The median is the middle value of a sorted list: half the values are below it and half above. With an even number of values it is the average of the two in the middle.
Median = The middle value when the values are sorted (the average of the two middle values when there is an even number)
On the 30-day sample below: 32.
When to use it
The median describes a typical day, customer or order without being dragged by a few extreme ones, which is why incomes and house prices are usually reported as medians. In a business it answers questions like "what does a normal order look like?" better than the mean, because a few bulk orders cannot move it.
Worked example
With 30 days, the median is the average of the 15th and 16th values after sorting. The one-day sale on day 17 barely moves it, while it lifts the mean.
=MEDIAN(C2:C31)| Day | Website orders |
|---|---|
| 1 | 24 |
| 2 | 27 |
| 3 | 22 |
| 4 | 30 |
| 5 | 28 |
| 6 | 25 |
| 7 | 31 |
| 8 | 29 |
| 9 | 26 |
| 10 | 33 |
| 11 | 30 |
| 12 | 28 |
| 13 | 35 |
| 14 | 32 |
| 15 | 29 |
| 16 | 34 |
| 17 | 61 |
| 18 | 31 |
| 19 | 36 |
| 20 | 33 |
| 21 | 30 |
| 22 | 37 |
| 23 | 35 |
| 24 | 32 |
| 25 | 38 |
| 26 | 36 |
| 27 | 34 |
| 28 | 40 |
| 29 | 37 |
| 30 | 39 |
Common mistakes
- The median of several group medians is not the overall median. Compute it from all the rows.
- It ignores how far the extremes are. For totals and budgets you still need the mean.
- For small samples the median jumps between values; with a handful of rows, show the values themselves.
Calculate it yourself
Related methods
See all statistics methods or the business metrics they are used on.
Guides that use it
- Where to find free public data, and how to check it before you trust it — 2 min read
- How to clean a messy CSV before you analyse it — 2 min read
- How to do data analysis: 6 steps with a worked example — 4 min read
- Data analysis methods and techniques, and when to use each — 3 min read
- Excel data analysis: formulas, PivotTables and the ToolPak — 3 min read
Further reading
Questions people ask
- What is median?
- The median is the middle value of a sorted list: half the values are below it and half above. With an even number of values it is the average of the two in the middle.
- What is the formula for median?
- Median = The middle value when the values are sorted (the average of the two middle values when there is an even number). On the 30-day sample data the result is 32.
- How do you calculate median in Excel?
- Use =MEDIAN(C2:C31) with the data in rows 2 to 31. The same formula works in Google Sheets.
About the data on this page
The figures come from a small made-up dataset, printed above in full so you can check every number by hand. Download it as daily.csv. The results are computed from those rows when the page is built, and the Excel formulas, SQL and Python on these pages are run against the same rows before publishing, so the code and the answers agree.
To get these numbers from your own data without writing formulas, try AnalyzeIt: ask in plain words and it shows the working behind every figure.
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