Part/Total - Required. Basic percentage: divide part by total (e.g., 25/100 = 25%). Format as percentage.
(New-Old)/Old - Optional. Percentage change: subtract old from new, divide by old. Shows growth or decline.
| A | B | C | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Month | Sales | % Change |
| 2 | January | 45000 | — |
| 3 | February | 54000 | |
| 4 | =(B3-B2)/B2 20% |
What percent is 25 out of 200?
=(25/200)*100 → 12.5%
From 50 to 75 = ?% increase
=(75-50)/50*100 → +50% increase
Compare two values: 40 vs 60
=ABS(40-60)/50*100 → 40% difference
Increase 100 by 20%
=100*(1+20%) → 120
Compare this month's sales to last month and calculate the percentage change to track business growth or decline. The percentage change formula in Excel is essential for sales managers, business analysts, and executives monitoring performance trends. This Excel percentage function reveals whether revenue is growing, stagnating, or declining - critical for forecasting, budgeting, and strategic planning. Track month-over-month growth rates, identify seasonal patterns, measure marketing campaign effectiveness, and communicate performance to stakeholders with clear percentage metrics that everyone understands using the percentage function.
| A | B | C | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Month | Sales | % Change |
| 2 | January | $45,000 | — |
| 3 | February | $54,000 | =(B3-B2)/B2 +20.0% |
| 4 | March | $48,600 | -10.0% |
Compare performance across different years - essential for annual reports, investor presentations, and long-term trend analysis using the Excel percentage function. Year-over-year percentage change eliminates seasonal fluctuations and provides clear growth metrics. CFOs, financial analysts, and business strategists rely on YoY percentage calculations to assess sustainable growth, benchmark against competitors, and demonstrate company performance to investors and boards. This Excel percentage formula handles multi-year comparisons for revenue, expenses, customer counts, market share, and any metric that matters for business intelligence.
| A | B | C | D | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Metric | 2023 | 2024 | YoY Change |
| 2 | Revenue | $500K | $625K | =(C2-B2)/B2 +25.0% |
| 3 | Expenses | $350K | $385K | +10.0% |
❌ The Problem:
✅ Solution:
=(New-Old)/OldPercentage change requires dividing by the original (Old) value. The Excel percentage function structure is: (difference) divided by (baseline). Without division, you get absolute change, not relative percentage change. Always divide by the starting value to get accurate percentage growth or decline using the percentage formula in Excel.
❌ The Problem:
✅ Solution:
=(B3-B2)/B2Always divide by the OLD value (baseline, starting point, earlier period). The percentage formula in Excel measures how much something changed relative to where it started. Dividing by the new value gives a different, non-standard metric that breaks comparability across periods.
❌ The Problem:
✅ Solution:
=A1/B1 formatted as PercentageUse Excel's Percentage format (Ctrl+Shift+% or Home → Number → Percentage). The Excel percentage function itself calculates the decimal (0.25), but formatting displays it as 25%. This is cleaner than multiplying by 100, and the underlying decimal value works correctly in further calculations. For advanced rounding, combine with <Link href="/formulas/round">ROUND</Link>.
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