---
title: Average
description: Compute the average value of a field
canonical: https://docs.paradedb.com/documentation/aggregates/metrics/average
---

The following query computes the average value over a specific field:

```sql
SELECT pdb.agg('{"avg": {"field": "rating"}}') FROM mock_items
WHERE id @@@ pdb.all();
```

```ini Expected Response
              agg
-------------------------------
 {"value": 3.8536585365853657}
(1 row)
```

See the [Tantivy documentation](https://docs.rs/tantivy/latest/tantivy/aggregation/metric/struct.AverageAggregation.html) for all available options.

## SQL Average Syntax

SQL's `AVERAGE` syntax is supported in beta. To enable it, first run

```sql
SET paradedb.enable_aggregate_custom_scan TO on;
```

With this feature enabled, the following query is equivalent to the above and is executed in the same way.

```sql
SELECT AVG(rating) FROM mock_items
WHERE id @@@ pdb.all();
```

By default, `AVG` ignores null values. Use `COALESCE` to include them in the final average:

```sql
SELECT AVG(COALESCE(rating, 0)) FROM mock_items
WHERE id @@@ pdb.all();
```
