Notes On Being Tall

The average height of an American male is just over 5 foot 9 inches. For a woman it is just under 5 foot 4 inches. The chart of height distribution in the United States (based on the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey from 2007 to 2008) stops two inches before it even gets to me. A height of 6 foot 6 inches is a rounding error, less than a tenth of one percent in most age ranges.

On the whole, being taller than average is perceived as impressive and imposing. There are studies that report that height can raise your earning potential and even increase your longevity. I walk the streets at night in strange cities with impunity and am rarely harassed about anything other than my size.

But for men, many of those same studies explain that the benefits taper off in the upper reaches of height: longevity gains reverse themselves starting at 6 foot 2 inches, earnings stop increasing at 6 foot 6 inches. I have been every height and can say with some confidence that 6 foot 3 inches is the best height for a man. From there, every inch takes you further from attractive and deeper into a realm of the freakish, toward human spectacle.

From “Notes on Being Very Tall” by Nicholas Kulish for Topic 

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