Calculators
Percentage Change
Find % increase or decrease between two values.
About the Percentage Change
The Percentage Change calculator shows how much a value went up or down, relative to where it started, with a coloured label and before-and-after bars. It also gives the difference, the multiplier, the change needed to get back, and the percentage difference between the two numbers.
What you can do with the Percentage Change
- Up or down: A coloured label shows the rise or fall.
- Before and after bars: See the change visually.
- Extras: Difference, multiplier and the change needed to get back.
- % difference: Compare two numbers without a starting point.
The formula
Percentage change = (new value − original value) ÷ original value × 100. A positive result is an increase and a negative result is a decrease. What matters is dividing by the original value, not the new one.
Why going back isn't the same percentage
A price that rises from 80 to 100 has increased by 25%. Falling back from 100 to 80 is a 20% decrease, because the starting point is now bigger. The "Change to go back" box shows this for your numbers.
Change vs difference
Use percentage change when there's a before and after, like last year's sales and this year's. Use percentage difference when comparing two things side by side, like the prices at two shops, it divides by their average, so the order doesn't matter.
Related tools
Frequently Asked Questions
What's the difference between percentage change and percentage difference?
Percentage change compares a new value to an old one. Percentage difference compares two values with no before and after, dividing by their average. Both are shown.
Can a value fall by more than 100%?
Only if it goes negative, like a profit turning into a loss. A price or count can fall by at most 100%, to zero.
What if the original value is zero?
Percentage change can't be calculated from zero, because you can't divide by it.
How do I calculate a percentage increase?
Subtract the original value from the new value, divide by the original value and multiply by 100. Going from 50 to 150 is (150 - 50) / 50 x 100 = +200%. Enter 50 in From and 150 in To and the tool shows +200% with a multiplier of 3.
Why does a 20% fall need a 25% rise to recover?
The recovery is measured from the lower value. If 100 falls 20% to 80, getting back needs 20 more on a base of 80, which is 25%. The "Change to go back" box shows this, and the gap grows with bigger falls: a 40% drop needs about 66.67% to recover.
What does the multiplier mean?
The multiplier is the new value divided by the original. A multiplier of 1.25 means a 25% rise, 0.8 means a 20% fall, and 2 means the value doubled. Multipliers can be chained, which is handy for comparing prices over several years.
How do I calculate the percentage change in my salary or price hike?
Put the old figure in From and the new figure in To. For example, a salary going from 6 lakh to 6.9 lakh a year is a +15% change, and the Difference box shows the rise in rupees. Units do not matter as long as both values use the same one.
How is percentage change worked out for negative numbers?
The tool divides by the absolute size of the original value, so the sign of the result matches the direction of the move. Going from -50 to -25 shows +50% because the value went up. With negative starting values, it is often clearer to report the difference instead.
Is percentage change the same as annual growth (CAGR)?
No. This tool gives the total change between two values. If a value doubled over 5 years, the change is +100%, but the compound annual growth rate is about 14.87% a year. CAGR needs the number of years, which this tool does not ask for.
What does the Swap button do?
It exchanges the From and To values, so you can see the change in the opposite direction straight away. For 80 and 100, it switches the result from +25% to -20%. The bars, difference and multiplier all update to match.
How do I compare two prices from different shops?
If neither price is a starting point, use the "% difference" figure, which divides the gap by the average of the two. For prices of 80 and 100 it shows 22.22%. If you want "how much more expensive is B than A", use A as From and read the main change.
Read the guide
Related tools
- Discount Calculator, Work out a sale price.
- BMI Calculator, Estimate Body Mass Index from height and weight.
- BMR Calculator, Estimate your basal metabolic rate, the calories your body uses at complete rest, with the Mifflin–St Jeor equation.
- Age Calculator, Find your exact age in years, months and days, the total days you have lived, the weekday you were born and your next birthday.
- Date Difference Calculator, Count the days between two dates, also shown in weeks and days, with or without counting the end date.
- Simple Interest Calculator, Interest that doesn't compound.
Quick Work Studio