Ferritin Level Calculator

Ferritin's optimal range is different for women and men. Enter your result and sex to see whether it's low, optimal, or high — computed instantly in your browser, nothing sent anywhere.

Ferritin reference ranges are sex-adjusted. Below 12 ng/mL means iron stores are exhausted in anyone. Optimal is roughly 30–150 ng/mL for women and 30–300 ng/mL for men. A result of 22 ng/mL can sit inside a lab's printed "normal" range for a woman and still be a real, fixable, low-normal finding.

NICE-based, sex-adjusted thresholds ng/mL Medically reviewed
Sex * required — ferritin thresholds differ by sex
Select a sex to enable the calculator — a sex-adjusted result can't be shown without it.
Select your sex, then enter your ferritin result. Everything is computed locally in your browser — no data leaves this page.

Why sex changes the ferritin target

The calculation is a single number — but what counts as optimal, and what counts as an overload warning, differs by sex.

Deficiency thresholdSame for everyone
Below 12 ng/mL means iron stores are exhausted (NICE), and 12–29.9 ng/mL is a low result — both apply the same way regardless of sex.
Upper thresholdSex-adjusted
Women's optimal range tops out at 150 ng/mL, with 150.1–300 ng/mL flagged and above 300 ng/mL critical. Men's optimal range extends to 300 ng/mL, with 300.1–500 ng/mL flagged and above 500 ng/mL critical — reflecting that men typically carry higher iron stores without menstrual iron loss.

What your result means

These are NICE-based thresholds. A value inside your lab's own printed reference range can still fall in a flagged band here — that gap is the entire reason a sex-adjusted second read is useful.

CategoryWomen (ng/mL)Men (ng/mL)
Critical (deficient)Below 12Below 12
Low12–29.912–29.9
Optimal30–15030–300
High150.1–300300.1–500
Critical (high)Above 300Above 500
"In range" doesn't mean optimal
Lab reference ranges are built wide, to catch disease rather than to flag suboptimal. Ferritin of 22 ng/mL is a common example: it often prints with no flag at all in a woman, yet by this guideline it's a low-normal result worth acting on, not a false alarm.

Frequently asked questions

What is a good ferritin level for females?
An optimal ferritin for women is roughly 30–150 ng/mL. Below 30 ng/mL is a low result even though many labs print a reference range starting well below that; under 12 ng/mL indicates iron stores are exhausted (NICE's depleted-stores threshold). Above 150 ng/mL is worth a closer look, and above 300 ng/mL is a level that warrants medical evaluation for overload or inflammation.
How do you fix your ferritin level?
For low ferritin, the usual approach is oral iron repletion (such as ferrous bisglycinate, 25–50 mg elemental iron daily, taken on an empty stomach or with vitamin C, at least two hours away from calcium, tea, and coffee) for 3–6 months, since ferritin stores take that long to rebuild fully — retest around 3 months. For high ferritin, treatment targets the underlying cause (iron overload, inflammation, or liver stress) rather than the ferritin number directly, and needs a doctor's evaluation.
What level of ferritin is worrisome?
Below 12 ng/mL is worrisome in anyone — it means iron stores are exhausted per NICE guidance. On the high end, thresholds differ by sex: above 300 ng/mL in women or above 500 ng/mL in men is a critical range that warrants evaluation for iron overload, inflammation, or liver disease, rather than being dismissed as a lab quirk.

References & Guidelines

Note: This calculator is for informational purposes and does not replace medical advice. Ferritin can also rise as an acute-phase reactant during inflammation or infection, independent of iron status — interpret a high result together with your clinician and other iron-panel values.

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Low Ferritin GuideSymptoms, causes, and the full iron repletion protocol for confirmed deficiency. Low Ferritin + High CholesterolWhen both markers flag together, a single root cause often explains both. High TSH + Low FerritinThe thyroid-iron connection, and which to treat first. Vitamin D Level CheckerThe other common deficiency that hides inside a normal-looking lab range.