RANK (Transact-SQL)

Applies to: SQL Server Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Managed Instance Azure Synapse Analytics Analytics Platform System (PDW) SQL analytics endpoint in Microsoft Fabric Warehouse in Microsoft Fabric

Returns the rank of each row within the partition of a result set. The rank of a row is one plus the number of ranks that come before the row in question.

ROW_NUMBER and RANK are similar. ROW_NUMBER numbers all rows sequentially (for example 1, 2, 3, 4, 5). RANK provides the same numeric value for ties (for example 1, 2, 2, 4, 5).

Transact-SQL syntax conventions

Syntax

RANK ( ) OVER ( [ partition_by_clause ] order_by_clause )  

Arguments

OVER ( [ partition_by_clause ] order_by_clause)
partition_by_clause divides the result set produced by the FROM clause into partitions to which the function is applied. If not specified, the function treats all rows of the query result set as a single group. order_by_clause determines the order of the data before the function is applied. The order_by_clause is required. The <rows or range clause/> of the OVER clause cannot be specified for the RANK function. For more information, see OVER Clause (Transact-SQL).

Return Types

bigint

Remarks

If two or more rows tie for a rank, each tied row receives the same rank. For example, if the two top salespeople have the same SalesYTD value, they are both ranked one. The salesperson with the next highest SalesYTD is ranked number three, because there are two rows that are ranked higher. Therefore, the RANK function does not always return consecutive integers.

The sort order that is used for the whole query determines the order in which the rows appear in a result set.

RANK is nondeterministic. For more information, see Deterministic and Nondeterministic Functions.

Examples

A. Ranking rows within a partition

The following example ranks the products in inventory the specified inventory locations according to their quantities. The result set is partitioned by LocationID and logically ordered by Quantity. Notice that in location 3, products 494 and 495 have the same quantity. Because they are tied, they are both ranked one.

USE AdventureWorks2022;  
GO  
SELECT i.ProductID, p.Name, i.LocationID, i.Quantity  
    ,RANK() OVER   
    (PARTITION BY i.LocationID ORDER BY i.Quantity DESC) AS Rank  
FROM Production.ProductInventory AS i   
INNER JOIN Production.Product AS p   
    ON i.ProductID = p.ProductID  
WHERE i.LocationID BETWEEN 3 AND 4  
ORDER BY i.LocationID;  
GO  

Here's the result set.

ProductID   Name                   LocationID   Quantity Rank  
----------- ---------------------- ------------ -------- ----  
494         Paint - Silver         3            49       1  
495         Paint - Blue           3            49       1  
493         Paint - Red            3            41       3  
496         Paint - Yellow         3            30       4  
492         Paint - Black          3            17       5  
495         Paint - Blue           4            35       1  
496         Paint - Yellow         4            25       2  
493         Paint - Red            4            24       3  
492         Paint - Black          4            14       4  
494         Paint - Silver         4            12       5  
 (10 row(s) affected)  

B. Ranking all rows in a result set

The following example returns the top ten employees ranked by their salary. Because a PARTITION BY clause was not specified, the RANK function was applied to all rows in the result set.

USE AdventureWorks2022  
SELECT TOP(10) BusinessEntityID, Rate,   
       RANK() OVER (ORDER BY Rate DESC) AS RankBySalary  
FROM HumanResources.EmployeePayHistory AS eph1  
WHERE RateChangeDate = (SELECT MAX(RateChangeDate)   
                        FROM HumanResources.EmployeePayHistory AS eph2  
                        WHERE eph1.BusinessEntityID = eph2.BusinessEntityID)  
ORDER BY BusinessEntityID;  

Here's the result set.

BusinessEntityID Rate                  RankBySalary  
---------------- --------------------- --------------------  
1                125.50                1  
2                63.4615               4  
3                43.2692               11  
4                29.8462               28  
5                32.6923               22  
6                32.6923               22  
7                50.4808               6  
8                40.8654               14  
9                40.8654               14  
10               42.4808               13  

Examples: Azure Synapse Analytics and Analytics Platform System (PDW)

C: Ranking rows within a partition

The following example ranks the sales representatives in each sales territory according to their total sales. The rowset is partitioned by SalesTerritoryGroup and sorted by SalesAmountQuota.

-- Uses AdventureWorks  
  
SELECT LastName, SUM(SalesAmountQuota) AS TotalSales, SalesTerritoryRegion,  
    RANK() OVER (PARTITION BY SalesTerritoryRegion ORDER BY SUM(SalesAmountQuota) DESC ) AS RankResult  
FROM dbo.DimEmployee AS e  
INNER JOIN dbo.FactSalesQuota AS sq ON e.EmployeeKey = sq.EmployeeKey  
INNER JOIN dbo.DimSalesTerritory AS st ON e.SalesTerritoryKey = st.SalesTerritoryKey  
WHERE SalesPersonFlag = 1 AND SalesTerritoryRegion != N'NA'  
GROUP BY LastName, SalesTerritoryRegion;  

Here's the result set.

LastName          TotalSales     SalesTerritoryRegion  RankResult
----------------  -------------  -------------------  --------
Tsoflias          1687000.0000   Australia            1
Saraiva           7098000.0000   Canada               1
Vargas            4365000.0000   Canada               2
Carson            12198000.0000  Central              1
Varkey Chudukatil 5557000.0000   France               1
Valdez            2287000.0000   Germany              1
Blythe            11162000.0000  Northeast            1
Campbell          4025000.0000   Northwest            1
Ansman-Wolfe      3551000.0000   Northwest            2
Mensa-Annan       2753000.0000   Northwest            3
Reiter            8541000.0000   Southeast            1
Mitchell          11786000.0000  Southwest            1
Ito               7804000.0000   Southwest            2
Pak               10514000.0000  United Kingdom       1

See Also

DENSE_RANK (Transact-SQL)
ROW_NUMBER (Transact-SQL)
NTILE (Transact-SQL)
Ranking Functions (Transact-SQL)
Built-in Functions (Transact-SQL)