2019 UPDATE: In the 10 years since I wrote this answer, more solutions have been uncovered that may yield better results. Also, SQL Server releases since then (especially SQL 2012) have introduced new T-SQL features that can be used to calculate medians. SQL Server releases have also improved its query optimizer which may affect perf of various median solutions. Net-net, my original 2009 post is still OK but there may be better solutions on for modern SQL Server apps. Take a look at this article from 2012 which is a great resource: https://sqlperformance.com/2012/08/t-sql-queries/median

本文发现，以下模式比所有其他选择都要快得多，至少在他们测试的简单模式上是这样。该解决方案比测试的最慢解决方案(PERCENTILE_CONT)快373x (!!)注意，这个技巧需要两个独立的查询，这可能不是在所有情况下都可行。它还需要SQL 2012或更高版本。

DECLARE @c BIGINT = (SELECT COUNT(*) FROM dbo.EvenRows);

SELECT AVG(1.0 * val)
FROM (
    SELECT val FROM dbo.EvenRows
     ORDER BY val
     OFFSET (@c - 1) / 2 ROWS
     FETCH NEXT 1 + (1 - @c % 2) ROWS ONLY
) AS x;

当然，仅仅因为2012年对一个模式的一次测试产生了很好的结果，您的实际情况可能会有所不同，特别是如果您使用的是SQL Server 2014或更高版本。如果性能对中值计算很重要，我强烈建议尝试并测试那篇文章中推荐的几个选项，以确保您找到了最适合您的模式的选项。

我还会特别小心地使用(SQL Server 2012新增的)函数PERCENTILE_CONT，这是这个问题的其他答案之一中推荐的，因为上面链接的文章发现这个内置函数比最快的解决方案慢373x。在过去的7年里，这种差异可能已经得到了改善，但就我个人而言，在验证它与其他解决方案的性能之前，我不会在大型表上使用这个函数。

2009年的原始帖子如下:

有很多方法可以做到这一点，它们的性能差别很大。下面是一个优化得特别好的解决方案，包括median、ROW_NUMBERs和性能。当涉及到执行期间生成的实际I/ o时，这是一个特别优的解决方案——它看起来比其他解决方案成本更高，但实际上要快得多。

该页还包含对其他解决方案和性能测试细节的讨论。请注意，如果有多行具有相同的中位数列值，则使用唯一列作为消歧器。

就像所有的数据库性能场景一样，总是尝试在真实的硬件上用真实的数据测试解决方案——你永远不知道什么时候对SQL Server优化器的更改或环境中的某个特性会使正常快速的解决方案变慢。

SELECT
   CustomerId,
   AVG(TotalDue)
FROM
(
   SELECT
      CustomerId,
      TotalDue,
      -- SalesOrderId in the ORDER BY is a disambiguator to break ties
      ROW_NUMBER() OVER (
         PARTITION BY CustomerId
         ORDER BY TotalDue ASC, SalesOrderId ASC) AS RowAsc,
      ROW_NUMBER() OVER (
         PARTITION BY CustomerId
         ORDER BY TotalDue DESC, SalesOrderId DESC) AS RowDesc
   FROM Sales.SalesOrderHeader SOH
) x
WHERE
   RowAsc IN (RowDesc, RowDesc - 1, RowDesc + 1)
GROUP BY CustomerId
ORDER BY CustomerId;

这适用于SQL 2000:

DECLARE @testTable TABLE 
( 
    VALUE   INT
)
--INSERT INTO @testTable -- Even Test
--SELECT 3 UNION ALL
--SELECT 5 UNION ALL
--SELECT 7 UNION ALL
--SELECT 12 UNION ALL
--SELECT 13 UNION ALL
--SELECT 14 UNION ALL
--SELECT 21 UNION ALL
--SELECT 23 UNION ALL
--SELECT 23 UNION ALL
--SELECT 23 UNION ALL
--SELECT 23 UNION ALL
--SELECT 29 UNION ALL
--SELECT 40 UNION ALL
--SELECT 56

--
--INSERT INTO @testTable -- Odd Test
--SELECT 3 UNION ALL
--SELECT 5 UNION ALL
--SELECT 7 UNION ALL
--SELECT 12 UNION ALL
--SELECT 13 UNION ALL
--SELECT 14 UNION ALL
--SELECT 21 UNION ALL
--SELECT 23 UNION ALL
--SELECT 23 UNION ALL
--SELECT 23 UNION ALL
--SELECT 23 UNION ALL
--SELECT 29 UNION ALL
--SELECT 39 UNION ALL
--SELECT 40 UNION ALL
--SELECT 56


DECLARE @RowAsc TABLE
(
    ID      INT IDENTITY,
    Amount  INT
)

INSERT INTO @RowAsc
SELECT  VALUE 
FROM    @testTable 
ORDER BY VALUE ASC

SELECT  AVG(amount)
FROM @RowAsc ra
WHERE ra.id IN
(
    SELECT  ID 
    FROM    @RowAsc
    WHERE   ra.id -
    (
        SELECT  MAX(id) / 2.0 
        FROM    @RowAsc
    ) BETWEEN 0 AND 1

)

--Create Temp Table to Store Results in
DECLARE @results AS TABLE 
(
    [Month] datetime not null
 ,[Median] int not null
);

--This variable will determine the date
DECLARE @IntDate as int 
set @IntDate = -13


WHILE (@IntDate < 0) 
BEGIN

--Create Temp Table
DECLARE @table AS TABLE 
(
    [Rank] int not null
 ,[Days Open] int not null
);

