Median Calculator
Instantly find the median, mean, mode, and range of any data set. Enter your numbers separated by commas or spaces to see the sorted list and step-by-step statistical calculations.
Statistical Measures Calculator
Calculate the median and other key statistics
Enter your numbers separated by commas, spaces, or new lines.
Your Statistics
Median, mean, mode, and more
Enter a set of numbers, then click Calculate to find the median, mean, mode, and range of your data.
Common Statistical Measures
Quick reference for the most common measures of central tendency and dispersion used in statistics.
| Measure | Definition |
|---|---|
| Median | The middle value when the data set is sorted in order. |
| Mean | The mathematical average (sum of all values divided by the count). |
| Mode | The value that appears most frequently in the data set. |
| Range | The difference between the highest and lowest values. |
| Minimum | The smallest value in the data set. |
| Maximum | The largest value in the data set. |
| Sum | The total of all values added together. |
| Count | The total number of values in the data set. |
Median Calculator FAQ
Everything you need to know about finding the median and understanding statistical measures.
The median is the middle value in a data set when the numbers are arranged in ascending or descending order. It divides the data into two equal halves: 50% of the values are below the median, and 50% are above it.
To calculate the median, first sort your numbers from lowest to highest. If you have an odd number of values, the median is the exact middle number. If you have an even number of values, the median is the average (mean) of the two middle numbers.
The mean is the mathematical average (sum of all values divided by the count). The median is the middle value when the data is sorted. The mode is the value that appears most frequently in the data set. While the mean is affected by extreme outliers, the median and mode are more robust.
You should use the median when your data set contains extreme outliers or is heavily skewed. For example, when calculating average income or house prices, a few extremely high values can drastically inflate the mean. The median provides a more accurate representation of a ‘typical’ value in these cases.
No, a data set can only have exactly one median. Even if there are an even number of observations, the median is calculated as the single average of the two middle values. However, a data set can have multiple modes (bimodal or multimodal) if multiple values share the highest frequency.
The median is highly resistant to outliers. Because it is based purely on the order of the values rather than their magnitude, an extremely high or low number will not pull the median towards it, unlike the mean, which incorporates every value in its calculation.
When a data set has an even number of values, there is no single middle number. In this case, you identify the two numbers in the exact center of the sorted list and calculate their average. For example, in the set {2, 4, 6, 8}, the two middle numbers are 4 and 6, so the median is (4 + 6) / 2 = 5.
Not always. If your data set has an odd number of values, the median will always be one of the actual numbers in the set. However, if your data set has an even number of values, the median is the average of the two middle numbers, which might result in a decimal that does not appear in the original data.