The Excel PERCENTRANK function returns the relative rank of a value within a dataset, as a percentage. It is a legacy function; Microsoft replaced it in Excel 2010 with PERCENTRANK.INC, which behaves identically.
Syntax
| Argument | Description | |
|---|---|---|
array | Required | The array or range of numeric data that defines the distribution. |
x | Required | The value whose rank you want to find. |
significance | Optional | Optional. The number of significant digits in the returned percentage. Defaults to 3. |
How to use it
PERCENTRANK is the complement of PERCENTILE: instead of asking “what value sits at the 50th percentile?”, it asks “what percentile does this value sit at?”. It returns a fraction between 0 and 1, interpolating for values between data points.
The range is inclusive: the smallest value ranks at 0 and the largest at 1. The optional significance argument controls how many digits the result is rounded to (default 3).
Use PERCENTRANK.INC in Excel 2010 and later. PERCENTRANK maps to PERCENTRANK.INC (inclusive). For the exclusive variant use PERCENTRANK.EXC. PERCENTRANK is kept only for backward compatibility.
Try it: interactive demo
Pick a PERCENTRANK example to see the formula and its result.
Practice workbook
Frequently asked questions
Should I use PERCENTRANK or PERCENTRANK.INC?
PERCENTRANK.INC in Excel 2010 or later — it gives the same inclusive result and is the supported function. PERCENTRANK is kept only so older workbooks keep working.How is PERCENTRANK different from PERCENTILE?
PERCENTILE takes a percentile and returns the value at it; PERCENTRANK takes a value and returns the percentile it sits at.What does the significance argument do?
What is the difference between PERCENTRANK.INC and PERCENTRANK.EXC?
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