50 SQL Interview Queries
1. Find duplicate records in a table
SELECT column1, column2, COUNT(*)
FROM your_table
GROUP BY column1, column2
HAVING COUNT(*) > 1;
2. Retrieve the second highest salary from the Employee table
SELECT MAX(salary) AS SecondHighestSalary
FROM Employee
WHERE salary < (SELECT MAX(salary) FROM Employee);
3. Find employees without department (Left Join usage)
SELECT e.*
FROM Employee e
LEFT JOIN Department d
ON e.department_id = d.department_id
WHERE d.department_id IS NULL;
4. Calculate the total revenue per product
SELECT product_id, SUM(quantity * price) AS total_revenue
FROM Sales
GROUP BY product_id;
5. Get the top 3 highest-paid employees
SELECT TOP 3 *
FROM Employee
ORDER BY salary DESC;
6. Customers who made purchases but never returned products
SELECT DISTINCT c.customer_id
FROM Customers c
JOIN Orders o ON c.customer_id = o.customer_id
WHERE c.customer_id NOT IN (SELECT customer_id FROM Returns);
7. Show the count of orders per customer
SELECT customer_id, COUNT(*) AS order_count
FROM Orders
GROUP BY customer_id;
8. Retrieve all employees who joined in 2023
SELECT *
FROM Employee
WHERE YEAR(hire_date) = 2023;
9. Calculate the average order value per customer
SELECT customer_id, AVG(total_amount) AS avg_order_value
FROM Orders
GROUP BY customer_id;
10. Get the latest order placed by each customer
SELECT customer_id, MAX(order_date) AS latest_order_date
FROM Orders
GROUP BY customer_id;
11. Find products that were never sold
SELECT p.product_id
FROM Products p
LEFT JOIN Sales s ON p.product_id = s.product_id
WHERE s.product_id IS NULL;
12. Identify the most selling product
SELECT TOP 1 product_id, SUM(quantity) AS total_qty
FROM Sales
GROUP BY product_id
ORDER BY total_qty DESC;
13. Get the total revenue and the number of orders per region
SELECT region, SUM(total_amount) AS total_revenue, COUNT(*) AS order_count
FROM Orders
GROUP BY region;
14. Count how many customers placed more than 5 orders
SELECT COUNT(*) AS customer_count FROM (
SELECT customer_id FROM Orders GROUP BY customer_id
HAVING COUNT(*) > 5
) AS subquery;
15. Retrieve customers with orders above the average order value
SELECT *
FROM Orders
WHERE total_amount > (SELECT AVG(total_amount) FROM Orders);
16. Find all employees hired on weekends
SELECT *
FROM Employee
WHERE DATENAME(WEEKDAY, hire_date) IN ('Saturday', 'Sunday');
17. Find all employees with salaries between 50,000 and 100,000
SELECT *
FROM Employee
WHERE salary BETWEEN 50000 AND 100000;
18. Get monthly sales revenue and order count
SELECT FORMAT(date, 'yyyy-MM') AS month,
SUM(amount) AS total_revenue,
COUNT(order_id) AS order_count
FROM Orders
GROUP BY FORMAT(date, 'yyyy-MM');
19. Rank employees by salary within each department
SELECT employee_id, department_id, salary,
RANK() OVER (PARTITION BY department_id ORDER BY salary DESC) AS salary_rk
FROM Employee;
20. Find customers who placed orders every month in 2023
SELECT customer_id
FROM Orders
WHERE YEAR(order_date) = 2023
GROUP BY customer_id
HAVING COUNT(DISTINCT FORMAT(order_date,'yyyy-MM')) = 12;
21. Find moving average of sales over the last 3 days
SELECT order_date,
AVG(total_amount) OVER (ORDER BY order_date ROWS BETWEEN 2 PRECEDING AND CURRENT
ROW) AS moving_avg
FROM Orders;
22. Identify the first and last order date for each customer
SELECT customer_id,
MIN(order_date) AS first_order,
MAX(order_date) AS last_order
FROM Orders
GROUP BY customer_id;
23. Show product sales distribution (percent of total revenue)
WITH TotalRevenue AS (
SELECT SUM(quantity * price) AS total FROM Sales
)
SELECT s.product_id,
SUM(s.quantity * s.price) AS revenue,
SUM(s.quantity * s.price) * 100/ t.total AS revenue_pct
FROM Sales s CROSS JOIN TotalRevenue t
GROUP BY s.product_id, t.total;
24. Retrieve customers who made consecutive purchases (2 Days)
WITH cte AS (
SELECT id, order_date,
LAG(order_date) OVER (PARTITION BY id ORDER BY order_date) AS prev_order_date
FROM Orders
)
SELECT id, order_date, prev_order_date
FROM cte
WHERE DATEDIFF(DAY, prev_order_date, order_date) = 1;
25. Find churned customers (no orders in the last 6 months)
