Purpose : The purpose of this study is to illustrate MR patterns of signal intensity of proximal femur innormal subjects according to the age distribution. Method and Material : T1-weighted MR imagings of the proximalfemur in 125 subjects, aged 13 days to 25 years, were retrospectively analyzed. Age distribution was classified to4 groups; below 4 months, 5 months to 4 years, 5 years to 14 years, and 15 years to 25 years. Results : By the ageof 4 months, the non-ossified femoral epiphysis was seen as intermediate-signal-intensity cartilage. At 5 months-4years, the ossified femoral capital epiphysis was seen within intermediate-signal-intensity cartilage and appearedas decreased or increased signal-intensity red or yellow marrow surrounded by a rim of low-signal-intensitycortical bone. At 5-14 years, the ossified femoral capital and greater trochanteric epiphysis were seen within theintermediate-signal-intensity cartilage and appeared as decreased or increased signal-intensity red or yellowmarrow. At 15-25 years, the proximal metaphyseal marrow showed increased signal intensity. Four patterns of themetaphyseal marrow were recognized by Ricci et al. The frequency of pattern 1a progressively decreased with age.Pattern 2 and 3 were visible in the 15-25 years age group. Conclusion : An understanding of the spectrum of normalage-related change of the proximal femoral cartilage and marrow patterns serves as the foundation forinterpretation of proximal femur pathologies.