Interview Questions/SQL/Median Salary Per Department

Median Salary Per Department

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Median Salary Per Department

You are given a table of employee salaries. Each row has an employee name, a department, and a salary. Write a SQL query to find the median salary for each department. For departments with an even number of employees, return the average of the two middle values. Return the result ordered by department. Table: Salaries

Column Name	Type	Description
id	INT	Primary key
employee	VARCHAR	Employee name
department	VARCHAR	Department name
salary	INT	Annual salary

Examples

Example 1

Eng has 4 employees (even). Sorted: 60000, 70000, 80000, 90000. Median = (70000+80000)/2 = 75000. HR has 3 employees (odd). Sorted: 45000, 50000, 55000. Median = 50000.

Approach hint

Start with a simple approach, explain the trade-off, then move toward a cleaner or more scalable solution.

Common mistake

Skipping assumptions, edge cases, or trade-offs can make an otherwise good answer feel incomplete.

query.sql