--Insert records into Temp Table
insert into @table 

SELECT 
    rank() OVER (ORDER BY DATEADD(mm, DATEDIFF(mm, 0, DATEADD(ss, SVR.close_date, '1970')), 0), DATEDIFF(day,DATEADD(ss, SVR.open_date, '1970'),DATEADD(ss, SVR.close_date, '1970')),[SVR].[ref_num]) as [Rank]
 ,DATEDIFF(day,DATEADD(ss, SVR.open_date, '1970'),DATEADD(ss, SVR.close_date, '1970')) as [Days Open]
FROM
 mdbrpt.dbo.View_Request SVR
 LEFT OUTER JOIN dbo.dtv_apps_systems vapp 
 on SVR.category = vapp.persid
 LEFT OUTER JOIN dbo.prob_ctg pctg 
 on SVR.category = pctg.persid
 Left Outer Join [mdbrpt].[dbo].[rootcause] as [Root Cause] 
 on [SVR].[rootcause]=[Root Cause].[id]
 Left Outer Join [mdbrpt].[dbo].[cr_stat] as [Status]
 on [SVR].[status]=[Status].[code]
 LEFT OUTER JOIN [mdbrpt].[dbo].[net_res] as [net] 
 on [net].[id]=SVR.[affected_rc]
WHERE
 SVR.Type IN ('P') 
 AND
 SVR.close_date IS NOT NULL 
 AND
 [Status].[SYM] = 'Closed'
 AND
 SVR.parent is null
 AND
 [Root Cause].[sym] in ( 'RC - Application','RC - Hardware', 'RC - Operational', 'RC - Unknown')
 AND
 (
  [vapp].[appl_name] in ('3PI','Billing Rpts/Files','Collabrent','Reports','STMS','STMS 2','Telco','Comergent','OOM','C3-BAU','C3-DD','DIRECTV','DIRECTV Sales','DIRECTV Self Care','Dealer Website','EI Servlet','Enterprise Integration','ET','ICAN','ODS','SB-SCM','SeeBeyond','Digital Dashboard','IVR','OMS','Order Services','Retail Services','OSCAR','SAP','CTI','RIO','RIO Call Center','RIO Field Services','FSS-RIO3','TAOS','TCS')
 OR
  pctg.sym in ('Systems.Release Health Dashboard.Problem','DTV QA Test.Enterprise Release.Deferred Defect Log')
 AND  
  [Net].[nr_desc] in ('3PI','Billing Rpts/Files','Collabrent','Reports','STMS','STMS 2','Telco','Comergent','OOM','C3-BAU','C3-DD','DIRECTV','DIRECTV Sales','DIRECTV Self Care','Dealer Website','EI Servlet','Enterprise Integration','ET','ICAN','ODS','SB-SCM','SeeBeyond','Digital Dashboard','IVR','OMS','Order Services','Retail Services','OSCAR','SAP','CTI','RIO','RIO Call Center','RIO Field Services','FSS-RIO3','TAOS','TCS')
 )
 AND
 DATEADD(mm, DATEDIFF(mm, 0, DATEADD(ss, SVR.close_date, '1970')), 0) = DATEADD(mm, DATEDIFF(mm,0,DATEADD(mm,@IntDate,getdate())), 0)
ORDER BY [Days Open]



DECLARE @Count AS INT
SELECT @Count = COUNT(*) FROM @table;

WITH MyResults(RowNo, [Days Open]) AS
(
    SELECT RowNo, [Days Open] FROM
        (SELECT ROW_NUMBER() OVER (ORDER BY [Days Open]) AS RowNo, [Days Open] FROM @table) AS Foo
)


insert into @results
SELECT 
 DATEADD(mm, DATEDIFF(mm,0,DATEADD(mm,@IntDate,getdate())), 0) as [Month]
 ,AVG([Days Open])as [Median] FROM MyResults WHERE RowNo = (@Count+1)/2 OR RowNo = ((@Count+1)%2) * ((@Count+2)/2) 


set @IntDate = @IntDate+1
DELETE FROM @table
END

select *
from @results
order by [Month]

从员工表中得到工资的中位数

with cte as (select salary, ROW_NUMBER() over (order by salary asc) as num from employees)

select avg(salary) from cte where num in ((select (count(*)+1)/2 from employees), (select (count(*)+2)/2 from employees));

我尝试了几种替代方案，但由于我的数据记录有重复的值，ROW_NUMBER版本似乎不是我的选择。这里是我使用的查询(NTILE版本):

SELECT distinct
   CustomerId,
   (
       MAX(CASE WHEN Percent50_Asc=1 THEN TotalDue END) OVER (PARTITION BY CustomerId)  +
       MIN(CASE WHEN Percent50_desc=1 THEN TotalDue END) OVER (PARTITION BY CustomerId) 
   )/2 MEDIAN
FROM
(
   SELECT
      CustomerId,
      TotalDue,
     NTILE(2) OVER (
         PARTITION BY CustomerId
         ORDER BY TotalDue ASC) AS Percent50_Asc,
     NTILE(2) OVER (
         PARTITION BY CustomerId
         ORDER BY TotalDue DESC) AS Percent50_desc
   FROM Sales.SalesOrderHeader SOH
) x
ORDER BY CustomerId;

对于像我这样正在学习基础知识的新手来说，我个人觉得这个例子更容易理解，因为它更容易理解到底发生了什么以及中值来自哪里……

select
 ( max(a.[Value1]) + min(a.[Value1]) ) / 2 as [Median Value1]
,( max(a.[Value2]) + min(a.[Value2]) ) / 2 as [Median Value2]

from (select
    datediff(dd,startdate,enddate) as [Value1]
    ,xxxxxxxxxxxxxx as [Value2]
     from dbo.table1
     )a

不过，对上面的一些代码绝对敬畏!!