How to calculate the change in percentage points in Excel
Formula (Excel and Google Sheets)
=(C2-B2)*100Subtract one percentage from the other and multiply by 100: =(C2-B2)*100. A rise from 2.5% to 3.0% is 0.5 points.
- Result on the example
- one result per row in
D2, filled down toD5 - Works in
- Every current version
- Google Sheets
- Same formula
See it work
The formula is already in D2, filled down to D5. Change any input and the result updates, or edit the formula to experiment.
How it works
When both numbers are already percentages, subtracting them gives the change in percentage points: 3.0% minus 2.5% is 0.005, or 0.5 points once multiplied by 100. The custom format adds the sign and the word "pts" so nobody reads it as a percent change.
The relative change is a different number: the click rate grew by 20% (=C3/B3-1), but only by half a point.
=(C2-B2)*100Result2.5
C223.5%The value in C2.
B221.0%The value in B2.
C2-B20.025The - operator subtracts.
C2-B2)*1002.5The * operator multiplies.
In Google Sheets
The same formula works in Google Sheets: =(C2-B2)*100. 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 |
|---|---|---|
| =ROUND((C2-B2)*100,2) | +2.5 pts, +0.5 pts, -0.1 pts… | Rounds away floating-point noise (2.5000000000000022) before you compare or export the numbers. |
Common mistakes
- Formatting
=C2-B2as a percentage shows "0.5%", which readers take as a relative change. Label points as points. - A rate rising from 1% to 2% is +1 point but +100%. Reports that say "up 1%" are ambiguous.
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 the change in percentage points
D2, calculate the change from last month to this month in percentage points, then fill down to D5.Questions
How do I show the relative change too?
Use =C2/B2-1 formatted as a percentage: the open rate rose 11.9%.
What is a basis point?
One hundredth of a percentage point. Multiply by 10,000 instead: =(C3-B3)*10000 gives 50 bps for the click rate.
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.