Water Content of Human Body Tissues

The proportion of water, by weight, in different human tissues and organs, based on the classic Mitchell reference data. The lungs are the wettest major organ at 83% water, while even bones are nearly one-third water.

About This Dataset

Water Content of Human Body Tissues
The proportion of water, by weight, in different human tissues and organs, based on the classic Mitchell reference data. The lungs are the wettest major organ at 83% water, while even bones are nearly one-third water.
✨ AI Insight

The human body is famously water-rich, but the distribution is uneven. The lungs top the list at 83%, followed by a tight pair of muscle and kidneys at 79% and another pair, the brain and heart, at 73% - meaning the most metabolically active organs are all roughly three-quarters water. Skin drops to 64%, and the outlier is bone at just 31%, less than half the water content of soft tissue because its mass is dominated by mineral crystal. The clustering into 83 / 79 / 73 bands shows how tissue function tracks water content: gas-exchange and filtration organs hold the most, structural bone the least. Overall these figures explain why total body water averages around 60%.

Source:  USGS Water Science School (Mitchell et al.)

Key Findings

Auto-computed highlights from this dataset

🏆
Lungs leads with 83 in All Time.
📊
Average value in All Time: 69  ·  median: 73.
↔️
Gap in All Time: Lungs is 2.7× larger than Bones.

Water Content of Human Body Tissues

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Data Insights

Numbers, trends & sources behind this chart

Admin
Data Points
7
7 categories  ·  1 year
Top Value
83
Lungs
Water Content (%) · All Time
Metrics
1
Water Content (%)
Period
All Time
Single year snapshot

Category Rankings

Water Content (%) · All Time

# Category All Time
🥇 Lungs 83
🥈 Muscle 79
🥉 Kidneys 79
4 Brain 73
5 Heart 73
6 Skin 64
7 Bones 31
Statistical Summary — Water Content (%) · All Time
83
Maximum
31
Minimum
69
Average
73
Median

What This Data Shows

Auto-generated trend summaries per category

Lungs
Recorded 83 Water Content (%) in All Time.
Muscle
Recorded 79 Water Content (%) in All Time.
Kidneys
Recorded 79 Water Content (%) in All Time.
Brain
Recorded 73 Water Content (%) in All Time.
Heart
Recorded 73 Water Content (%) in All Time.
Skin
Recorded 64 Water Content (%) in All Time.
Bones
Recorded 31 Water Content (%) in All Time.

Full Data Table

7 records across 1 year

✓ 7 sourced
Category Metric All Time Source
Lungs Water Content (%) 83
Muscle Water Content (%) 79
Kidneys Water Content (%) 79
Brain Water Content (%) 73
Heart Water Content (%) 73
Skin Water Content (%) 64
Bones Water Content (%) 31

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