Short answer: most laboratories report a normal adult male total testosterone range of roughly 300 to 1000 ng/dL, and the American Urological Association uses a total testosterone below 300 ng/dL as a reasonable cutoff in support of a diagnosis of low testosterone. Age shifts the average, but there is no separate official cutoff for a man in his 50s versus a man in his 30s.
That last part is the piece the age charts on the internet tend to bury, so it is worth being direct about it.
What the guideline actually says
The AUA guideline on testosterone deficiency, published in 2018 with its validity confirmed in 2024, makes three points that matter more than any chart:
- Below 300 ng/dL total testosterone is a reasonable cutoff in support of the diagnosis.
- The diagnosis should be made only after two total testosterone measurements taken on separate occasions, both early in the morning.
- The clinical diagnosis is made when low levels are combined with symptoms or signs. A number by itself does not establish it.
So a single afternoon result of 285 is not a diagnosis, and a single result of 340 does not rule anything out.
Why the reference range on your lab report may look different
Reference ranges are set by each laboratory against the population it tests and the assay it uses. Two labs can report the same sample with different ranges, and some report a lower bound closer to 250 and some closer to 350. This is normal and it is why the number is interpreted against the range printed on your own report, not against a range you read somewhere else.
What happens with age
Total testosterone declines gradually in most men from roughly the third or fourth decade onward. The commonly cited figure is about 1 percent per year, drawn from long-running observational studies. Averages by age band look something like this, and these are population averages rather than treatment thresholds:
| Age | Typical average total testosterone |
|---|---|
| 20s | Toward the upper half of the adult range |
| 30s to 40s | Gradual decline begins, still commonly mid-range |
| 50s | Averages drift lower, wide individual variation |
| 60 and above | Lower averages, with many men still well within range |
We have deliberately not printed precise per-decade numbers here. Published age-band tables disagree with each other, they vary by assay, and men use them to self-diagnose in both directions. The decline being expected does not make a low level with symptoms unimportant, and being 55 does not by itself explain a result.
Total testosterone, free testosterone and SHBG
Most of the testosterone circulating in your blood is bound to proteins, chiefly sex hormone binding globulin and albumin, and is not available to tissue. Free testosterone is the small unbound fraction. SHBG rises with age and with certain conditions and medications, which means a man can have a total testosterone inside the normal range and a low free testosterone. When the picture does not fit, those are the values worth looking at together rather than in isolation.
Why the morning draw keeps coming up
Testosterone follows a daily rhythm and is highest in the early morning, with the difference across a day large enough to move a result from one side of a cutoff to the other. That is the whole reason guidelines specify early morning testing. If you are getting tested, book the earliest appointment the draw site offers.
Getting tested in Oregon
At Pacific Coastal Men’s Clinic your first lab panel is $175 and each follow-up panel is $50, at Quest cash pricing, with no claim and no deductible. Monitoring for men on TRT runs every 3 months for the first 6 months, then every 6 months until levels are stable, then once a year.
Treatment is $99 a month for Core and $139 a month for Core Daily, medication and supplies included. See what TRT actually costs in Oregon, how testosterone is prescribed in Oregon, or full pricing. Care is telehealth statewide, including Bend, Medford, Portland and every Oregon city we serve. You can book a free consultation to talk it through.
This page is general information about laboratory testing and reference ranges. It is not medical advice, and no number on this page is a substitute for interpretation by your own provider.
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