Three averages, three answers
"Average" usually means the mean, but there are three common averages and they can tell very different stories about the same data. The mean adds everything up and shares it out equally. The median is the middle value once the list is sorted, so half the values sit below it and half above. The mode is simply the value that turns up most often.
Paste your numbers above, separated by spaces, commas or new lines, and all three appear at once alongside the sum, count, minimum and maximum. Everything is calculated in your browser, so nothing is uploaded and you can paste data straight from a spreadsheet column.
Worked examples
When to use which average
The mean uses every value, which makes it the right choice for evenly spread data and for anything you need to scale back up, such as working out a total from an average. Its weakness is sensitivity to outliers: one extreme value can drag it a long way, as the salary example shows.
The median ignores how extreme the extremes are, which is exactly why the ONS reports house prices and earnings as medians. If you are told the "average" price of anything, it is worth checking which average was used, because the choice can flatter the story.
The mode is the only average that works for non-numeric data. A shoe shop does not care that the mean size sold is 8.3; it cares that size 9 is the most common. The mode is also the only average guaranteed to be a value that actually appears in the data.
Reading the other numbers
The count is worth a glance before you trust anything else: if it does not match the number of values you expected to paste, a stray character has probably split or swallowed a number. Remember that commas are treated as separators, so 1,200 is read as 1 and 200. Type it as 1200.
Minimum and maximum give you the range at a glance, and the range is the simplest measure of spread: the salary list above runs from £21,000 to £90,000, a range of £69,000. If you need a proper measure of how spread out your data is, the same paste-in-numbers approach works in our standard deviation calculator. And once you have a mean, the sum lets you sanity check it: mean × count should equal the sum exactly.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between mean, median and mode?
The mean is the total of the values divided by how many there are. The median is the middle value once the list is sorted, or the average of the two middle values if the count is even. The mode is the value that appears most often. Each is a different way of describing a typical value.
When is the median better than the mean?
When the data is skewed by a few extreme values. Five salaries of 21,000, 24,000, 25,000, 26,000 and 90,000 pounds have a mean of 37,200 pounds, which nobody actually earns, but a median of 25,000 pounds, which is far more typical. That is why house prices and wages are usually reported as medians.
What if there is no mode?
If every value appears the same number of times, the data has no mode and the tool says so. If two or more values tie for the most appearances, they are all modes and the tool lists each of them. A data set can be bimodal or even multimodal.
How should I separate the numbers I paste?
Use spaces, commas, semicolons or new lines, in any mixture. One thing to watch: commas are treated as separators, so type 1200 rather than 1,200, otherwise it will be read as the two numbers 1 and 200.
Is my data uploaded anywhere?
No. All the calculations happen in your browser using JavaScript, so nothing you paste ever leaves your device. You can comfortably paste thousands of values and refreshing the page clears everything.