This page is a quick reference checkpoint for NTILE in MySQL: behavior, syntax rules, edge cases, and a minimal example; plus the official vendor documentation.
NTILE divides the rows into a specified number of buckets and assigns each row a bucket number.
Distributes rows into buckets as evenly as possible; bucket numbers begin at 1.
If this behavior feels unintuitive, the tutorial below explains the underlying pattern step-by-step.
NTILE(n) must be used with an OVER clause and divides rows into n buckets; ORDER BY may be specified.
SELECT NTILE(4) OVER (ORDER BY salary) AS quartile FROM employees;
If you came here to confirm syntax, you’re done. If you came here to get better at window functions, choose your next step.
NTILE is part of a bigger window-function pattern. If you want the “why”, start here: Percentile Distribution
Reading docs is useful. Writing the query correctly under pressure is the skill.
For the authoritative spec, use the vendor docs. This page is the fast “sanity check”.
View MySQL Documentation →Looking for more functions across all SQL dialects? Visit the full SQL Dialects & Window Functions Documentation.