Percentage Points Calculator
A percentage point is the gap between two rates that are already percents. From 10% to 12% is 2 percentage points. Relative to the starting rate, that same move is a 20% increase, not a 2% increase.
How this is calculated
Subtract the starting rate from the ending rate. Both numbers stay in percent units, so the result is percentage points, not a new percent of some other amount.
percentage points = ending rate − starting rate
- 10 − 12 is the wrong direction. 12 − 10 = 2 percentage points.
- The relative change is (12 − 10) / 10 × 100 = 20%.
- One percentage point is 100 basis points, so 2 points is 200 basis points, and 0.25 points is 25 basis points.
If the starting rate is 0, the point gap still exists, but the relative percent change is undefined because you would divide by zero.
Not the same as
Percentage points, percent change, and basis points answer different questions about the same two rates.
- Percentage change Percentage change divides the gap by the starting value. 10 to 12 is 2 points and also a 20% increase. Open percentage change
- Percentage points vs percent The guide walks through why a 2-point rise is not a 2% rise, including the basis-point scale. Read percentage points vs percent
Related tools
Percentage-point questions
Only when the starting rate is 100%. From 10% to 12% the gap is 2 percentage points and the relative change is 20%.
2 percentage points, which is a 20% increase of the original rate and 200 basis points.
−2 percentage points, a 25% decrease of the original rate, or −200 basis points.
100. A move from 3.25% to 3.50% is 0.25 percentage points, or 25 basis points.
The point gap is still the ending rate. The relative percent change cannot be calculated, because the starting rate is zero.