This guide is specifically for PostgreSQL syntax.

How to Get Second Highest Value in SQL

Find the second highest salary or value using subquery or LIMIT OFFSET.

Quick Answer

SELECT MAX(salary) FROM employees WHERE salary < (SELECT MAX(salary) FROM employees);

Explanation

The subquery approach finds the max excluding the actual max. LIMIT OFFSET skips the first result. DENSE_RANK handles ties correctly.

Query Variants

Subquery

SELECT MAX(salary) FROM employees
WHERE salary < (SELECT MAX(salary) FROM employees);

Limit Offset

SELECT DISTINCT salary FROM employees
ORDER BY salary DESC
LIMIT 1 OFFSET 1;

Nth Highest

SELECT salary FROM (
  SELECT salary, DENSE_RANK() OVER (ORDER BY salary DESC) as rank
  FROM employees
) ranked WHERE rank = 2;

Pro Tips

• Use DENSE_RANK for handling ties
• DISTINCT prevents duplicate results
• Adjust OFFSET for Nth highest value

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PostgreSQL-Specific Notes

This page covers PostgreSQL syntax. Other databases may have different syntax for similar operations.