PERCENTRANK.INC Function

Excel Functions › Statistical

Excel 2010+ Statistical

The Excel PERCENTRANK.INC function returns the relative standing of a value within a data set as a percentage from 0 to 1 inclusive — the inverse of PERCENTILE.INC and the modern replacement for the legacy PERCENTRANK.


Quick answer:
=PERCENTRANK.INC({1,2,3,4,5},3) 3 sits at the 50th percentile = 0.5

Syntax

=PERCENTRANK.INC(array, x, [significance])
ArgumentDescription
arrayRequiredThe range or array of numeric data.
xRequiredThe value whose percentile rank you want to find.
significanceOptionalNumber of significant digits in the result. Defaults to 3 if omitted.

How to use it

PERCENTRANK.INC answers “what fraction of the data is at or below this value?” The INC variant returns a rank from 0 to 1 inclusive, so the smallest value scores 0 and the largest scores 1.

=PERCENTRANK.INC({1,2,3,4,5},3) // = 0.5
=PERCENTRANK.INC({1,2,3,4,5},5) // top value = 1

For five points, the value 3 has two values below it out of n-1=4 gaps, giving 2/4 = 0.5. When x falls between two data points, PERCENTRANK.INC interpolates. By default the result is rounded to 3 significant digits; raise significance for more precision.

Inverse pairing: PERCENTRANK.INC and PERCENTILE.INC undo each other. If PERCENTILE.INC(data,0.5) is 3, then PERCENTRANK.INC(data,3) is 0.5.

Try it: interactive demo

Live demo

Pick a PERCENTRANK.INC example to see the formula and its result.

Result:

Practice workbook

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Frequently asked questions

What does PERCENTRANK.INC return for the smallest and largest values?
The smallest value returns 0 and the largest returns 1, because the inclusive method spans the full 0-to-1 range across the data.
What is the significance argument for?
It sets how many significant digits the result is rounded to. If omitted, Excel uses 3, so 0.3333 is reported as 0.333. Increase it for more decimal places.
How is PERCENTRANK.INC different from PERCENTRANK.EXC?
INC divides by n-1 and ranges 0 to 1 inclusive; EXC divides by n+1 and keeps results strictly between 0 and 1. For the same x they usually return different ranks.
Is PERCENTRANK.INC the same as the old PERCENTRANK?
Yes — it returns identical results. PERCENTRANK is retained as a Compatibility function; PERCENTRANK.INC is the current name.

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Related functions: PERCENTRANK.EXC · PERCENTILE.INC · RANK.EQ · PERCENTILE.EXC · QUARTILE.INC