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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
SQL database 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).
Note
RANK is a temporary value calculated when the query is run. To persist numbers in a table, see IDENTITY (Property) and CREATE SEQUENCE.
Transact-SQL syntax conventions
Syntax
RANK ( ) OVER ( [ partition_by_clause ] order_by_clause )
Arguments
OVER ( [ partition_by_clause ] order_by_clause )
The 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.
The 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 can't be specified for the RANK function. For more information, see SELECT - OVER clause.
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're 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 doesn't 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
The code samples in this article use the AdventureWorks2025 or AdventureWorksDW2025 sample database, which you can download from the Microsoft SQL Server Samples and Community Projects home page.
A. Rank 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. In ___location 3, products 494 and 495 have the same quantity. Because they're tied, they're both ranked one.
USE AdventureWorks2025;
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;
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
B. Rank all rows in a result set
The following example returns the top 10 employees ranked by their salary. Because a PARTITION BY clause isn't specified, the RANK function is applied to all rows in the result set.
USE AdventureWorks2025;
GO
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 e.LastName,
st.SalesTerritoryGroup,
SUM(sq.SalesAmountQuota) AS TotalSales,
RANK() OVER (PARTITION BY st.SalesTerritoryGroup ORDER BY SUM(sq.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 e.SalesPersonFlag = 1
AND st.SalesTerritoryGroup <> N'NA'
GROUP BY e.LastName, st.SalesTerritoryGroup;
Here's the result set.
LastName SalesTerritoryGroup TotalSales RankResult
------------------ -------------------- ------------ -----------
Pak Europe 10514000.00 1
Varkey Chudukatil Europe 5557000.00 2
Valdez Europe 2287000.00 3
Carson North America 12198000.00 1
Mitchell North America 11786000.00 2
Blythe North America 11162000.00 3
Reiter North America 8541000.00 4
Ito North America 7804000.00 5
Saraiva North America 7098000.00 6
Vargas North America 4365000.00 7
Campbell North America 4025000.00 8
Ansman-Wolfe North America 3551000.00 9
Mensa-Annan North America 2753000.00 10
Tsoflias Pacific 1687000.00 1