Percentile Calculator

Statistics & Data Calculators

Percentile Calculator

A percentile tells you where one number stands next to a full group of numbers. It answers a simple question. Are you near the top, the middle, or the bottom of the group.

Find the percentile of a value

Find the value at a percentile

Data set (separate numbers with commas)

Value you want to check

Data set (separate numbers with commas)

Percentile you want to find (0 to 100)

Please enter at least two numbers in the data set.

Percentile rank 0

Data points entered

Lowest value

Highest value

Where this sits in your data set

Values at or below this point Values above this point Your value

What a percentile really means

A percentile shows how one value compares to the rest of a group. If a number sits at the 70th percentile, it is higher than about 70 percent of the group. This works for test scores, salaries, baby weight charts, and race times.

Formula 1. Percentile rank of a value

Percentile Rank = (L ÷ N) × 100

L is the number of values below your chosen value.
N is the total number of values in the data set.

Simple example. Ten students take a quiz. Eight students score lower than you did. Divide 8 by 10 and multiply by 100. Your percentile rank is 80. You scored higher than 80 percent of the class.

Formula 2. Value at a given percentile

Rank = (P ÷ 100) × (N − 1) + 1

P is the percentile you want, such as 90.
N is the total number of values, sorted from smallest to largest.
If the rank lands between two positions, the value is estimated between them. This matches the method used by Excel and Google Sheets.

Simple example. A store tracks daily sales for one month. The owner wants to know the sales number that beats 90 percent of all days. That value is the 90th percentile of the sales data.

Everyday situations where percentiles matter

Salary comparison

A salary at the 75th percentile means it beats 75 percent of similar salaries in that field or city.

Test scores

Standardized tests often report percentiles instead of raw scores, so results are easy to compare across students.

Baby growth charts

Doctors use weight and height percentiles to see how a child compares to others of the same age.

Business benchmarks

A company might check if its revenue sits in the top percentile of its industry to judge performance.

Frequently asked questions

Is the 50th percentile the same as the average?

Not always. The 50th percentile is the median, the middle value once sorted. The average can be pulled higher or lower by a few extreme numbers, while the median stays steady.

What does a low percentile actually mean?

A low percentile simply means the value is near the bottom of that specific group. It is not automatically bad. It depends entirely on what is being measured.

Do percentiles change if I add more data?

Yes. Percentiles depend entirely on the group they are measured against, so adding or removing data points can shift the result.

What is the difference between a percentile and a percentage?

A percentage describes a share of a whole, like scoring 80 percent correct. A percentile compares that score against everyone else who took the same test.

Want to see how a value grows or compares over time instead?

Try the CAGR Calculator next.

CAGR Calculator Back to Toolkit