SELECT customer_id
FROM Orders
GROUP BY customer_id
HAVING MAX(order_date) < DATEADD(MONTH, -6, GETDATE());
26. Calculate cumulative revenue by day
SELECT order_date,
SUM(total_amount) OVER (ORDER BY order_date) AS cumulative_revenue
FROM Orders;
27. Identify top-performing departments by average salary
SELECT department_id,
AVG(salary) AS avg_salary
FROM Employee
GROUP BY department_id
ORDER BY avg_salary DESC;
28. Find customers who ordered more than the average number of orders per customer
WITH customer_orders AS (
SELECT customer_id, COUNT(*) AS order_count FROM Orders
GROUP BY customer_id
)
SELECT * FROM customer_orders
WHERE order_count > (SELECT AVG(order_count) FROM customer_orders);
29. Calculate revenue generated from new customers (first-time orders)
WITH first_orders AS (
SELECT customer_id, MIN(order_date) AS first_order_date FROM Orders
GROUP BY customer_id
)
SELECT SUM(o.total_amount) AS new_revenue
FROM Orders o JOIN first_orders f ON o.customer_id = f.customer_id
WHERE o.order_date = f.first_order_date;
30. Find the percentage of employees in each department
SELECT department_id,
COUNT(*) AS emp_count,
COUNT(*) * 100.0 / (SELECT COUNT(*) FROM Employee) AS pct
FROM Employee
GROUP BY department_id;
31. Retrieve the maximum salary difference within each department
SELECT department_id,
MAX(salary) - MIN(salary) AS salary_diff
FROM Employee
GROUP BY department_id;
32. Find products that contribute to 80% of the revenue (Pareto Principle)
WITH sales_cte AS (
SELECT product_id, SUM(qty * price) AS revenue
FROM Sales GROUP BY product_id
),
total_revenue AS (
SELECT SUM(revenue) AS total FROM sales_cte
)
SELECT s.product_id, s.revenue,
SUM(s.revenue) OVER (ORDER BY s.revenue DESC ROWS BETWEEN UNBOUNDED PRECEDING AND
CURRENT ROW) AS running_total
FROM sales_cte s, total_revenue t
WHERE SUM(s.revenue) OVER (ORDER BY s.revenue DESC ROWS BETWEEN UNBOUNDED PRECEDING AND
CURRENT ROW) <= t.total * 0.8;
33. Calculate average time between two purchases for each customer
WITH cte AS (
SELECT customer_id, order_date,
LAG(order_date) OVER (PARTITION BY customer_id ORDER BY order_date) AS
prev_date
FROM Orders
)
SELECT customer_id,
AVG(DATEDIFF(DAY, prev_date, order_date)) AS avg_gap_days
FROM cte
WHERE prev_date IS NOT NULL
GROUP BY customer_id;
34. Show last purchase for each customer along with order amount
WITH ranked_orders AS (
SELECT customer_id, order_id, total_amount,
ROW_NUMBER() OVER (PARTITION BY customer_id ORDER BY order_date DESC) AS rn
FROM Orders
)
SELECT customer_id, order_id, total_amount
FROM ranked_orders
WHERE rn = 1;
35. Calculate year-over-year growth in revenue
SELECT FORMAT(order_date, 'yyyy') AS year,
SUM(total_amount) AS revenue,
SUM(total_amount) - LAG(SUM(total_amount)) OVER (ORDER BY FORMAT(order_date,
'yyyy')) AS yoy_growth
FROM Orders
GROUP BY FORMAT(order_date, 'yyyy');
36. Detect customers whose purchase amount is higher than their historical 90th percentile
WITH ranked_orders AS (
SELECT customer_id, order_id, total_amount,
NTILE(10) OVER (PARTITION BY customer_id ORDER BY total_amount) AS decile
FROM Orders
)
SELECT customer_id, order_id, total_amount
FROM ranked_orders
WHERE decile = 10;
37. Find continuous login streaks (e.g., users who logged in 3 or more consecutive days)
WITH cte AS (
SELECT user_id, login_date,
DATEDIFF(DAY, ROW_NUMBER() OVER (PARTITION BY user_id ORDER BY login_date),
login_date) AS grp
FROM Logins
)
SELECT user_id,
MIN(login_date) AS streak_start,
MAX(login_date) AS streak_end,
COUNT(*) AS streak_length
FROM cte
GROUP BY user_id, grp
HAVING COUNT(*) >= 3;
38. Calculate customer retention by month (Cohort analysis)
WITH Cohorts AS (
SELECT customer_id,
MIN(DATEFROMPARTS(YEAR(order_date), MONTH(order_date), 1)) AS cohort_month
FROM Orders
GROUP BY customer_id
),
OrdersByMonth AS (
SELECT customer_id,
DATEFROMPARTS(YEAR(order_date), MONTH(order_date), 1) AS order_month
FROM Orders
)
SELECT c.cohort_month, o.order_month,
COUNT(DISTINCT o.customer_id) AS active_customers
FROM Cohorts c
JOIN OrdersByMonth o ON c.customer_id = o.customer_id
