picardo.

Total testosterone All the testosterone in your blood

Also called Testosterone, total and Serum testosterone Not on a standard checkup Test before 10 a.m., ideally fasting

The short answer

Total testosterone measures all the testosterone in your blood, bound and free. For men, US urologists treat two early-morning results under 300 ng/dL, along with symptoms, as low testosterone.1

A normal result
300 to 916 ng/dL for most men.1,5 For women, 10 to 55 before menopause and 7 to 40 after, on Labcorp’s test.5
If yours is low
Repeat it before 10 a.m., fasting, on another day. About 30% of men with one low result are normal the second time.2
Should you test?
It helps most if you’re a man with low sex drive or erection problems, or a woman with excess hair or irregular periods.1,2,8 Without symptoms, it gives you a baseline, but guidelines diagnose low testosterone only alongside symptoms.1,2

Check your result

Type the number from your report. It stays on this page.

Which fits you?

Test before 10 a.m. In men in their 30s, results at 4 p.m. ran 20% to 25% lower than at 8 a.m.1 On treatment, the right time depends on the form you use. For weekly or every-other-week cypionate or enanthate shots, clinicians check midway between doses; for long-acting undecanoate shots, just before the next one.2

150 264 300 917
  • Very low Under 150
  • Low 150 to 263
  • Borderline 264 to 299
  • Normal 300 to 916
  • High 917 or more

Enter your result to see what it means and what to do next.

Got a result from another lab? Ask Picardo about it. The app explains your results, and a physician can follow up.

Men’s lines come from the Endocrine Society and the AUA.1,2 Women’s ranges are Labcorp’s, for its mass spectrometry test; other methods read differently.5 The women’s very-high lines come from one Mayo Clinic study, not a guideline.9 The bar isn’t to scale.

What is a normal total testosterone level?

For men, labs use 264 to 916 ng/dL, the range for healthy young men.2,5 US urologists treat under 300 as low, and European urologists about 350.1,4 Women’s levels are far lower, with separate ranges before and after menopause:5

Very low Under 150 ng/dL (men)

Very low: find the cause

This is far below the range for healthy young men.2 At this level, if your LH is low or normal, both US guidelines advise a pituitary scan to look for a tumor, even when prolactin is normal.1,2

How worried to be

See a clinician in the next few weeks. It isn’t an emergency.

What to do next
  1. 1 Repeat the test before 10 a.m., fasting, to confirm it.2
  2. 2 Check LH, FSH and prolactin. They show whether the problem starts in the testes or the pituitary.1,2
  3. 3 If your LH is low or normal, ask about a pituitary MRI.1,2
Low 150 to 263 ng/dL (men)

Below the normal range

This is below the range for healthy young men on standardized tests.2 But one number isn’t a diagnosis. Guidelines diagnose low testosterone only with symptoms and a second low early-morning result, because about 30% of men with one low result are normal on a repeat test.1,2

How worried to be

Not urgent. Worth seeing a clinician in the next month or two.

What to do next
  1. 1 Repeat the test before 10 a.m., fasting, on a different day.2
  2. 2 Check LH, FSH and prolactin to look for the cause.1,2
  3. 3 If you carry extra weight and no other cause turns up, losing weight is usually the first treatment.3,4
Borderline 264 to 299 ng/dL (men)

Normal on your report, but borderline

Your lab won’t flag this. It’s inside the range for healthy young men that Labcorp and the Endocrine Society use.2,5 But the AUA uses under 300 to support a diagnosis, and in a 2026 statement the Endocrine Society called about 300 a common threshold.1,3

How worried to be

Not urgent. It matters only if you have symptoms.

What to do next
  1. 1 If you have symptoms, repeat the test before 10 a.m., fasting.1,2
  2. 2 Ask for free testosterone by an accurate method. It helps most when total testosterone is close to the line.1,2
Normal 300 to 916 ng/dL (men)

Normal

This isn’t low by any US cutoff.1,2 European urologists draw the line a little higher, at about 350 ng/dL (12 nmol/L), for men with symptoms.4

How worried to be

Nothing to worry about.

