Knowing your total cholesterol isn’t enough. To truly understand your risk for heart disease, you need to look deeper—at the ratios between your HDL, LDL, and triglycerides.
Simply enter your lab values from your most recent cholesterol panel, and you can also add results from another to compare!
Enter mm/dl values.
IdealGoodWarningDanger BetterSameWorse
Why Cholesterol Ratios Matter
While standard panels give you the raw numbers, these ratios offer greater insight into your metabolic health and cardiovascular risk.
For example:
Triglycerides to HDL is one of the strongest markers for insulin resistance.
A Total Cholesterol to HDL ratio below 3.5:1 is associated with better cardiovascular outcomes.
A Low LDL to HDL ratio may indicate a lower likelihood of arterial plaque buildup.
I believe that ratios are much more important than any single cholesterol number.* I wanted a cholesterol ratio calculator for my own use that allows me to quickly compare the results of two tests, so I coded my own. You also won’t find the typical feedback for individual numbers… Read what I’ve learned about cholesterol and My Heart Attack Recovery Story.
Interpreting Your Cholesterol Ratios
Here’s how to better understand the results, first, each ratio includes four zones:
🟢 Ideal – what we should be aiming for
🔵 Good – acceptable, but room for improvement
🟠 Warning – risk is building and should not be ignored (I added this zone.)
🔴 High Risk – strongly associated with metabolic and cardiovascular disease
These ranges are based on research, clinical trends, and my personal interpretation after years of studying heart disease and recovery. They’re a tool for awareness—not diagnosis.
Triglycerides to HDL Ratio
🟢 Ideal: 0.5 up to 2
🔵 Good: 2 up to 4
🟠 Warning: 4 up to 6
🔴 High Risk: 6+
Total to HDL Ratio
🟢 Ideal: less than 3.5
🔵 Good: 3.5 up to 4.5
🟠 Warning: 4.5 up to 5
🔴 High Risk: 5+
LDL to HDL Ratio
🟢 Ideal: less than 2
🔵 Good: 2 up to 3.5
🟠 Warning: 3.5 up to 5
🔴 High Risk: 5+
Remnant Cholesterol (Remnant-C) mg/dL:
🟢 Ideal: less than 15
🔵 Good: 15 up to 20
🟠 Warning: 20 up to 35
🔴 High Risk: 35+
Remnant-C is calculated by subtracting HDL and LDL cholesterol from your total cholesterol. It represents the cholesterol content of triglyceride-rich lipoproteins (VLDL and IDL), which are often elevated in people with insulin resistance and metabolic dysfunction.
Why It Matters: While it’s not commonly reported on standard lab panels, tracking this number can reveal hidden cardiovascular risk—especially when other markers look “normal.” Higher Remnant-C levels are often linked to increased inflammation, atherogenic lipoproteins, and insulin resistance—making this a valuable metric in the context of metabolic and cardiovascular health.
Note, I added a 🟠 “warning” zone for the ratios. Most sites have ideal or optimal, good and bad categories. Well, from all my learnings, we should have a “warning” zone before getting too bad because bad is… VERY BAD! Of course this brings me to my feeling about standard cholesterol tests.
Want a Better Test Than Standard Cholesterol Panels?
While this calculator helps interpret your existing lab results, traditional cholesterol panels can be misleading—especially when it comes to LDL. Standard lipid tests do not tell the full story! They measure the MASS of the particles and do not actually count the particles nor measure their sizes. In fact, LDL-C is often calculated nor is it entirely accurate, and not even measured!
That’s why I recommend the NMR Lipoprofile test. It goes much deeper by measuring the number and size of your LDL particles, which are far more predictive of heart disease risk than total cholesterol or calculated LDL.
Smaller, denser LDL particles are more atherogenic (likely to cause plaque), while larger, buoyant particles are less harmful—even if your total LDL is high.
I use this test myself and trust it far more than a standard panel.
You can order one yourself (no doctor visit required) through this trusted lab that I use for my lab work:
This test is MY standard cholesterol test. You can’t tell if your cholesterol is “good or bad” with a standard test. The NMR test will give much more insight to the quality of the lipoproteins by measuring several components of cholesterol such as LDL HDL…
Have more questions about cholesterol ratios?
What is a normal cholesterol ratio?
Define normal. Some people and organizations accept “good” as “normal” and if I didn’t add the “warning” zone, then that “good” could include some pretty high and what I consider dangerous ratios. I target for the optimal ranges for my cholesterol ratios.
🟢 Optimal Total to HDL: < 3.5
🟢 Optimal LDL to HDL: < 2.0
🟢 Optimal TG to HDL between: 0.5 – 2.0
How do I calculate my cholesterol ratios?
Simply enter your HDL, LDL, and triglycerides into the calculator on this page to see your key ratios instantly.
You can also grab a calculator or paper & pencil to go old-school!
Total to HDL Ratio = Total divided by HDL
LDL to HDL Ratio = LDL divided by HDL
TG to HDL Ratio = Triglycerides divided by HDL
How is Remnant / VLDL cholesterol calculated?
Remnant-C can be easily calculated as TOTAL – HDL – LDL.
VLDL is calculated as TG/5. I don’t like this formula because you have to use a different one if you have higher triglycerides. The Remnant-C formula seems more appropriate to me.
*VLDL/Remnant is one number that may be worth considering “alone” more than Total, HDL, and LDL on their own. This is a calculation; however, it can be an indicator of insulin resistance. Remnant-C is becoming popular to take note of for cardiovascular risk.
How is Total cholesterol calculated?
Total cholesterol is calculated as HDL + LDL + (TG / 5) = Total. Which is similar to how they calculate LDL-C = Total – HDL + (TG * 0.2). 🙄
LDL-C is often calculated using the Friedewald equation as Total – HDL – (TG / 5) = LDL-C. Which is similar to how they calculate the Total as noted just above. 🙄
The results of this calculator do not diagnose any condition that you may have. Discuss with your healthcare professional if you have any concerns about your health. I encourage you to educate yourself and be sure that your choice of healthcare professional is the right one for you!
Share this with your friends and feel free to contact me.
