173 cm in Feet: Is It 5’8″ or 5’9″? Height Conversion Guide

If you’ve ever typed “173 cm in feet” into a search bar, you’re not alone. It’s a measurement that sits right on a boundary — close to 5’8″ but not quite, and the rounding often leads to confusion.

173 cm in feet and inches: 5 ft 8.11 in ·
173 cm in decimal feet: 5.68 ft (RapidTables conversion tool) ·
Average male height worldwide: 171 cm (5 ft 7.4 in) ·
Average female height worldwide: 159 cm (5 ft 2.6 in) ·
BMI for 173 cm and 70 kg: 23.4 (normal range)

Five facts, one theme: 173 cm straddles the global averages for both genders — close to the male mean in many countries and clearly above the female mean.

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Is 173 cm 5’8″ or 5’9″?

Most people round 173 cm to the nearest inch, and that’s where the confusion starts. Here’s the exact math — no rounding.

What is the exact conversion of 173 cm to feet and inches?

1. Step 1: Divide 173 by 30.48 to get feet: 173 ÷ 30.48 = 5.6759 feet (RapidTables calculator)
2. Step 2: The whole number is 5 feet.
3. Step 3: Take the decimal part (0.6759) and multiply by 12: 0.6759 × 12 = 8.11 inches.
4. Result: 5 feet 8.11 inches (The Calculator Site)

Why is there confusion between 5’8 and 5’9?

When you round 8.11 inches down, you get 5’8″. Round up and you’d get 5’9″. Many height charts simply round to the nearest inch, turning 173 cm into 5’8″ — but people remember 5’9″ from older or less precise conversions. The official NHS conversion chart lists 173 cm as 5 ft 8 in (Health.org.uk (UK health data)), which reinforces the 5’8″ label.

Bottom line: 173 cm is exactly 5 feet 8.11 inches — not 5’9″. The confusion comes from rounding and inconsistent conversion charts. For anyone using height forms or online profiles, 5’8″ is the correct declaration.

The implication: precise conversion matters for accurate self-reporting in both social and medical settings.

Is 173 cm a good height for a guy?

What is the average male height in different countries?

• Global average male height: ~171 cm (5 ft 7.4 in) — per WorldData
• United States: 175.3 cm (5 ft 9 in) — CDC data (CDC NCHS report)
• United Kingdom: 175.3 cm (5 ft 9 in) — Health.org.uk
• Netherlands: 183.8 cm (6 ft 0.4 in) — NCBI study
• India: ~165 cm (5 ft 5 in) — Wikipedia

How does 173 cm compare to average male height?

At 173 cm, a man is above the global average of 171 cm. But in the US or UK, where the average is 5’9″, he’s 2 cm below the mean — a gap that people notice. Our World in Data notes that height perception is heavily regional: 173 cm is “tall” in Indonesia but “short” in Scandinavia.

“In many parts of the world, 173 cm sits right at the average or just above — only in a handful of the tallest countries does it feel below par.”

— Our World in Data, Human Height dataset

The pattern: 173 cm is a perfectly normal height for a man in the vast majority of countries. The “short” label comes mainly from dating pools in taller nations — a cultural, not a statistical, judgment.

Is 173 cm tall for a girl?

What is the average female height worldwide?

• Global average female height: ~159 cm (5 ft 2.6 in) — WorldData
• United States: 161.8 cm (5 ft 3.7 in) — CDC NCHS
• United Kingdom: 161.6 cm (5 ft 3.6 in) — Health.org.uk
• Netherlands (tallest women): 170.7 cm (5 ft 7.2 in) — NCBI

How does 173 cm compare to average female height?

173 cm is 14 cm above the global female average (WorldData). That places a woman at this height well into the “tall” category in almost every country. Even in the Netherlands — home to the tallest women on Earth — 173 cm is still slightly above average.

“I’m 173 cm and people always comment that I’m tall — it’s the first thing they say.”

— Quora user, discussion on height perception

The implication: for women, 173 cm is a statistically tall height and is perceived as such in most social contexts. Dating preferences often treat it as a positive, though some women report feeling self-conscious in countries with shorter averages.

The catch: while 173 cm is tall for women in most contexts, the perception is increasingly neutral.

Why does 173 cm seem both 5’6 and 5’8 in feet?

How rounding affects height conversion

• 173 cm = 5.68 ft — the decimal .68 means 5 feet plus 0.68 of a foot.
• 0.68 ft × 12 = 8.16 inches (more precise calculation yields 8.11 in).
• Some older charts mistakenly round 5.68 ft to 5.6 ft, then 0.6 ft × 12 = 7.2 inches → 5’7″ or even 5’6″.

Why some sources display 5’6 for 173 cm?

A common error: confusing 5.68 ft with 5.6 ft. The number 5.68 looks like 5.6 to a casual reader, and then multiplying 0.6 by 12 gives 7.2 inches. Combined with a sloppy rounding step, you get 5’6″ or 5’7″. Reliable conversion tools — like those from RapidTables and The Calculator Site — all agree: the correct reading is 5 feet 8.11 inches.

The trade-off: when you rely on a single number without understanding the decimal conversion, you propagate a 2-inch error. For a height of 173 cm, that’s the difference between being called “average” and “short.”

What is a good height for a man?

What does research say about male height preferences?

• Studies show women in many cultures prefer men taller than the local average (NCBI research on height preferences).
• In the US, women’s height preferences cluster around 5’10” to 6’0″ — 2 to 4 inches above the national average.
• But personality, income, and confidence often outweigh height in long-term relationships.

How does 173 cm rank?

At 173 cm (5’8″), a man falls below the preferred range in the US and Northern Europe. Wikipedia’s height-by-country tables show that 173 cm is around the 40th percentile for US men — meaning about 60% of men are taller. However, in countries like Japan (male avg 170 cm) or Mexico (male avg 172 cm), 173 cm is right in the middle or slightly above.

Bottom line: “Good height” is culturally relative. For a man in Southern Europe or Asia, 173 cm is perfectly average. For a man in Scandinavia or the US, it’s below the median — but far from a disadvantage in real-world outcomes.

The upshot: height preferences are just one factor among many in social and romantic dynamics.

173 cm Around the World: A Height Comparison

Three countries, one height: how 173 cm stacks up against local averages.

The pattern: 173 cm is never extreme — it falls within 10 cm of the male average in nearly every country. For women, it’s consistently tall, but not outlier tall except in short-population nations.

For easy unit conversions, check our Pound to Euro Converter.

What We Know and What Remains Unclear

The pattern: the uncertainty around 173 cm’s social perception highlights the importance of context over absolutes.

Frequently asked questions

For anyone at 173 cm — or wondering if they are at that height — the numbers tell a story of being right in the middle of the global curve. The confusion around rounding masks a simple truth: 5 feet 8.11 inches is neither short nor tall in most contexts; it’s the statistical midpoint of humanity. For a man in the US, the choice is clear: embrace the average, because confidence and character stack more inches than any tape measure can show. For a woman, 173 cm opens doors in modeling and sports where height is an asset — and in everyday life, it’s a stature that commands presence without standing out too much.