How to Calculate Percent Change in Pandas

You can use the pct_change() function to calculate the percent change between values in pandas:

#calculate percent change between values in pandas Series
s.pct_change()

#calculate percent change between rows in pandas DataFrame
df['column_name'].pct_change()

The following examples show how to use this function in practice.

Example 1: Percent Change in pandas Series

The following code shows how to calculate percent change between values in a pandas Series:

import pandas as pd

#create pandas Series
s = pd.Series([6, 14, 12, 18, 19])

#calculate percent change between consecutive values
s.pct_change() 

0         NaN
1    1.333333
2   -0.142857
3    0.500000
4    0.055556
dtype: float64

Here’s how these values were calculated:

• Index 1: (14 – 6) / 6 = 1.333333
• Index 2: (12 – 14) / 14 = -.142857
• Index 3: (18 – 12) / 12 = 0.5
• Index 4: (19 – 18) / 18 = .055556

Note that you can also use the periods argument to calculate the percent change between values at different intervals:

import pandas as pd

#create pandas Series
s = pd.Series([6, 14, 12, 18, 19])

#calculate percent change between values 2 positions apart
s.pct_change(periods=2) 

0         NaN
1         NaN
2    1.000000
3    0.285714
4    0.583333
dtype: float64

Here’s how these values were calculated:

• Index 2: (12 – 6) / 6 = 1.000000
• Index 3: (18 – 14) / 14 = 0.285714
• Index 4: (19 – 12) / 12 = .583333

Example 2: Percent Change in pandas DataFrame

The following code shows how to calculate the percent change between consecutive rows in a pandas DataFrame:

import pandas as pd

#create DataFrame
df = pd.DataFrame({'period': [1, 2, 3, 4, 5],
                   'sales': [6, 7, 7, 9, 12]}) 

#view DataFrame
df

        period	sales
0	1	6
1	2	7
2	3	7
3	4	9
4	5	12

#calculate percent change between consecutive values in 'sales' column
df['sales_pct_change'] = df['sales'].pct_change()

#view updated DataFrame
df

	period	sales	sales_pct_change
0	1	6	NaN
1	2	7	0.166667
2	3	7	0.000000
3	4	9	0.285714
4	5	12	0.333333

Here is how these values were calculated:

• Index 1: (7 – 6) / 6 = .166667
• Index 2: (7 – 7) / 7 = 0.000000
• Index 3: (9 – 7) / 7 = .285714
• Index 4: (12 – 9) / 9 = .333333

You can find the complete documentation for the pct_change() function here.

Additional Resources

How to Calculate the Mean of Columns in Pandas
How to Calculate the Median in Pandas
How to Calculate a Rolling Mean in Pandas
How to Calculate Rolling Correlation in Pandas