基于@bob的回答，这将查询泛化为能够返回多个中位数，并按某些标准分组。

想想，例如，一个车场二手车的中位数销售价格，按年-月分组。

SELECT 
    period, 
    AVG(middle_values) AS 'median' 
FROM (
    SELECT t1.sale_price AS 'middle_values', t1.row_num, t1.period, t2.count
    FROM (
        SELECT 
            @last_period:=@period AS 'last_period',
            @period:=DATE_FORMAT(sale_date, '%Y-%m') AS 'period',
            IF (@period<>@last_period, @row:=1, @row:=@row+1) as `row_num`, 
            x.sale_price
          FROM listings AS x, (SELECT @row:=0) AS r
          WHERE 1
            -- where criteria goes here
          ORDER BY DATE_FORMAT(sale_date, '%Y%m'), x.sale_price
        ) AS t1
    LEFT JOIN (  
          SELECT COUNT(*) as 'count', DATE_FORMAT(sale_date, '%Y-%m') AS 'period'
          FROM listings x
          WHERE 1
            -- same where criteria goes here
          GROUP BY DATE_FORMAT(sale_date, '%Y%m')
        ) AS t2
        ON t1.period = t2.period
    ) AS t3
WHERE 
    row_num >= (count/2) 
    AND row_num <= ((count/2) + 1)
GROUP BY t3.period
ORDER BY t3.period;

安装和使用本mysql统计函数:http://www.xarg.org/2012/07/statistical-functions-in-mysql/

之后，计算中值就很简单了:

SELECT median(val) FROM data;

按维度分组的中位数:

SELECT your_dimension, avg(t1.val) as median_val FROM (
SELECT @rownum:=@rownum+1 AS `row_number`,
   IF(@dim <> d.your_dimension, @rownum := 0, NULL),
   @dim := d.your_dimension AS your_dimension,
   d.val
   FROM data d,  (SELECT @rownum:=0) r, (SELECT @dim := 'something_unreal') d
  WHERE 1
  -- put some where clause here
  ORDER BY d.your_dimension, d.val
) as t1
INNER JOIN  
(
  SELECT d.your_dimension,
    count(*) as total_rows
  FROM data d
  WHERE 1
  -- put same where clause here
  GROUP BY d.your_dimension
) as t2 USING(your_dimension)
WHERE 1
AND t1.row_number in ( floor((total_rows+1)/2), floor((total_rows+2)/2) )

GROUP BY your_dimension;

来自: http://mdb-blog.blogspot.com/2015/06/mysql-find-median-nth-element-without.html

我建议另一种方法，不用连接， 但是处理字符串

我没有用大数据表来检验， 但是中小型的桌子就可以了。

这里的好处是，它也可以通过GROUPING工作，所以它可以返回几个项目的中值。

下面是测试表的测试代码:

DROP TABLE test.test_median
CREATE TABLE test.test_median AS
SELECT 'book' AS grp, 4 AS val UNION ALL
SELECT 'book', 7 UNION ALL
SELECT 'book', 2 UNION ALL
SELECT 'book', 2 UNION ALL
SELECT 'book', 9 UNION ALL
SELECT 'book', 8 UNION ALL
SELECT 'book', 3 UNION ALL

SELECT 'note', 11 UNION ALL

SELECT 'bike', 22 UNION ALL
SELECT 'bike', 26 

求每组中位数的代码:

SELECT grp,
         SUBSTRING_INDEX( SUBSTRING_INDEX( GROUP_CONCAT(val ORDER BY val), ',', COUNT(*)/2 ), ',', -1) as the_median,
         GROUP_CONCAT(val ORDER BY val) as all_vals_for_debug
FROM test.test_median
GROUP BY grp

输出:

grp | the_median| all_vals_for_debug
bike| 22        | 22,26
book| 4         | 2,2,3,4,7,8,9
note| 11        | 11

因为我只需要一个中位数和百分位数的解决方案，我根据这个线程中的发现做了一个简单而相当灵活的函数。我知道，如果我发现“现成的”功能很容易包含在我的项目中，我自己会很高兴，所以我决定快速分享:

function mysql_percentile($table, $column, $where, $percentile = 0.5) {

    $sql = "
            SELECT `t1`.`".$column."` as `percentile` FROM (
            SELECT @rownum:=@rownum+1 as `row_number`, `d`.`".$column."`
              FROM `".$table."` `d`,  (SELECT @rownum:=0) `r`
              ".$where."
              ORDER BY `d`.`".$column."`
            ) as `t1`, 
            (
              SELECT count(*) as `total_rows`
              FROM `".$table."` `d`
              ".$where."
            ) as `t2`
            WHERE 1
            AND `t1`.`row_number`=floor(`total_rows` * ".$percentile.")+1;
        ";

    $result = sql($sql, 1);

    if (!empty($result)) {
        return $result['percentile'];       
    } else {
        return 0;
    }

}

使用非常简单，例子来自我目前的项目:

...
$table = DBPRE."zip_".$slug;
$column = 'seconds';
$where = "WHERE `reached` = '1' AND `time` >= '".$start_time."'";

    $reaching['median'] = mysql_percentile($table, $column, $where, 0.5);
    $reaching['percentile25'] = mysql_percentile($table, $column, $where, 0.25);
    $reaching['percentile75'] = mysql_percentile($table, $column, $where, 0.75);
...

我下面提出的解决方案只需要一个查询，而不需要创建表、变量甚至子查询。 另外，它可以让你在组-查询(这是我需要的!)

SELECT `columnA`, 
SUBSTRING_INDEX(SUBSTRING_INDEX(GROUP_CONCAT(`columnB` ORDER BY `columnB`), ',', CEILING((COUNT(`columnB`)/2))), ',', -1) medianOfColumnB
FROM `tableC`
-- some where clause if you want
GROUP BY `columnA`;

它之所以能够工作，是因为巧妙地使用了group_concat和substring_index。

但是，为了允许大的group_concat，必须将group_concat_max_len设置为一个更高的值(默认为1024字符)。 你可以这样设置(对于当前的sql会话):

SET SESSION group_concat_max_len = 10000; 
-- up to 4294967295 in 32-bits platform.

有关group_concat_max_len的更多信息:https://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.1/en/server-system-variables.html#sysvar_group_concat_max_len