How to Calculate Percentage Increase Per Year: A Simple Guide

April 24, 2025 3 min read

Calculating the percentage increase per year is a valuable skill, whether you're tracking the growth of your investments, analyzing business performance, or simply understanding changes in everyday expenses. This calculation, often referred to as Year-over-Year (YoY) growth, provides an annualized view of performance, smoothing out seasonal fluctuations and market volatility.

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The Formula for Percentage Increase Per Year

The basic formula is straightforward:

Percentage Increase = [(New Value - Original Value) / Original Value] x 100

When calculating the percentage increase *per year*, you are essentially finding the average annual growth rate over a period longer than one year. A more precise formula accounts for multiple years:

Annual Percentage Increase = [(Ending Value / Beginning Value)^(1 / Number of Years) - 1] x 100

Step-by-Step Calculation

  1. Identify the Beginning and Ending Values: Gather the data for the starting and ending points of the period you're analyzing.
  2. Determine the Number of Years: Calculate the length of the period in years. For example, if you're comparing 2020 to 2024, the number of years is 4.
  3. Apply the Formula: Input the values into the formula above.
  4. Calculate: Perform the calculation to get the annual percentage increase.

Example Calculation

Let's say your business had a revenue of $100,000 in 2020 and $150,000 in 2023. To calculate the average annual percentage increase:

Annual Percentage Increase = [($150,000 / $100,000)^(1/3) - 1] x 100

Annual Percentage Increase = [(1.5)^(0.333) - 1] x 100

Annual Percentage Increase = [1.1447 - 1] x 100

Annual Percentage Increase = 14.47%

This means your business experienced an average annual revenue growth of 14.47% over those three years.

Why Calculate Percentage Increase Per Year?

  • Track Performance: Monitor the progress of your business, investments, or other metrics over time.
  • Compare Growth: Evaluate the performance of different investments or business units against each other.
  • Identify Trends: Spot patterns in growth to make informed decisions about the future.
  • Account for Seasonality: Annualizing growth helps to smooth out fluctuations that occur within a year.

Using Percentage Increase in Different Contexts

  • Business: Track revenue growth, profit margins, customer acquisition.
  • Finance: Analyze investment returns, portfolio performance, and expense increases.
  • Personal Finance: Monitor savings growth, debt reduction, and changes in living expenses.

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Manually calculating percentage increase can be time-consuming and prone to errors. Our online percentage calculator simplifies the process, allowing you to quickly and accurately determine growth rates for any metric. Simply input your starting and ending values, and our tool will handle the rest.

Beyond calculating percentage increase, our tool also helps you:

  • Find what percent of a number is (e.g., What is 15% of 200?).
  • Determine what percentage one number is of another (e.g., 30 is what percent of 150?).
  • Calculate percentage decreases.

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