How many calories are in 2% milk?
A 1-cup glass of 2% milk is 122 calories. That is 244 g of milk at 50 calories per 100 g, with 8.1 g of protein and 12.3 g of sugar that is entirely lactose. The half cup you pour over cereal is 61. A quart in the fridge door is 488.
You'd need to walk about 24 minutes to burn the 122 calories in a 1-cup (244 g) glass.
How long does it take to burn off the calories in 2% milk?
A 1-cup (244 g) glass is 122 kcal. Enter your weight and the amount you ate to see how long it takes you to burn that off:
lb
| Activity | Time to burn 122 kcal |
|---|---|
| Walking, brisk | 24 min |
| Cycling, moderate | 15 min |
| Swimming, moderate | 17 min |
| Jogging | 14 min |
| Weight training, moderate | 27 min |
Times are for a 155 lb adult at a steady pace; change the weight to see yours. The amount is set to the portion in the text (244 g); change it to what you actually ate. BodyPal works this out from your steps automatically.
On this page
- 2 percent milk quick facts
- US servings from a splash in coffee to a quart
- Whole milk 1 percent and the fortified cartons
- Saturated fat is the row to watch
- How does 2 percent milk compare?
- Most popular 2 percent milk brands
- FAQ
2 percent milk quick facts
The record behind every number here is SR Legacy 171267, "Milk, reduced fat, fluid, 2% milkfat, with added vitamin A and vitamin D". That is deliberately the carton you actually buy: US dairies fortify reduced-fat milk with vitamin A and vitamin D, and the vitamins are printed on the jug. USDA also keeps a newer Foundation measurement of the same milk, record 321359, which lands on the same 50 calories per 100 g but does not report total sugars. Since "how much sugar is in 2% milk" is one of the questions people actually ask, the SR Legacy row wins.
One cup is treated as 244 g throughout, which is USDA's own weight for a cup of fluid milk.
| Nutrient | Per 100 g | Per 1 cup (244 g) | % Daily Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Calories | 50 | 122 | — |
| Total fat | 1.98 g | 4.8 g | 6% |
| Saturated fat | 1.26 g | 3.1 g | 15% |
| Carbohydrate | 4.8 g | 11.7 g | 4% |
| Dietary fiber | 0 g | 0 g | 0% |
| Total sugars | 5.06 g | 12.3 g | — |
| Protein | 3.3 g | 8.1 g | 16% |
| Sodium | 47 mg | 115 mg | 5% |
% Daily Value is based on a 2,000-calorie diet.
Verified nutrition data
Numbers on this page come from USDA FoodData Central, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s food composition database, and from manufacturer labels where a branded product is named. Last verified September 2026. How we verify our data →
There is no added-sugars row above, and that is not an omission on our side: SR Legacy has no field for added sugars, and plain milk would report zero anyway. All 12.3 g in the glass is lactose, the sugar milk arrives with. Two more numbers sit outside the table: 20 mg of cholesterol per cup, about 7% of the Daily Value, and 342 mg of potassium, also around 7%. The percentages come from the FDA's Daily Value reference amounts.
US servings from a splash in coffee to a quart
| Serving | Weight | Calories |
|---|---|---|
| 1 fl oz, a splash in coffee | 30.5 g | 15 kcal |
| 1 oz by weight | 28.4 g | 14 kcal |
| Half cup, over cereal | 122 g | 61 kcal |
| 1 cup, or 8 fl oz | 244 g | 122 kcal |
| 1 quart | 976 g | 488 kcal |
| Per 100 g | 100 g | 50 kcal |
The cup and the fluid ounce are USDA household measures. The half cup, the ounce by weight and the quart are our own arithmetic from the USDA 100 g figure, not USDA servings.
Here is the trap that catches people typing "8 oz of 2% milk" into a search box. Eight fluid ounces is one cup, 244 g, 122 calories. Eight ounces on a kitchen scale is 227 g, which is 114 calories. The two answers differ by 8 calories, small on one glass and not small across a week of coffee. Milk is sold and poured by volume, so the fluid ounce is almost always the one you want.
A half gallon, the standard jug, is two quarts: 1,952 g and roughly 976 calories. That is worth knowing when a jug quietly disappears over three days.
Whole milk 1 percent and the fortified cartons
The dairy case holds five or six near-identical white cartons. They are not the same food.
| Version | Per 100 g | Serving | Calories |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2% reduced fat, vitamin A and D added | 50 kcal | 1 cup (244 g) | 122 kcal |
| 2% without added vitamin A and D | 50 kcal | 1 cup (244 g) | 122 kcal |
| 2%, Foundation measurement | 50 kcal | 1 cup (244 g) | 122 kcal |
| 2% with nonfat milk solids added | 51 kcal | 1 cup (244 g) | 124 kcal |
| 2%, protein fortified | 56 kcal | 1 cup (244 g) | 137 kcal |
| Whole milk, 3.25% milkfat | 61 kcal | 1 cup (244 g) | 149 kcal |
| 1% lowfat milk | 42 kcal | 1 cup (244 g) | 102 kcal |
Two of those rows deserve a sentence. Protein-fortified 2% adds dairy protein back into the milk, so a cup climbs to 9.6 g of protein and 137 calories: 15 more than plain 2% for 1.5 g more protein. Milk with nonfat milk solids added is the thicker, creamier-tasting reduced-fat milk some regional dairies sell, and it costs you 2 calories a cup. Whether the carton says "vitamin A and D added" changes nothing on the calorie line at all, since the vitamins carry no energy.
