How to Calculate Percentage Increase

Percentage increase measures how much a value has grown relative to its starting point. The formula is: ((New Value - Original Value) / Original Value) × 100.

For example, if your salary increases from $50,000 to $55,000: ((55,000 - 50,000) / 50,000) × 100 = (5,000 / 50,000) × 100 = 10%. Your salary increased by 10%.

If the result is positive, it's an increase. If negative, it's a decrease. For example, if a price drops from $100 to $80: ((80 - 100) / 100) × 100 = -20%. The price decreased by 20%.

The formula works for any two numbers — salaries, prices, populations, website traffic, exam scores. As long as you have an original value and a new value, you can calculate the percentage change.

Salary increases: If you're offered a new job at $65,000 and your current salary is $58,000, the increase is ((65,000 - 58,000) / 58,000) × 100 = 12.07%.

Price changes: If a product's price goes from $40 to $50, the increase is ((50 - 40) / 40) × 100 = 25%. If it goes from $50 to $40, the decrease is ((40 - 50) / 50) × 100 = -20%.

Business growth: If your monthly revenue goes from $10,000 to $15,000, the growth is ((15,000 - 10,000) / 10,000) × 100 = 50%.

Website traffic: If your monthly visitors go from 5,000 to 7,500, the increase is ((7,500 - 5,000) / 5,000) × 100 = 50%.

Exam scores: If your test score goes from 75 to 90, the increase is ((90 - 75) / 75) × 100 = 20%.

Open the Percentage Calculator tool in your browser. No installation or signup required.

Find the 'Percentage change from X to Y' section (third mode).

Enter your original value in the 'Original (X)' field.

Enter your new value in the 'New (Y)' field.

The calculator instantly shows the percentage change. Positive values are increases; negative values are decreases.

Use the copy button to copy the result to your clipboard if needed.

Absolute increase is the simple difference: New Value - Original Value. If your salary goes from $50,000 to $55,000, the absolute increase is $5,000.

Percentage increase is relative to the starting value: (Absolute Increase / Original Value) × 100. In the same example, the percentage increase is 10%.

Percentage increase is more useful for comparing changes across different scales. A $5,000 raise is huge if you were making $20,000 (25% increase) but modest if you were making $200,000 (2.5% increase).

For business metrics like revenue growth, user growth, or conversion rate improvement, percentage increase is the standard way to report changes because it normalizes for scale.