Average Function in Power BI

Some of the formulas in MS Excel are directly incorporated into Power

BI as well, in fact, there is a group of formulas that are exactly the
same both with MS Excel and Power BI. In this article, we are going to
discuss one of the aggregate functions in Power BI i.e. AVERAGE
DAX Function in detail.

What Does AVERAGE Function Do

in Power BI?
This is very simple this will aggregate the column that we mention and
takes the average value of numerical values. For example, if an
employee has achieved 100 K USD sales value in 12 months then using
the AVERAGE in excel we can get the average sales amount for that
particular employee.
Below is the syntax of the AVERAGE function in Power BI DAX.

Column is simply the numerical column that we need to take the

average of.

Since the AVERAGE function takes only numerical values for its
evaluation we need to be aware of non-numerical values and their
behavior, below are the points to be kept in mind with the non-
numerical values column.

 Any column which contains non-numerical values is ignored for

aggregation and DAX function returns the blank result.
  Logical results like TRUE & FALSE are ignored from
the calculation in Power BI.
 Empty cells are ignored from calculation and cells with 0 are
considered for calculation purposes.

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Examples of AVERAGE Function in

Power BI
Below are examples of the average function in Power BI. You can
download the workbook to use the same file as we used in this
example.
You can download this Power BI Average Excel Template here – Power BI Average
Excel Template

Example #1

We are going to use the above data to demonstrate the AVERAGE

function in Power BI, you can download the excel workbook to
practice along with us.

Steps to use an Average function in Power BI are as follows.

1. Upload the above data table to the Power BI file

This data table name is “Sales_Table”.
2. First, insert table visual to show employee-wise sales values.

3. Now we will try to find the average sales value per month of
each employee. Right-click on the table and choose “New
Measure”.
4. For this new measure give the name “Average Sales per
Month”.

5. Open the AVERAGE function now.

6. For this AVERAGE function we simply need to choose the

column that we need to take the average of, so choose the
“Sales” column.
7. Close the bracket and hit enter key to get the result. Now
measure is created in the table.

8. Drag and drop this new measure to the existing table to get
each employee average sales.
Here we have average sales for each employee.

One more thing you need to know here is without entering the
AVERAGE DAX function also we can get the average total of each
employee.

After dragging and dropping the “Sales” column to the field of the
table or any other visual click on the drop-down list of the “Sales”
column in the fields section.

As soon as you click on this drop-down list we can see these options
for this column.
As of now “SUM” is the current set of actions is performed, so simply
choose the option of “Average” to get the average value instead of
overall summation of values.

As soon as you choose this option our visual shows the average values
not overall sales values.
Example #2
Now scenario situation where you need to create an average measure
in power BI for each individual employee i.e. conditional average
measure. For example, we need to find the average only for the
employee “Ricky”.

So, this can be done by using CALCULATE and FILTER functions along
with the AVERAGE function.

Right-click on the table and choose New Measure and give the name
to this measure as “Avg of Ricky”.

Open the CALCULATE function.

Expression is nothing but the kind of calculation that we need to
perform, in this case, we need to perform AVERAGE calculation, so
open AVERAGE function now.

Choose the necessary column that needs to be considered for

average, in this case, the “Sales” column.

Next, we need to apply the FILTER function to specify for which

employee we need to take the average of, so open FILTER function.

Mention the table name as “Sales_Table”.

For Filter Expression choose the “Sales Person” column.

To apply the filter for one specific employee i.e. “Ricky” put the equal
sign and enter the employee name in double-quotes.

Ok, that’s all close two brackets and hit enter key to get the result.

Now to see how Average DAX measure functioning in power BI will

drag and drop this new measure to the existing table.
As you can see above only for the employee “Ricky” new measure
showing the average value.

Note: Power BI dashboard file can also be downloaded from the link

below and the final output can be viewed.

You can download this Power BI Average Template here – Power BI Average Template

Things to Remember
 Empty cells are ignored and cells with zero value are considered
for average calculation.
 Conditional average performed along with CALCULATE and
FILTER function.

Recommended Articles
This has been a guide to Power BI Average. Here we learn how to use
average Power BI measures with examples as well as using average
Dax formula in Power BI. You may learn more about Power BI from the
following articles –

 Power BI SUMMARIZE
 Drillthrough in Power BI
 Create Bookmarks in Power BI
 Create Dashboard in Power BI