How to Calculate a Percentage Increase

Understanding how to calculate a percentage increase is a valuable skill in both personal finance and business. Whether you’re tracking your savings, monitoring your investments, or evaluating sales growth, knowing this calculation helps you make informed decisions.

Here’s a simple step-by-step guide to calculating a percentage increase:

1. Identify the original value and the new value.
   Let’s say you want to determine the percentage increase in your monthly savings. Last month, you saved $200 (original value), and this month you saved $250 (new value).

2. Subtract the original value from the new value.

   Increase = New Value - Original Value
   

   In our example:

   250 - 200 = 50
   

3. Divide the increase by the original value.

   Increase Ratio = Increase / Original Value
   

   For our example:

   50 / 200 = 0.25
   

4. Multiply the result by 100 to get the percentage.

   Percentage Increase = Increase Ratio * 100
   

   Continuing with the example:

   0.25 * 100 = 25%
   

So, the percentage increase in your savings is 25%. This method can be applied to any scenario where you need to determine the percentage growth between two values. Happy calculating!