Store brands drift a little above the reference. One organic 2% reduced fat milk in USDA's branded index lists 130 calories per 1-cup (240 mL) serving, or 54 per 100 g, about 8 calories a cup above the generic row. Label rounding rules and a slightly richer fat target explain the gap, so treat 122 as the average and the carton in your hand as the exact answer.
Saturated fat is the row to watch
Look at the two fat lines again. Total fat in a cup is 4.8 g, only 6% of the Daily Value. Saturated fat is 3.1 g, which is 15%. That is where a glass of milk actually spends its budget.
Two glasses a day is 6.2 g of saturated fat, close to a third of the 20 g Daily Value, before any cheese, butter or ground beef enters the picture. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans put the saturated-fat ceiling at 10% of calories, and MyPlate counts a cup of milk as one of three recommended daily dairy servings for adults. If you are already close to that ceiling from other foods, 1% or skim is the easy lever, not smaller glasses.
The other number people misread is the "2%" itself. It is fat by weight, not fat by calories. The 4.8 g of fat in a cup is about 2% of the liquid's mass but supplies roughly 43 calories, about 36% of the 122 in the glass. Milk is mostly water, which is why the weight percentage looks so reassuring.
On the sugar side, the reverse is true. Twelve grams sounds like a soda number until you notice none of it is added. Lactose comes with the protein, the calcium and the potassium, and USDA's added-sugars accounting leaves plain milk at zero.
How does 2 percent milk compare?
| Milk | Per 100 g | US serving | Calories |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2% reduced fat | 50 kcal | 1 cup, 244 g | 122 kcal |
| Whole, 3.25% milkfat | 61 kcal | 1 cup, 244 g | 149 kcal |
| 1% lowfat | 42 kcal | 1 cup, 244 g | 102 kcal |
| 2%, protein fortified | 56 kcal | 1 cup, 244 g | 137 kcal |
Our take: of the four, only 1% milk is lighter than 2%, and it saves 20 calories a cup. The bigger swing is upward. Moving from whole to 2% cuts 27 calories per glass and 107 per quart, 595 down to 488, while protein even edges up, from 7.7 g in whole to 8.1 g per cup in the 2%. If you drink milk by the glass or go through a jug a week, 2% is the sensible middle: it keeps the mouthfeel that makes people abandon skim, and it cuts about a third of whole milk's saturated fat. If you are chasing protein per calorie rather than calories alone, the fortified 2% carton is the better buy at 9.6 g per cup.
Most popular 2 percent milk brands in the United States
Ranked by how widely each product appears among foods sold in the United States, from the BodyPal food database of over 3.3 million products. Calories are the figures printed on each Nutrition Facts label, checked against USDA FoodData Central.
| Product | Calories (per 100 g) |
|---|---|
| WWF Organic 2% Reduced Fat Milk | 54 cal |
Brand popularity: BodyPal food database. Nutrition: manufacturer labels / USDA FoodData Central.
2 percent milk FAQs
How many calories are in a cup of 2% milk?
A cup of 2% milk is 122 calories, from a USDA reference weight of 244 g and 50 calories per 100 g. That cup carries 8.1 g of protein, 11.7 g of carbohydrate and 4.8 g of fat. Pour a half cup instead and you are at 61 calories.
How many calories are in 8 oz of 2% milk?
8 fl oz of 2% milk is 122 calories, because a US cup and 8 fluid ounces are the same pour of 244 g. Eight ounces by weight is a different thing: 227 g works out to 114 calories, our own arithmetic from the USDA 100 g figure. Cartons mean fluid ounces.
Is 2% milk better than whole milk for weight loss?
A cup of 2% is 122 calories against 149 for whole, so the swap saves 27 calories a glass and 107 a quart while protein barely moves, 8.1 g against 7.7 g. Three glasses a day makes that 81 calories. No single food decides weight, but this trade is cheap.
How much protein is in a glass of 2% milk?
A glass of 2% milk holds 8.1 g of protein, 16% of the 50 g Daily Value, inside 122 calories. Protein-fortified 2% pushes that to 9.6 g per cup for 137 calories. Per 100 g the figure is 3.3 g, close to what whole and 1% milk deliver.
Does 2% milk have added sugar?
No, all 12.3 g of sugar in a cup of 2% milk is lactose, the sugar that comes with the milk itself. SR Legacy record 171267 carries no added-sugars field, and plain milk would have nothing to report in it. Flavored and chocolate milks are a separate story.
How many calories in a half gallon of 2% milk?
A half gallon of 2% milk is about 976 calories: 1,952 g of milk at 50 calories per 100 g, or two quarts at 488 each. That is our own arithmetic from the USDA 100 g figure, not a USDA serving. A full gallon doubles it to roughly 1,952 calories.
Is 2% milk high in saturated fat?
A cup carries 3.1 g of saturated fat, 15% of the FDA Daily Value of 20 g, while total fat is only 6%. That gap is the catch. Two glasses a day is close to a third of the saturated-fat allowance before any cheese, butter or meat is counted.
What does the 2% in 2% milk mean?
The 2% is fat by weight, not by calories. A cup of 244 g holds 4.8 g of fat, about 2% of the liquid's weight but roughly 43 calories, near 36% of the 122 in the glass. Whole milk is 3.25% by the same rule, 1% milk is the lighter step down.
Similar foods
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- Pasta — 168 cal per cup penne
- Penne pasta — 169 cal per cup
Count it without the math
Point the camera at the glass and BodyPal counts the milk for you, cup or splash.
