10% - 22% for men and 20% - 32% for women is considered satisfactory for health. Minimal healthy body fat level is 3% for males and 10–13% for females. However there are no universally accepted norms for body body fat percentage. Researchers have yet to agree on an exact percentage body-fat value associated with optimal health risk.
GymGoal derives the norms from ACSM Guidelines for exercise testing and prescriptions, 8th edition, pg.71. The American College of Sports Medicine is the largest sports medicine and exercise science organization in the world. Body fat norms in the ACSM tables are specific for the gender and change with age.
Other sources have different fat percentage norms. For example:
American Council on Exercise (ACE)
| Description | Women | Men |
| Essential fat | 10–13% | 2–5% |
| Athletes | 14–20% | 6–13% |
| Fitness | 21–24% | 14–17% |
| Average (Acceptable) | 25–31% | 18–24% |
| Obese | 32%+ | 25%+ |
NAS, Institute of Medicine DRIs, 2002
| Description | Women | Men |
| Excellent | 20-24 | 10-15% |
| Good | 25-30 | 16-20 |
| Over Wt | 31-36 | 21-24 |
| Obese | 37-41 | 25-30 |
| Higher risk | 42% + | 31% + |
Body fat percentage for the athletic population (Sport Nutrition-2nd Edition, 2010)
| Sport | Male | Female |
| Baseball | 12-15% | 12-18% |
| Basketball | 6-12% | 20-27% |
| Body building | 5-8% | 10-15% |
| Cycling | 5-15% | 15-20% |
| Football (Backs) | 9-12% | No data |
| Football (Linemen) | 15-19% | No data |
| Gymnastics | 5-12% | 10-16% |
| High/long Jumpers | 7-12% | 10-18% |
| Ice/field Hockey | 8-15% | 12-18% |
| Marathon running | 5-11% | 10-15% |
| Racquetball | 8-13% | 15-22% |
| Rowing | 6-14% | 12-18% |
| Shot Putters | 16-20% | 20-28% |
| Skiing (X country) | 7-12% | 16-22% |
| Sprinters | 8-10% | 12-20% |
| Soccer | 10-18% | 13-18% |
| Swimming | 9-12% | 14-24% |
| Tennis | 12-16% | 16-24% |
| Triathlon | 5-12% | 10-15% |
| Volleyball | 11-14% | 16-25% |
| Weightlifters | 9-16% | No data |
| Wrestlers | 5-16% | No data |