What to do next
  1. 1 If you have symptoms and you’re under about 400, a free testosterone test can help.2
  2. 2 If symptoms carry on with a normal result, other causes are worth a look. Stress, tiredness and depression can feel the same.1
High 917 ng/dL or more (men not on treatment)

Above the range

This is above the range for healthy young men.2 A high SHBG, the protein that carries testosterone, can push total testosterone up, sometimes above the range, while free testosterone stays normal or low. That happens with aging, liver disease, an overactive thyroid, HIV and some seizure medicines.2 Clomiphene and barbiturates can raise testosterone too.5

How worried to be

Not urgent.

What to do next
  1. 1 Repeat the test in the morning to confirm it.2
  2. 2 Check SHBG. If it’s high, a free testosterone test shows how much is available.2
  3. 3 If you take testosterone, pick the treatment option above. Tell your clinician about any anabolic steroids or supplements you use.
Not high Under 56 ng/dL before menopause; under 41 after (women)

Not above the range for women

Your testosterone isn’t above Labcorp’s range for women, so this test doesn’t show excess androgens.5 PCOS can still be diagnosed without a high level, from irregular periods and signs such as excess hair.8

How worried to be

Nothing to worry about.

What to do next
  1. 1 If you have excess hair, acne or irregular periods, ask about PCOS anyway.8
  2. 2 If you’re on the combined pill, this result is hard to read. The pill lowers the androgens your ovaries make and raises SHBG.8
Above range 56 to 146 ng/dL before menopause; 41 to 62 after (women)

Above the range for women

This is a high androgen level on a blood test. Many women with slowly building signs, such as excess hair, turn out to have PCOS.5 But PCOS is diagnosed only once other causes are ruled out, including congenital adrenal hyperplasia, Cushing’s syndrome, ovarian or adrenal tumors, hormones or medicines you take and, after menopause, ovarian hyperthecosis.8

How worried to be

Not urgent, unless your symptoms are changing quickly.

What to do next
  1. 1 See a clinician about PCOS and the other causes.8
  2. 2 Ask about SHBG, DHEA-S and 17-OH progesterone, which help sort out the cause.8
  3. 3 If your voice has deepened, or hair or symptoms changed fast, go sooner. Some tumors raise testosterone only a little.8
Very high 147 ng/dL or more before menopause; 63 or more after (women)

Very high: find the cause soon

In one Mayo Clinic study of women with high testosterone, 147 ng/dL (5.1 nmol/L) or more best separated androgen-producing tumors from other causes, though about 1 in 5 women without a tumor also crossed it. Among women past menopause seen for signs of excess androgens, 63 ng/dL (2.2 nmol/L) or more picked up every tumor or case of ovarian hyperthecosis, while also flagging some women without one.9 Guidelines stress how quickly symptoms came on, not just the number.8

How worried to be

See a clinician within a week or two.

What to do next
  1. 1 Tell your clinician when your symptoms started and how fast they’ve changed.8
  2. 2 Ask about tests for an ovarian or adrenal cause.8
  3. 3 If you use testosterone or another hormone, tell your clinician. What you take can push the level up too.8
Base Core Annual – Men panel
$204.25 · Total testosterone plus 21 more tests, one visit
Order
Or order total testosterone on its own, $15.00

What is testosterone?

Most of your testosterone travels bound to proteins, and only a small share floats free. A total testosterone test counts all of it. That’s why the carrier protein, SHBG, can change what your result means.2

In men, most testosterone is made in the testes, driven by LH, a hormone from the pituitary gland. In women, the ovaries and adrenal glands make some, but most comes from other hormones converted in the body.5

Most testosterone in the blood is bound to SHBG and albumin. In men, only about 2% to 4% is free.2 Levels peak in the early morning, between about 3 and 8 a.m., and fall through the day.1

What counts as low testosterone?

