Lüders strain and aging index were employed to characterize the aging properties of hot rolled low carbon steels during production. The Lüders strain was found to increase with aging time while the aging index decreased. It is interpreted that the aging index represents the susceptibility of steels to aging, while the Lüders strain measures the effects of carbon and nitrogen atmosphere pinning on dislocations. By comparing accelerated aging with room temperature aging behaviours of low carbon steels for up to two years, an algorithm deriving the activation energy of solute carbon and nitrogen migration from aging property measurements was proposed. The equation derived for accelerated aging of hot‐rolled low carbon steels investigated was in reasonable agreement with that reported in the literature.