If you're using SQL 2005 or better this is a nice, simple-ish median calculation for a single column in a table:

SELECT
(
 (SELECT MAX(Score) FROM
   (SELECT TOP 50 PERCENT Score FROM Posts ORDER BY Score) AS BottomHalf)
 +
 (SELECT MIN(Score) FROM
   (SELECT TOP 50 PERCENT Score FROM Posts ORDER BY Score DESC) AS TopHalf)
) / 2 AS Median

Median Finding

This is the simplest method to find the median of an attribute.

Select round(S.salary,4) median from employee S 
where (select count(salary) from station 
where salary < S.salary ) = (select count(salary) from station
where salary > S.salary)

Using a single statement - One way is to use ROW_NUMBER(), COUNT() window function and filter the sub-query. Here is to find the median salary:

 SELECT AVG(e_salary) 
 FROM                                                             
    (SELECT 
      ROW_NUMBER() OVER(ORDER BY e_salary) as row_no, 
      e_salary,
      (COUNT(*) OVER()+1)*0.5 AS row_half
     FROM Employee) t
 WHERE row_no IN (FLOOR(row_half),CEILING(row_half))

I have seen similar solutions over the net using FLOOR and CEILING but tried to use a single statement. (edited)

To get median value of salary from employee table

with cte as (select salary, ROW_NUMBER() over (order by salary asc) as num from employees)

select avg(salary) from cte where num in ((select (count(*)+1)/2 from employees), (select (count(*)+2)/2 from employees));

For your question, Jeff Atwood had already given the simple and effective solution. But, if you are looking for some alternative approach to calculate the median, below SQL code will help you.

create table employees(salary int);

insert into employees values(8); insert into employees values(23); insert into employees values(45); insert into employees values(123); insert into employees values(93); insert into employees values(2342); insert into employees values(2238);

select * from employees;

declare @odd_even int; declare @cnt int; declare @middle_no int;


set @cnt=(select count(*) from employees); set @middle_no=(@cnt/2)+1; select @odd_even=case when (@cnt%2=0) THEN -1 ELse 0 END ;


 select AVG(tbl.salary) from  (select  salary,ROW_NUMBER() over (order by salary) as rno from employees group by salary) tbl  where tbl.rno=@middle_no or tbl.rno=@middle_no+@odd_even;

If you are looking to calculate median in MySQL, this github link will be useful.

Below is My solution:

with tempa as

 (

    select value,row_number() over (order by value) as Rn,/* Assigning a 
                                                           row_number */
           count(value) over () as Cnt /*Taking total count of the values */
    from numbers
    where value is not null /* Excluding the null values */
 ),

tempb as

  (

    /* Since we don't know whether the number of rows is odd or even, we shall 
     consider both the scenarios */

    select round(cnt/2) as Ref from tempa where mod(cnt,2)=1
    union all
    select round(cnt/2) a Ref from tempa where mod(cnt,2)=0
     union all
    select round(cnt/2) + 1 as Ref from tempa where mod(cnt,2)=0
   )
  select avg(value) as Median_Value

  from tempa where rn in

    ( select Ref from tempb);

Using the COUNT aggregate, you can first count how many rows there are and store in a variable called @cnt. Then you can compute parameters for the OFFSET-FETCH filter to specify, based on qty ordering, how many rows to skip (offset value) and how many to filter (fetch value).

The number of rows to skip is (@cnt - 1) / 2. It’s clear that for an odd count this calculation is correct because you first subtract 1 for the single middle value, before you divide by 2.

This also works correctly for an even count because the division used in the expression is integer division; so, when subtracting 1 from an even count, you’re left with an odd value.

When dividing that odd value by 2, the fraction part of the result (.5) is truncated. The number of rows to fetch is 2 - (@cnt % 2). The idea is that when the count is odd the result of the modulo operation is 1, and you need to fetch 1 row. When the count is even the result of the modulo operation is 0, and you need to fetch 2 rows. By subtracting the 1 or 0 result of the modulo operation from 2, you get the desired 1 or 2, respectively. Finally, to compute the median quantity, take the one or two result quantities, and apply an average after converting the input integer value to a numeric one as follows:

DECLARE @cnt AS INT = (SELECT COUNT(*) FROM [Sales].[production].[stocks]);
SELECT AVG(1.0 * quantity) AS median
FROM ( SELECT quantity
FROM [Sales].[production].[stocks]
ORDER BY quantity
OFFSET (@cnt - 1) / 2 ROWS FETCH NEXT 2 - @cnt % 2 ROWS ONLY ) AS D;

In my solution table is a student table having marks column only and I am calculating median of marks and this solution is based on SQL server 2019

with total_c as ( --Total_c CTE counts total number of rows in a table
    select count(*) as n from student
),
even as ( --Even CTE extract two middle rows if the number of rows are even
    select marks from student 
    order by marks 
    offset (select n from total_c)/2 -1 rows
    fetch next 2 rows only
),
odd as ( --Odd CTE extract middle row if the number of rows are odd
    select marks from student 
    order by marks 
    offset (select n + 1 from total_c)/2 -1 rows
    fetch next 1 rows only
    )
--Case statement helps to select odd or even CTE based on number of rows
select                                                        
case when n%2 = 0 then (select avg(cast(marks as float)) from even)
    else (select marks from odd)
end as med_marks
from total_c

This code is a bit lengthy, but easy to understand

medi is table which has column 'val' which has dataset, smedi is a cte which has column idx as rownumber and vals as 'val' from medi table which is sorted in ascending order. Then its basic math, if row number is odd then its middle value from smedi. and when its even its average of middle two values.

with smedi(idx,vals) as(
                select ROW_NUMBER() over(order by val),val from medi
                )
select (case
            when (select count(*) from medi)%2!=0 then (select vals from smedi where (((select count(*) from medi)/2))=idx)
            else (select avg(vals) from smedi where idx in ((select count(*)/2 from medi),(select (count(*)/2)+1 from medi)))
            end)

Try the below logic to find out the median:

Consider a table with the below numbers: 1,1,2,3,4,5

THE MEDIAN is 2.5

with tempa as 
(
    select num,count(num) over() as Cnt,
        row_number() over (order by num) as Rnum
    from temp),
tempb as
    (
        select round(cnt/2) as ref_value
        from tempa where mod(cnt,2)<>0
        union all
        select round(cnt/2) from tempa where mod(cnt,2)=0
        union all
        select round(cnt/2+1)
        from tempa where mod(cnt,2)=0
    )
select avg(num) from tempa
where rnum in (select * from tempb);