Percent Change Calculator – Express Change in a Value as a Percentage

Find the percentage of change between two numbers such as an initial and final value. A change that is an increase will be represented as a positive percentage value while a change that is a decrease in value will be represented as a negative percentage.

Result:

Percent change = 300%

$$Start with the formula to calculate percent changePercent Change (p)=(y2 - y1)|y1|×100Substitute values in the equationp=(60 - 15)|15|×100Simplifyp=4515×100p=3×100p=300%$$

How to Find the Percent of Change

The percentage of change between two numbers can be found using the following formula:

(y2 – y1) ÷ |y1| × 100

In this formula y1 represents the initial value and y2 represents the final value. To solve the percent of change subtract the final value from the initial value, then divide by the absolute value of the initial value. Multiply the result by 100 to find the percentage.

To find the difference between 2 values our percent difference calculator will be helpful. You can also use our percent increase calculator or percent decrease calculator to find the amount of increase or decrease in a value.

Example: For an initial value of 50 and final value of 100 find the percentage of change

p = (y2 – y1) ÷ |y1| × 100
p = (100 – 50) ÷ |50| × 100
p = 50 ÷ 50 × 100
p = 1 × 100
p = 100%

When using negative numbers it is important to note that the absolute value of y1 should be used as the denominator. The absolute value is the value of the number without a positive or negative sign. For example, the absolute value of both 50 and -50 is 50.

Example: For an initial value of -25 and final value of -250 find the percentage of change

p = (y2 – y1) ÷ |y1| × 100
p = (-250 – -25) ÷ |-25| × 100
p = -225 ÷ 25 × 100
p = -9 × 100
p = -900%

You can easily use our calculator above to find the percentage of change or use the formula to find it manually. Use our percentage calculators for more tools for calculating percent values.