When do you stop growing?

The short answer

Most girls reach their adult height around 14 or 15, and most boys around 16 or 17, sometimes a little later. But age is only a rough guide. What matters is when your puberty started: growth ends a few years after it begins, whether that was at 9 or at 14.

How growing works, from childhood to the finish

Through childhood most kids grow about 5 to 7 cm (2 to 2½ inches) a year, steady and unremarkable. Puberty changes that. Early on comes the growth spurt, a year or two when height climbs faster than at any time since babyhood. Then growth slows, and finally the growth plates near the ends of the long bones close. After that, bones can’t get longer, so height stays where it is.

The sex hormones that rise in puberty also, in time, close the growth plates. That is why an early start usually means an early finish, and a late start a late one.

Girls and boys, on average

Puberty start is the usual range; the other rows are averages, and healthy teens can be a year or two either side of them.

Girls usually start with breast development, and the growth spurt comes early in puberty. First periods tend to arrive a couple of years after breasts start to develop, once the fastest growth is past. After the first period most girls grow about 5 to 7 cm (2 to 3 inches) more, mostly within the next year or two.

Boys start puberty later, and their fastest growth comes later in puberty too. The voice usually starts to deepen just after that peak. Those extra years of childhood growth, plus a faster spurt, are most of the reason adult men are about 13 cm taller than women on average. It is the same 13 cm the mid-parental height formula uses.

Signs that growth is ending

• Height barely changes over six months or more, measured the same way at the same time of day.
• Several years have passed since puberty started.
• For girls, two years or more since the first period.
• For boys, an adult voice and regular shaving.

None of these is proof on its own. Only an X-ray of the hand or wrist (a bone age test) shows directly whether the growth plates are still open. Doctors order one when growth seems unusual, not as a routine check.

Late bloomers

Some teens start puberty later than their friends and are shorter for a while. Often this runs in the family, and a parent was a late bloomer too. These teens usually keep growing after their friends have stopped, and many catch up. Being the shortest in class at 13 says little about adult height on its own.

How to measure so the numbers mean something

• Measure at the same time of day. You are slightly taller in the morning, by about a centimetre and sometimes more, because the discs in your spine compress during the day.
• Stand against a wall without shoes, heels together, looking straight ahead, and mark the top of the head with a flat object.
• Measure regularly and look at the trend over months. A single week can be off by a few millimetres either way.

TallPlan asks for one measurement a week and shows the trend on a growth chart, so a slowdown is visible early.

When to see a doctor

Any time something about growth or puberty worries you, ask a doctor. They can measure properly and plot it on a growth chart. Some common reasons to ask:

• Signs of puberty before age 8, or none by 13 in girls or 14 in boys.
• Growth stops or slows a lot before puberty is well under way.
• A child keeps dropping across percentile lines on a growth chart.
• Worry about height is affecting mood, eating or sleep.

Sources

1. NHS 111 Wales. Puberty.
2. Nemours KidsHealth. Normal growth for 6- to 12-year-olds.
3. Granados A, Gebremariam A, Lee JM. Relationship between timing of peak height velocity and pubertal staging in boys and girls. Journal of Clinical Research in Pediatric Endocrinology, 2015.
4. Gaete X, et al. Post-menarcheal growth patterns in a contemporary cohort of Latino girls. Hormone Research in Paediatrics, 2025.
5. American Academy of Pediatrics, HealthyChildren.org. Physical development in boys: what to expect.
6. American Academy of Pediatrics, HealthyChildren.org. Delayed puberty in girls: information for parents.
7. American Academy of Pediatrics, HealthyChildren.org. Delayed puberty in boys: information for parents.
8. CDC. Growth charts.

Written by the TallPlan team. Last checked October 9, 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.