comprehensive metabolic panel. https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/003468.htm
3. MedlinePlus. Basic metabolic panel. https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/003462.htm
4. MedlinePlus. Creatinine urine test. https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/003610.htm
5. Labcorp. Test 001370, Creatinine. https://www.labcorp.com/tests/001370/creatinine
6. Labcorp. Test 003004, Creatinine Clearance. https://www.labcorp.com/tests/003004/creatinine-clearance
7. Mayo Clinic Laboratories. CRTS1, Creatinine with eGFR, Serum. https://www.mayocliniclabs.com/test-catalog/overview/48216
8. Mayo Clinic Laboratories. CRCL, Creatinine Clearance, Serum and 24-Hour Urine. https://www.mayocliniclabs.com/test-catalog/overview/615813
9. Jones CA et al. Serum creatinine levels in the US population: NHANES III. Am J Kidney Dis 1998;32(6):992–999. PMID 9856515
10. Coresh J et al. Calibration and random variation of the serum creatinine assay as critical elements of using equations to estimate glomerular filtration rate. Am J Kidney Dis 2002;39(5):920–929. PMID 11979335
11. Inker LA et al. New creatinine- and cystatin C–based equations to estimate GFR without race. N Engl J Med 2021;385(19):1737–1749. doi:10.1056/NEJMoa2102953
12. KDIGO CKD Work Group. KDIGO 2024 Clinical Practice Guideline for the Evaluation and Management of Chronic Kidney Disease. Kidney Int 2024;105(4S):S117–S314. PMID 38490803
13. Preiss DJ et al. The influence of a cooked-meat meal on estimated glomerular filtration rate. Ann Clin Biochem 2007. https://eprints.gla.ac.uk/69057
14. Nair S et al. Effect of a cooked meat meal on serum creatinine and estimated glomerular filtration rate in diabetes-related kidney disease. Diabetes Care 2014;37(2):483–487. PMID 24062331
15. Liu Q et al. Effect of exercise on kidney-relevant biomarkers in the general population: a systematic review and meta-analysis. BMJ Open 2025;15:e093017. doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2024-093017
16. Bargnoux AS et al. Serum creatinine: advantages and pitfalls. J Lab Precis Med 2018. https://jlpm.amegroups.org/article/view/4469/html
17. PMC2664624 (88.4 conversion factor). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2664624/
18. 49 CFR §40.93, Procedures for Transportation Workplace Drug and Alcohol Testing Programs (dilute specimen criteria, aligned with the HHS Mandatory Guidelines)
19. CMS Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule files. https://www.cms.gov/medicare/payment/fee-schedules/clinical-laboratory-fee-schedule-clfs/files
20. American Medical Association. CPT codes 80048, 80053, 82565, 82570 (descriptors and panel definitions)