The article reviews the current understanding of how many steps per day are sufficient for adults to maintain health. It highlights the discrepancies in step-based recommendations from various sources and emphasizes the need for harmonization with existing public health guidelines. The review finds that healthy adults typically take between 4,000 and 18,000 steps/day, with 10,000 steps/day being a reasonable target. Interventions have shown incremental increases of 2,000-2,500 steps/day. Controlled studies demonstrate a strong relationship between cadence and intensity, with 100 steps/minute representing a reasonable floor value for moderate intensity walking. The article suggests that a graduated step index, ranging from < 5,000 to ≥ 12,500 steps/day, can effectively categorize individuals based on their activity levels. Computed translations of physical activity guidelines into step-based recommendations suggest that 8,000 to 11,000 steps/day is a reasonable daily target, with a minimum of 3,000 steps for moderate intensity activity. Direct studies of free-living behavior indicate that 7,000-8,000 steps/day is associated with minimal amounts of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA). The article concludes that a fully expanded steps/day scale, incorporating step-based translations of recommended MVPA, can be useful in research and practice, and emphasizes the importance of individual and population-level tracking and motivation to achieve recommended activity levels.The article reviews the current understanding of how many steps per day are sufficient for adults to maintain health. It highlights the discrepancies in step-based recommendations from various sources and emphasizes the need for harmonization with existing public health guidelines. The review finds that healthy adults typically take between 4,000 and 18,000 steps/day, with 10,000 steps/day being a reasonable target. Interventions have shown incremental increases of 2,000-2,500 steps/day. Controlled studies demonstrate a strong relationship between cadence and intensity, with 100 steps/minute representing a reasonable floor value for moderate intensity walking. The article suggests that a graduated step index, ranging from < 5,000 to ≥ 12,500 steps/day, can effectively categorize individuals based on their activity levels. Computed translations of physical activity guidelines into step-based recommendations suggest that 8,000 to 11,000 steps/day is a reasonable daily target, with a minimum of 3,000 steps for moderate intensity activity. Direct studies of free-living behavior indicate that 7,000-8,000 steps/day is associated with minimal amounts of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA). The article concludes that a fully expanded steps/day scale, incorporating step-based translations of recommended MVPA, can be useful in research and practice, and emphasizes the importance of individual and population-level tracking and motivation to achieve recommended activity levels.