This online calculator finds the percentile rank of a number in a data set. Enter the set of numbers in the input field of the Percentile Rank Calculator, then specify the data value for which the percentile rank should be calculated, and choose the calculation method to be used. You can paste the input data copied from a spreadsheet or csv-file or enter manually using comma, space or enter as separators.
How to Calculate a Percentile Rank
The percentile rank of a number in a data set is the percent of values of the data set that are equal to or less than that number.
There are several definitions of percentile rank and respective methods of its calculation. All yield similar or identical results when working with large data sets. In our Percentile Rank Calculator we use the above definition and the following two most common methods of calculation.
Method 1
$$PR = \left ( \frac{L}{N} \right ) \times 100, $$
where \(PR \kern.3em\) is the percentile rank (is in the range of 0 to 100), \(L \kern.3em\) is the number of values in the data set that are lower than or equal to the data value of interest, \(N \kern.3em\) is the total number of values in the data set.
Method 2
$$PR = \left ( \frac{L \kern.4em – \kern.4em 0.5 \times S}{N} \right ) \times 100, $$
where \(S \kern.3em\) is the number of the data set values equal to the data value of interest;
These two methods yield identical results if the data value of interest is missing from the data set.
Percentile rank scores are widely used in education. Standardized tests results are commonly presented in percentile ranking format. They provide insight regarding how a student performed compared to other students who have taken a test. With standardized tests it’s not so important how many correct answers were made, it’s more important to gauge where the student is at compared to other students that took the same test.
Related calculators
Check out our other statistics calculators such as Percentile Calculator or Outlier Calculator.