Introduction
This cholesterol calculator turns your blood test numbers into a clear picture of your heart health. Type in your total cholesterol, HDL ("good") cholesterol, and triglycerides. The tool works out your LDL ("bad") cholesterol, non-HDL cholesterol, VLDL, and your key cholesterol ratios in seconds. You can use mg/dL or mmol/L.
Add your age, sex, blood pressure, and a few risk factors, and the calculator also gives your 10-year ASCVD risk. That is your chance of having a first heart attack or stroke in the next 10 years. It uses the ACC/AHA Pooled Cohort Equations, the same formula many doctors use — the same engine behind our dedicated ASCVD Risk Calculator.
Each result comes with a target range and a simple label, like "optimal" or "high," so you can see what needs work. You also get color bar charts, a step-by-step math breakdown, and a plain-language summary of what your numbers mean.
This tool is for learning, not for diagnosis. Talk to your doctor about your results and any treatment choices.
How to use our Cholesterol Calculator
Enter your lipid panel numbers and a few health details, and the cholesterol calculator will show your LDL, non-HDL, VLDL, cholesterol ratios, and your 10-year heart attack and stroke risk with clear targets and charts.
Measurement Units: Pick mg/dL if your lab report is from the US, or mmol/L if it uses SI units. Any numbers you already typed are converted for you.
Total Cholesterol: Type the total cholesterol number from your blood test. If you only have the individual fractions, the Total Cholesterol Calculator can build the total for you.
HDL ("good"): Type your HDL cholesterol. This is the type that helps clear cholesterol from your arteries.
Triglycerides: Type your triglyceride number. This is the fat level in your blood.
LDL ("bad"): Type your LDL cholesterol if your lab lists it. If you do not have it, leave the box empty or tick "Estimate LDL (Friedewald)" and we work it out from your other three values. The stand-alone LDL Calculator and VLDL Calculator show those single figures in more depth.
Age (years): Enter your age. The risk score works best for ages 40 to 79.
Sex assigned at birth: Choose Male or Female. HDL targets and the risk formula are different for each.
Race / Ethnicity: Choose White, African American, or Other. The risk equations use different numbers for each group.
Systolic Blood Pressure: Enter the top number of your blood pressure reading. You can switch between mmHg and kPa. Your average pressure across the whole heartbeat can be checked with the MAP Calculator.
On blood pressure treatment?: Turn this on if you take medicine for high blood pressure.
Diabetes (Type 1 or 2)?: Turn this on if a doctor has told you that you have diabetes. The a1c Calculator converts an A1c result into an average blood sugar level.
Current smoker?: Turn this on if you smoke now. The results will also show your score without smoking.
Calculate and Reset: Results update as you type, but you can press Calculate to refresh them, or press Reset to start over with the default values.
What Is Cholesterol?
Cholesterol is a waxy fat that moves through your blood. Your body needs some of it to build cells, make hormones, and help digest food. Your liver makes all the cholesterol you need. The rest comes from food like meat, cheese, butter, and eggs.
Trouble starts when you have too much of the wrong kind. Extra cholesterol sticks to the walls of your arteries and forms plaque. Plaque makes arteries narrow and stiff. That raises your chance of a heart attack or stroke. High cholesterol has no symptoms, so a blood test called a lipid panel is the only way to know your numbers.
The Numbers on a Lipid Panel
- Total cholesterol — all the cholesterol in your blood added together.
- LDL (bad cholesterol) — carries cholesterol into your arteries. This is the main number doctors watch. Lower is better.
- HDL (good cholesterol) — carries cholesterol away from your arteries and back to the liver. Higher is better.
- Triglycerides — a different blood fat that comes from extra calories, sugar, and alcohol. High levels often go with weight gain and diabetes.
- Non-HDL cholesterol — total cholesterol minus HDL. It counts every "bad" particle at once, so many doctors trust it more than LDL alone.
- VLDL — a fat-heavy particle usually estimated as triglycerides divided by 5.
Healthy Ranges for Adults
| Test | Healthy Level (mg/dL) | Healthy Level (mmol/L) |
|---|---|---|
| Total cholesterol | Under 200 | Under 5.2 |
| LDL | Under 100 | Under 2.6 |
| HDL | 40+ (men), 50+ (women); 60+ is best | 1.0+ / 1.3+; 1.6+ is best |
| Triglycerides | Under 150 | Under 1.7 |
| Non-HDL | Under 130 | Under 3.4 |
Cholesterol Ratios
Ratios compare two numbers to show the balance between good and bad fats. A total-to-HDL ratio under 3.5 is great, and over 5 is a warning sign. An LDL-to-HDL ratio under 2 is best. A triglyceride-to-HDL ratio under 2 is best; a high one can hint that your body is not handling insulin well. The Cholesterol Ratio Calculator focuses only on these three numbers, and the general Ratio Calculator handles any pair of values.
How LDL Is Estimated
Most labs do not measure LDL directly. They use the Friedewald equation: LDL = Total − HDL − (Triglycerides ÷ 5). This works well most of the time. But if triglycerides are above 400 mg/dL, the math becomes unreliable, and a direct LDL test is needed.
10-Year Heart Risk
Cholesterol is only part of the picture. The ACC/AHA Pooled Cohort Equations mix your cholesterol with your age, sex, race, blood pressure, diabetes, and smoking status to guess your chance of a first heart attack or stroke in the next 10 years. Doctors sort the result into four groups: low (under 5%), borderline (5–7.5%), intermediate (7.5–20%), and high (20% or more). The higher the group, the more likely a doctor will talk about statin medicine.
Other scoring systems answer the same question in different ways. The Framingham Risk Calculator is the older classic, the PREVENT Calculator is the newer AHA model that adds kidney function, and the broader CVD Risk Calculator compares several approaches side by side. If you have atrial fibrillation, the CHA2DS2-VASc Calculator estimates stroke risk instead.
What Raises and Lowers Cholesterol
Things that push numbers the wrong way include saturated fat, trans fat, extra weight, sitting all day, smoking, heavy drinking, diabetes, and family genes. Things that help include walking or other exercise for about 150 minutes a week, eating more fiber from oats, beans, fruit, and vegetables, choosing fish and nuts over fatty meat, quitting smoking, and losing extra weight. When lifestyle changes are not enough, statins and other drugs can lower LDL a lot.
A few tools make those changes easier to plan. Check your weight status with the BMI Calculator or the Waist to Height Ratio Calculator, set an eating target with the Calorie Calculator or Macro Calculator, track soluble fiber with the Fiber Calculator, and set your training intensity with the Heart Rate Zone Calculator. The Calories Burned Calculator shows what a 150-minute week actually adds up to, and the Alcohol Unit Calculator helps if triglycerides are the problem.
How Often to Test
Healthy adults should check their cholesterol every 4 to 6 years starting around age 20. Test more often if you have heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, or a family history of early heart problems. Children usually get one check between ages 9 and 11 and again between 17 and 21. Other routine blood-work numbers have their own tools, such as the GFR Calculator for kidney function, the AST ALT Ratio Calculator for liver enzymes, and the BUN Creatinine Ratio Calculator.
This information is for learning only. Talk to a doctor about your own results and treatment.