# How to calculate each value as a percent of the maximum in Excel

Divide each value by the largest one, locked: `=B2/MAX($B$2:$B$6)`. The top value becomes 100%.

**Excel:** `=B2/MAX($B$2:$B$6)` (Every current version)

**Google Sheets:** the same formula works.

## Example

Sample data (row 1 is the header):

| A | B | C |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Rep | Sales | % of top |
| Ana | 84000 |  |
| Ben | 120000 |  |
| Cara | 96000 |  |
| Dev | 60000 |  |
| Eli | 102000 |  |

Formula in C2, filled to C6: `=B2/MAX($B$2:$B$6)`

Result: 70%; 100%; 80%; 50%; 85%

## How it works

MAX finds the best result, 120,000, and every value is divided by it, so the leader shows 100% and the others show how close they came. The range is locked with $ so the maximum stays the same in every row.

## Other ways

- `=B2/LARGE($B$2:$B$6,1)`: LARGE with 1 is the maximum; change it to 2 to compare with the runner-up.

## Common mistakes

- If the largest value is negative or zero, the percentages are meaningless. Use this for positive measures.
- Percent of maximum is not percent of total: the column doesn't add up to 100%.

## Questions

**How do I scale so the lowest is 0% and the highest 100%?**

Use min-max scaling: `=(B2-MIN($B$2:$B$6))/(MAX($B$2:$B$6)-MIN($B$2:$B$6))`.

**How do I compare with a fixed best score, like 50 points?**

Divide by that number: `=B2/50`.

Every formula and result on this page was checked by running it in the Spreadsheet Practice formula engine on 2026-10-30.

Source: https://spreadsheetpractice.com/formulas/percent-of-maximum