How to calculate percent rank in Excel
Formula (Excel and Google Sheets)
=COUNTIF($B$2:$B$11,"<"&B2)/(COUNT($B$2:$B$11)-1)Count the values below each one and divide by the count minus 1: =COUNTIF($B$2:$B$11,"<"&B2)/(COUNT($B$2:$B$11)-1), the same as PERCENTRANK.INC.
- Result on the example
- one result per row in
C2, filled down toC11 - Works in
- Excel 2010 and later
- Google Sheets
- Same formula
See it work
The formula is already in C2, filled down to C11. Change any input and the result updates, or edit the formula to experiment.
How it works
Percent rank says what share of the other values a value beats. COUNTIF counts the scores strictly below this one, and dividing by the number of other scores (10-1 = 9) turns that into a share. The lowest score gets 0%, the highest 100%, and tied scores share a rank: both 85s beat 5 of 9 others, 55.56%.
This is what PERCENTRANK.INC returns, except that PERCENTRANK.INC rounds down to 3 significant digits by default (0.555).
=COUNTIF($B$2:$B$11,"<"&B2)/(COUNT($B$2:$B$11)-1)Result0.3333333333
$B$2:$B$1110 rows × 1 col: 72, 85, 91, 64, …A range: 10 cells in one column.
B272The value in B2.
"<"&B2"<72"The & operator joins as text.
COUNTIF($B$2:$B$11,"<"&B2)3COUNTIF: Counts cells that meet one condition.- range
$B$2:$B$1110 rows × 1 col: 72, 85, 91, 64, … - criteria
"<"&B2"<72"
- range
COUNT($B$2:$B$11)10COUNT: Counts cells that contain numbers.- value1
$B$2:$B$1110 rows × 1 col: 72, 85, 91, 64, …
- value1
COUNT($B$2:$B$11)-19The - operator subtracts.
COUNTIF($B$2:$B$11,"<"&B2)/(COUNT($B$2:$B$11)-10.3333333333The / operator divides.
In Google Sheets
The same formula works in Google Sheets: =COUNTIF($B$2:$B$11,"<"&B2)/(COUNT($B$2:$B$11)-1). We ran it in Google Sheets mode on the same data and it returns the same results.
Other ways to do it
Each one was run on the same example sheet.
| Formula | Result | When to use it |
|---|---|---|
| =(RANK.EQ(B2,$B$2:$B$11,1)-1)/(COUNT($B$2:$B$11)-1) | 33.33%, 55.56%, 88.89%… | Ranks the scores in ascending order (1 for the lowest); the rank minus 1 is the number of scores below. |
Common mistakes
- PERCENTRANK.EXC uses a different scale, so it never returns exactly 0% or 100%. Don't mix the two in one report.
- Percent rank is not the percentage score: 99 points is the 100th percentile here, not 99%.
Try it yourself
Same data, empty answer cell. Your formula is graded instantly, then re-checked on changed data, so a typed-in number won't pass.
Calculate percent rank
C2, calculate each score's percent rank (the share of the other scores below it), then fill down to C11.Questions
How do I use PERCENTRANK.INC directly?
=PERCENTRANK.INC($B$2:$B$11,B2). Add a third argument for more digits: =PERCENTRANK.INC($B$2:$B$11,B2,4).
How do I find the score at the 90th percentile?
Use =PERCENTILE.INC(B2:B11,0.9).
Checked by running on 2026-10-30: every formula and result on this page was calculated by the Spreadsheet Practice formula engine, in both Excel and Google Sheets modes.