Grey's Anatomy: How Old Meredith Is (From Season 1-17)

Meredith Grey has led Grey's Anatomy through 18 seasons and viewers have seen her grow in all areas of her life, but how old is she?

As the lead of Grey’s Anatomy, Meredith Grey is one of the few characters from season 1 that are still around, but not even Meredith is safe from inconsistencies, and her age is one of those – so, how old is Meredith Grey from Grey’s Anatomy season 1 to 17? Created by Shonda Rhimes, Grey’s Anatomy has become one of the most popular and successful medical dramas in the last decade, and since its premiere in 2005, it has been pretty much unstoppable.

Grey’s Anatomy follows the basic premise of medical dramas, focusing on the lives of surgical interns, residents, and attendings as they try to balance their professional and personal lives, which often overlap and create a lot of drama inside and outside the hospital. Grey’s Anatomy is led by Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo), who viewers have seen go from intern to head of general surgery at Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital, and while the series has seen its most popular characters leave (and some in not-so-good ways), Meredith continues to bring all types of stories from both patients and doctors.

Meredith Grey has appeared in almost every episode of Grey’s Anatomy, so the audience has seen her grow in all areas of her life, but her age is rarely mentioned. With over 10 seasons and counting, it’s not surprising that Grey’s Anatomy has a couple of inconsistencies, and Meredith’s age is one of them, though a minor one. In Grey’s Anatomy season 11, Meredith was confirmed to be born in 1978, meaning that she was 27 years old when she started her internship at Seattle Grace in season 1. This was confirmed in Grey’s Anatomy season 5, set in 2009, when Meredith told Sadie they were no longer 25, and Lexie (Chyler Leigh) later confirmed Sadie was 30, thus corroborating the age later revealed in season 11.

There have been other, small details scattered throughout Grey’s Anatomy that confirm that Meredith was born in 1978, such as mentioning that she was five years old in the spring of 1983 (meaning she was born between January and June 1978). However, there’s one detail that completely changed Meredith’s age: in season 10’s episode “I Want You With Me”, Meredith is wearing a hospital band that reads “August 1981” as her date of birth, meaning she was 24 in Grey’s Anatomy season 1 and 32 in at the beginning of season 10. It has been pointed out that, taking into account that a medical school application cycle in the US takes at least a year and medical school takes four years to complete, Meredith should have been at least 31 when she started her internship, though it’s possible that, just like her half-sisters Lexie and Maggie (Kelly McCreary), Meredith skipped grades.

Meredith Grey being born in 1978 makes more sense and has been subtly confirmed on different occasions, unlike the 1981 version, so taking the former into account, Meredith Grey was 27 in Grey’s Anatomy season 1 and 43 at the end of season 17, though for those who choose to believe Meredith is younger, then she was 24 at the beginning of her internship and 40 at the end of season 17. Although Meredith Grey’s real age is not really an important detail that could change her arc in Grey’s Anatomy, it’s a fun piece of trivia for fans of the series, and it’s to be seen if the series will change it again or finally confirm it.