A low number alone isn’t enough. Guidelines diagnose low testosterone only when two early-morning results are low and you have symptoms or signs to match.1,2 Repeating the test matters: about 30% of men with one low result are normal the second time.2

The symptoms that best match a low level are sexual: low sex drive, fewer morning erections and erection problems.2 Tiredness, low mood and poor concentration are common too, but they have many other causes.1,2

Where to draw the line depends on whom you ask:

Line Who uses it What it means
264 ng/dLLabcorp and the Endocrine SocietyThe bottom of the range for healthy young men
300 ng/dLThe AUA; the Endocrine Society, in a 2026 statement, calls it a common thresholdTwo results under it, with symptoms, support a diagnosis
About 350 ng/dL (12 nmol/L)European urologists (EAU)The line for diagnosis in men with symptoms

All three assume an accurate morning test. The Endocrine Society and European urologists also ask for a fasting sample.1,2,4,5

What lowers testosterone?

  • Extra weight, type 2 diabetes and sleep problems such as sleep apnea2
  • Opioids and steroid medicines such as prednisone2
  • Anabolic steroids, while you take them and after you stop2
  • Heavy drinking and marijuana use2
  • Serious illness, including liver, heart, lung or kidney failure2
  • Pituitary problems, including tumors and high prolactin2
  • Damage to the testes from injury, chemotherapy or radiation2
  • Inherited conditions such as Klinefelter syndrome2
  • Age, gradually, and faster with extra weight or other illness2

A short illness can lower it for a while, which is why guidelines advise against testing until you’ve recovered.1,2

How to raise testosterone

  • Testosterone treatment

    Gels, injections and other forms raise it reliably. In men with proven low testosterone, it can improve sex drive, erections, mild anemia, bone density, muscle mass and mood.1 It shuts down sperm production, so it isn’t for men trying to conceive.1,2

    How much it helps
    A lot
    How sure we are
    Very sure
  • Treating the cause

    Stopping or cutting down a medicine that lowers testosterone, such as opioids or steroid medicines, or treating high prolactin or another pituitary problem, can let it recover.2

    How much it helps
    Some
    How sure we are
    Fairly sure
  • Clomiphene and similar drugs

    Can raise your own production when LH is low or normal, and are an option for men who want to keep their fertility.1 The Endocrine Society’s 2018 guideline noted they hadn’t been proven in randomized trials.2

    How much it helps
    Some
    How sure we are
    Early evidence
  • Losing extra weight and exercising

    The first step for men with extra weight and no other cause.3,4 The rise is usually small, about 1 to 2 nmol/L (30 to 60 ng/dL), and most people regain much of the weight within a few years.4

    How much it helps
    A little
    How sure we are
    Fairly sure

Before starting treatment, clinicians check your hematocrit, and your PSA if you’re over 40.1 The Endocrine Society advises against starting with a hematocrit over 48% (50% at high altitude), and the AUA suggests holding off over 50% until the cause is found.1,2 If you’d like children soon, say so first: guidelines advise against testosterone for men trying to conceive.1,2

Is testosterone treatment safe?

The largest trial, TRAVERSE, gave testosterone gel or a placebo to 5,246 men aged 45 to 80 who had symptoms and two fasting results under 300 ng/dL, along with heart disease or a high risk of it. Over about 33 months on average, heart attacks, strokes and heart deaths were no more common with testosterone: 7.0% against 7.3%.6

Some problems were more common. Atrial fibrillation, kidney injury and blood clots in the lungs rose in the testosterone group.6 Lung clots were uncommon but more frequent, 0.9% against 0.5%, a rise the Endocrine Society puts at roughly 50%. It notes more fractures too.3,4 These results apply to men like those in the trial, and long-term safety, including for the prostate, still isn’t settled.3