GROUP BY c.cohort_month, o.order_month;
39. Find products that are always sold together (Market basket analysis)
SELECT A.product_id AS product_A,
B.product_id AS product_B,
COUNT(*) AS count_together
FROM Order_Details A
JOIN Order_Details B ON A.order_id = B.order_id AND A.product_id < B.product_id
GROUP BY A.product_id, B.product_id
HAVING COUNT(*) > 10;
40. Calculate income inequality (Gini coefficient)
WITH income_cte AS (
SELECT salary,
SUM(salary) OVER (ORDER BY salary) AS cum_income,
COUNT(*) OVER() AS n,
ROW_NUMBER() OVER (ORDER BY salary) AS r
FROM Employee
)
SELECT 1 - (2 * SUM((cum_income) / (SUM(salary) OVER()) * (1.0 / n))) AS
gini_coefficient
FROM income_cte;
41. Compute the day when cumulative revenue first exceeded 50% of total revenue (median
sales day)
WITH cte AS (
SELECT order_date, SUM(total_amount) AS daily_rev
FROM Orders GROUP BY order_date
),
cum_cte AS (
SELECT order_date, daily_rev,
SUM(daily_rev) OVER (ORDER BY order_date) AS cum_rev,
SUM(daily_rev) OVER() AS total_rev
FROM cte
)
SELECT TOP 1 order_date
FROM cum_cte
WHERE cum_rev >= total_rev / 2
ORDER BY order_date;
42. Find percentiles (25th, 50th, 75th) of employee salaries
SELECT
(SELECT PERCENTILE_CONT(0.25) WITHIN GROUP (ORDER BY salary) OVER () FROM Employee)
AS p25,
(SELECT PERCENTILE_CONT(0.50) WITHIN GROUP (ORDER BY salary) OVER () FROM Employee)
AS p50,
(SELECT PERCENTILE_CONT(0.75) WITHIN GROUP (ORDER BY salary) OVER () FROM Employee)
AS p75;
43. Retrieve customers with increasing order amounts over their last 3 orders
WITH cte AS (
SELECT customer_id, order_date, total_amount,
LAG(total_amount, 2) OVER (PARTITION BY customer_id ORDER BY order_date) AS
amt_t_minus_2,
LAG(total_amount, 1) OVER (PARTITION BY customer_id ORDER BY order_date) AS
amt_t_minus_1
FROM Orders
)
SELECT customer_id, order_date, total_amount
FROM cte
WHERE amt_t_minus_2 < amt_t_minus_1 AND amt_t_minus_1 < total_amount;
44. Calculate conversion funnel between different stages (e.g., visits → signups → purchases)
SELECT
SUM(CASE WHEN stage = 'visit' THEN 1 ELSE 0 END) AS visits,
SUM(CASE WHEN stage = 'sign_up' THEN 1 ELSE 0 END) AS sign_ups,
SUM(CASE WHEN stage = 'purchase' THEN 1 ELSE 0 END) AS purchases
FROM Funnel;
45. Find the percentage of total sales contributed by top 10% of customers
WITH cte AS (
SELECT customer_id, SUM(total_amount) AS revenue
FROM Orders GROUP BY customer_id
),
ranked AS (
SELECT *, NTILE(10) OVER (ORDER BY revenue DESC) AS decile FROM cte
)
SELECT SUM(revenue) * 100.0 / (SELECT SUM(revenue) FROM cte) AS pct_top_10
FROM ranked
WHERE decile = 1;
46. Calculate weekly active users
SELECT DATEPART(YEAR, login_date) AS year,
DATEPART(WEEK, login_date) AS week,
COUNT(DISTINCT user_id) AS wau
FROM Logins
GROUP BY DATEPART(YEAR, login_date),
DATEPART(WEEK, login_date);
47. Find employees with salary higher than department average
WITH dept_avg AS (
SELECT department_id, AVG(salary) AS avg_salary
FROM Employee
GROUP BY department_id
)
SELECT e.*
FROM Employee e JOIN dept_avg d ON e.department_id = d.department_id
WHERE e.salary > d.avg_salary;
48. Calculate time between user signup and their first purchase
WITH first_purchase AS (
SELECT user_id, MIN(purchase_date) AS first_purchase_date
FROM Purchases
GROUP BY user_id
)
SELECT u.user_id,
DATEDIFF(DAY, u.signup_date, f.first_purchase_date) AS days_to_purchase
FROM Users u JOIN first_purchase f ON u.user_id = f.user_id;
49. Retrieve the longest gap between orders for each customer
WITH cte AS (
SELECT customer_id, order_date,
LAG(order_date) OVER (PARTITION BY customer_id ORDER BY order_date) AS
prev_order_date
FROM Orders
)
SELECT customer_id, MAX(DATEDIFF(DAY, prev_order_date, order_date)) AS max_gap
FROM cte
WHERE prev_order_date IS NOT NULL
GROUP BY customer_id;
50. Identify customers with revenue below the 10th percentile
WITH cte AS (
SELECT customer_id, SUM(total_amount) AS total_revenue
FROM Orders
GROUP BY customer_id
)
SELECT customer_id, total_revenue
FROM cte
WHERE total_revenue < (SELECT PERCENTILE_CONT(0.1) WITHIN GROUP (ORDER BY total_revenue)
FROM cte);
