Excel RANK.AVG function

The RANK.AVG function returns the rank of a number compared to other numbers in the same list. The average rank will be assigned to duplicate values in the list. This function is available in Excel 2010 and later versions.

RANK.AVG function VS. RANK.EQ function

Both the RANK.AVG function and the RANK.EQ function can be used to return the rank of a number in a list of numbers. The difference between them is that the RANK.AVG function assigns the average rank to duplicate values, while the RANK.EQ function assigns the top rank to duplicate values.

Syntax

RANK.AVG(number, ref [order]))

Arguments

Remarks

Return value

It returns a numeric value.

Example

There is a class report card as shown in the screenshot below. To calculate the rank of each score compared to other scores within the report, you can apply the RANK.AVG function to get it done.

Select a cell (says D6 in this case) next to the first score, enter the formula below and press Enter to get the rank of the first score in the list. Select this result cell and drag its AutoFill Handle down to get rankings of other scores.

=RANK.AVG(C6,$C$6:$C$18,0)

Notes:

1) In this case, the RANK.AVG function assigns the average rank value (6.5) to the number 77 that appears twice in the list to occupy the 6th and 7th positions. Meanwhile, you can see that none of the numbers have a rank of 7. This is because the presence of duplicate values affects the ranks of subsequent numbers.

2) The formula above ranks all scores in descending order. To rank the scores in ascending order, you can apply the following formula:

=RANK.AVG(C6,$C$6:$C$18,1)

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