In February 2025 the FDA had makers add the trial’s results to every testosterone label and remove the boxed warning language about heart risk. It added a warning that testosterone raises blood pressure, after studies found it does with every product. It kept the limit on use for low testosterone caused by aging alone.7

Since then, the FDA has gone further. After an expert panel in December 2025, it invited makers in April 2026 to seek approval for treating low sex drive in men whose low testosterone has no known cause. That’s an invitation, not an approval.10 In June 2026 it asked makers to drop the limit on age-related low testosterone and to revise the prostate cancer and enlarged-prostate warnings.11

Testosterone also raises your red blood cell count. Clinicians check hematocrit during treatment and act at about 54%: the AUA usually by lowering the dose first, the Endocrine Society by pausing treatment until it falls.1,2

Who should get a testosterone test?

It’s worth checking if any of these apply to you:

  • You’re a man with low sex drive, fewer morning erections or erection problems.2
  • You’re a man with unexplained anemia, bone loss, diabetes, HIV or infertility.1
  • You’ve had chemotherapy, radiation to the testes or a pituitary problem.1
  • You’ve taken opioids or steroid medicines for a long time.1
  • You’re a woman with excess hair, acne or irregular periods. A blood test helps most when signs such as excess hair are mild or absent.8
  • You’re a woman whose voice, hair or body has changed quickly.8

If you have no symptoms and none of these conditions, a result gives you a baseline to compare with later. Guidelines diagnose low testosterone only when low results come with symptoms, so a low number on its own isn’t a reason for treatment.1,2

How to get a total testosterone test, and what it costs

A total testosterone test costs $15.00 through Picardo. The Base Core Annual – Men panel adds 21 more tests from the same visit for $204.25.

Recommended

Base Core Annual – Men panel

$204.25
22 tests · fast for 12 hours first

Testosterone is one number. The panel adds free testosterone and SHBG, plus LH and FSH to show the cause. It also has the PSA and blood count clinicians check before and during treatment, and the heart, kidney, liver and thyroid tests of a yearly checkup.

Order the Base Core Annual – Men panel
Just this test

Total testosterone on its own

$15.00
Labcorp 070001 · test before 10 a.m., ideally fasting

Only the number this page is about.

Order total testosterone
  • Results in 2 to 3 days, in the app
  • Physician follow-up if you want one
  • Free Labcorp draw, or $75 at home
  • No other fees. HSA and FSA eligible.

It’s also part of the Base Core Annual – Women and Fertility panels, if you want a wider checkup.

Already have a result? Ask Picardo about it

Questions people ask

Does testosterone fall with age?

Yes, slowly. Both total and free testosterone fall with age in men, and free testosterone falls faster because SHBG rises. The fall is steeper with extra weight or other illness.2 Labcorp still uses one range for all adult men,5 and the Endocrine Society diagnoses low testosterone the same way at any age.3

What time of day should I test?

Before 10 a.m. Testosterone peaks between about 3 and 8 a.m. In men in their 30s, a 4 p.m. result ran 20% to 25% lower than an 8 a.m. one; in men around 70, only about 10% lower.1 If you work nights, test after your main sleep, fasting.4

Do I need to fast?

Ideally, yes. The Endocrine Society and European guidelines ask for a fasting sample, because food and sugar lower testosterone.2,4 The AUA calls that evidence weak and doesn’t insist on fasting.1 If a result taken after eating comes back low, repeat it fasting.

Can I test while I’m ill?

Better to wait. Illness can lower testosterone for a while, so guidelines advise against testing during an illness or while you’re recovering. Short courses of opioids have the same effect.1,2

Will testosterone treatment affect my fertility?

Yes. It shuts down sperm production, so guidelines say not to use it if you’re trying to conceive. How long sperm takes to recover after stopping varies a lot.1,2 If your LH is low or normal, drugs such as clomiphene can raise your own testosterone and are an option if you want to keep your fertility.1

What’s a normal testosterone level for women?

