SQL | How to find Nth highest salary from a table

To find the Nth highest salary from a table, there are several approaches you can use, depending on the specific SQL database system you are using. Here are some methods using standard SQL:

Assuming the table is named employees and the salary column is salary.

Using a subquery with the DISTINCT keyword and the LIMIT clause (works for databases that support the LIMIT clause, such as MySQL):

SELECT DISTINCT salary
FROM employees 
ORDER BY salary DESC
LIMIT 1 OFFSET N-1; -- replace N with the desired value

Using the ROW_NUMBER() window function (commonly supported in SQL Server, Oracle, PostgreSQL, etc.):

WITH RankedSalaries AS (
    SELECT salary, ROW_NUMBER() OVER (ORDER BY salary DESC) AS rank
    FROM (SELECT DISTINCT salary FROM employees) AS SubQuery
)
SELECT salary 
FROM RankedSalaries 
WHERE rank = N; -- replace N with the desired value

Using a correlated subquery:

SELECT salary 
FROM employees e1
WHERE N-1 = (SELECT COUNT(DISTINCT e2.salary) 
             FROM employees e2 
             WHERE e2.salary > e1.salary);

Choose the method that best fits your database system and your specific use case. Remember to replace N with the desired rank to get the Nth highest salary.

Finding the Second Highest Salary in SQL:

SELECT MAX(Salary) AS SecondHighestSalary
FROM Employees
WHERE Salary < (SELECT MAX(Salary) FROM Employees);

How to Get the Third Highest Salary Using SQL:

SELECT MAX(Salary) AS ThirdHighestSalary
FROM Employees
WHERE Salary < (SELECT MAX(Salary) FROM Employees WHERE Salary < (SELECT MAX(Salary) FROM Employees));

SQL Query to Find the Top N Salaries from a Table:

SELECT Salary
FROM Employees
ORDER BY Salary DESC
LIMIT 5; -- Change this to the desired value of N

Using ORDER BY and LIMIT for Nth Highest Salary in SQL:

SELECT Salary
FROM Employees
ORDER BY Salary DESC
LIMIT 3; -- Change this to the desired value of N

Ranking and Partitioning for Nth Highest Salary in SQL:

SELECT Salary
FROM (
    SELECT Salary, DENSE_RANK() OVER (ORDER BY Salary DESC) AS SalaryRank
    FROM Employees
) AS RankedSalaries
WHERE SalaryRank = 3; -- Change this to the desired value of N

Finding the Fourth Highest Salary in SQL Database:

SELECT MAX(Salary) AS FourthHighestSalary
FROM Employees
WHERE Salary < (SELECT MAX(Salary) FROM Employees WHERE Salary < (SELECT MAX(Salary) FROM Employees WHERE Salary < (SELECT MAX(Salary) FROM Employees)));

Selecting Top N Salaries from a Table in SQL:

SELECT EmployeeID, Salary
FROM Employees
ORDER BY Salary DESC
FETCH FIRST 5 ROWS ONLY; -- Change this to the desired value of N

Using DENSE_RANK() for Nth Highest Salary in SQL:

SELECT Salary
FROM (
    SELECT Salary, DENSE_RANK() OVER (ORDER BY Salary DESC) AS SalaryRank
    FROM Employees
) AS RankedSalaries
WHERE SalaryRank = 5; -- Change this to the desired value of N

SQL Query to Find the Fifth Highest Salary in a Table:

SELECT MAX(Salary) AS FifthHighestSalary
FROM Employees
WHERE Salary < (SELECT MAX(Salary) FROM Employees WHERE Salary < (SELECT MAX(Salary) FROM Employees WHERE Salary < (SELECT MAX(Salary) FROM Employees WHERE Salary < (SELECT MAX(Salary) FROM Employees))));