Mean, Median, Mode & Range Calculator
Calculate the mean, median, mode, and range of a list of numbers.
Try an example
5.6667
About this calculator
How This Calculator Works
Enter a list of numbers, and the calculator returns the mean, median, mode, and range — the four most common ways to summarize a data set with a single number.
What Each One Measures
- Mean — the sum of all values divided by how many there are; the everyday "average"
- Median — the middle value once the numbers are sorted (or the average of the two middle values, for an even count)
- Mode — the value or values that appear most often; a data set can have no mode, one mode, or several
- Range — the difference between the largest and smallest value, a quick sense of spread
Why Mean and Median Can Disagree
The mean is sensitive to extreme values (outliers), while the median isn't. A neighborhood of nine $300,000 homes and one $3,000,000 mansion has a mean home price well over $500,000, but a median of $300,000 — the median better represents the "typical" home there. This is why household income and home prices are usually reported as medians, while things like average test scores are usually reported as means.
Worked example
For the list 4, 8, 6, 5, 3, 8: the mean is 34 ÷ 6 = 5.6667, the median (average of the two middle values 5 and 6 once sorted) is 5.5, the mode is 8 (it appears twice, more than any other value), and the range is 8 − 3 = 5.
Frequently asked questions
What's the difference between mean, median, and mode?
The mean is the arithmetic average; the median is the middle value when the numbers are sorted; the mode is the value that appears most often. Each describes "the middle" differently, and they can all give different answers for the same data.
Why use the median instead of the mean?
The median is less sensitive to outliers — a single very large or small value can pull the mean far from where most of the data actually sits, but barely moves the median.
What if there's more than one mode?
A data set can have multiple modes if two or more values tie for the highest frequency — this calculator lists all of them. If every value appears exactly once, there's no mode.
How is the median calculated for an even-length list?
It's the average of the two middle values once the list is sorted — for an odd-length list, it's simply the single middle value.