Percentage Increase Calculator
Calculate percentage increase from one value to another
Fast, accurate calculations with clear results. Built for speed and ease of use.
Formula
((new - original) / original) × 100How to Use Percentage Increase Calculator
- Fill in the calculator with your numbers.
- Verify your inputs are correct.
- Read the instant calculation results.
- Copy or apply the results as needed.
Examples
Example 1
Input
original: 100
new: 150
Output
increase: 50
difference: 50
Example 2
Input
original: 50
new: 75
Output
increase: 50
difference: 25
Percentage increase scales a number up by a rate, the calculation behind a raise, a price hike, or year-on-year growth, and it is easy to mistake for its own reverse: increasing by a percentage and later decreasing by the same percentage does not bring you back to where you started.
The formula
new value = original x (1 + percent / 100)- original
- the starting value
- percent
- the rate of increase
Worked example
A $52,000 salary rising by 8% becomes 52000 x 1.08 = $56,160, a raise of $4,160. Push that same $56,160 up by another 8% the following year and it reaches $60,652.80, not $60,320 as a flat 8% of the original salary would suggest, because the second raise is calculated on the already-larger number.
What trips people up
- A 10% increase followed by a 10% decrease does not return you to the start. $100 up 10% is $110, and $110 down 10% is $99, a full percentage point short, because the second change applies to a larger base than the first.
- Successive percentage increases do not add together; two 8% increases in a row compound to 16.64%, not 16%.
- The percentage must apply to the current value at each step, not the original one, once more than one increase has happened.
Frequently asked questions
- Why doesn't a 10% increase followed by a 10% decrease cancel out?
- Because the two percentages apply to different base amounts. The increase is calculated on the original value, but the decrease that follows is calculated on the new, larger value, so it removes more in absolute terms than the increase added, leaving the final number below where it started.
- How do I find the original value before a known increase?
- Divide the new value by (1 + percent / 100); if $56,160 already includes an 8% raise, the original salary is 56160 / 1.08 = $52,000.
- Do two consecutive percentage increases add together?
- No, they compound. Two 8% increases in a row multiply to a combined 16.64% increase, not a flat 16%, because the second increase applies to an already larger number.
- What is the percentage increase if a value doubles?
- A value doubling is a 100% increase, since the new value equals the original plus 100% of the original, not a 200% increase, which would be tripling the original value.
- Can percentage increase be applied to a negative starting value?
- It can be calculated, but the result is often misleading; increasing a debt of -$500 by 10% technically gives -$550, a larger debt, so read the sign carefully before trusting the direction of the change.
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