At Labcorp, 10 to 55 ng/dL before menopause and 7 to 40 after, on its mass spectrometry test.5 Other methods give other ranges, and direct tests aren’t accurate at women’s levels.8

Often checked alongside

Free testosterone
The testosterone your body can use
SHBG
The protein that binds sex hormones
LH
A brain hormone that triggers ovulation and testosterone
PSA
A prostate protein used in cancer screening

Test details

Labcorp test
Testosterone, Total, Women, Children, and Hypogonadal Males, LC/MS-MS, 070001
LOINC
2986-8
Sample
Blood
Fasting
Ideally, yes2,4
Best time
Between 7 and 10 a.m.4
Typical lab range
264.0 to 916.0 ng/dL (men); 10.0 to 55.0 ng/dL (women before menopause); 7.0 to 40.0 ng/dL (women after menopause)5
Units
ng/dL in the US. For nmol/L, divide by 28.84.
Method
Mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS), accurate at the low levels found in women and in men with low testosterone5

Sources

  1. 1 Mulhall JP, Trost LW, Brannigan RE, et al. Evaluation and management of testosterone deficiency: AUA guideline. J Urol. 2018;200(2):423–432. Reviewed and validity confirmed 2024. doi.org/10.1016/j.juro.2018.03.115
  2. 2 Bhasin S, Brito JP, Cunningham GR, et al. Testosterone therapy in men with hypogonadism: an Endocrine Society clinical practice guideline. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2018;103(5):1715–1744. doi.org/10.1210/jc.2018-00229
  3. 3 Endocrine Society. Statement on testosterone replacement therapy [press release]. Washington, DC: Endocrine Society; July 16, 2026. www.endocrine.org/news-and-advocacy/news-room/2026/statement-on-testosterone-replacement-therapy
  4. 4 Salonia A, Boeri L, Capogrosso P, et al. EAU guidelines on sexual and reproductive health: male hypogonadism. Edn. presented at the EAU Annual Congress, London 2026. Arnhem: EAU Guidelines Office; 2026. uroweb.org/guidelines/sexual-and-reproductive-health/chapter/male-hypogonadism
  5. 5 Labcorp. Testosterone, Total, Women, Children, and Hypogonadal Males, LC/MS-MS, test 070001. Labcorp test menu. Accessed October 28, 2026. www.labcorp.com/tests/070001/testosterone-total-women-children-and-hypogonadal-males-lc-ms-ms
  6. 6 Lincoff AM, Bhasin S, Flevaris P, et al. Cardiovascular safety of testosterone-replacement therapy. N Engl J Med. 2023;389(2):107–117. doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa2215025
  7. 7 US Food and Drug Administration. FDA issues class-wide labeling changes for testosterone products. Silver Spring, MD: FDA; February 28, 2025. www.fda.gov/drugs/drug-alerts-and-statements/fda-issues-class-wide-labeling-changes-testosterone-products
  8. 8 Teede HJ, Tay CT, Laven JJE, et al. Recommendations from the 2023 international evidence-based guideline for the assessment and management of polycystic ovary syndrome. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2023;108(10):2447–2469. doi.org/10.1210/clinem/dgad463
  9. 9 Sharma A, Kapoor E, Singh RJ, et al. Diagnostic thresholds for androgen-producing tumors or pathologic hyperandrogenism in women by use of total testosterone concentrations measured by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. Clin Chem. 2018;64(11):1636–1645. doi.org/10.1373/clinchem.2018.290825
  10. 10 US Food and Drug Administration. FDA takes step forward on testosterone therapy for men [press release]. April 16, 2026. www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-takes-step-forward-testosterone-therapy-men
  11. 11 US Food and Drug Administration. Testosterone information. Content current as of June 23, 2026. Accessed October 28, 2026. www.fda.gov/drugs/postmarket-drug-safety-information-patients-and-providers/testosterone-information

Updated 28 Oct 2026.

This is general health information, not medical advice: talk to your clinician about your results and before changing any treatment.