SKEW Function in Excel: Is the Data Lopsided?

⏱ 1 min readUpdated 28 September 2026

StatisticsLevel: ExpertAvailable in: Excel 2007+

In this article
  1. Syntax
  2. Examples
  3. Example 1
  4. Related functions

SKEW is positive when a long tail stretches to the right — typical for salaries and order values, where a few big ones pull the average above the median.

Syntax

=SKEW(number1, [number2], ...)
Argument What it means
number1… At least three values.

Examples

Example 1

=SKEW(E2:E500)

Above 1 means strongly right-skewed: report the median, not the mean.

KURT · MEDIAN

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