Numbers and percentages
Numbers in body of text
Write numbers nine and lower in words; write numbers 10 and over in figures. Spell out any number that begins a sentence, unless the number is a year. Hyphenate spelled-out numbers larger than 20.
Example:
Twenty-one years ago, the Legislature enacted a law governing bridges.
Use the same style to express related numbers above and below ten. If any of the numbers are above ten, put them all in figures.
Examples:
- We used to have two dogs, one cat, and one rabbit.
- We now have 5 dogs, 11 cats and 1 rabbit.
Large numbers
Use commas to separate thousands.
1,000
Spell out million, billion, trillion, etc. after a figure.
1 million
Use decimal points to denote hundreds of thousands, etc.
1.25 million
Percent
Use the % symbol when paired with a numeral, with no space, in most cases. Use figures.
Examples:
- 1%
- 4 percentage points
- Average hourly pay rose 3.1% from a year ago.
- Her mortgage rate is 4.75%.
- About 60% of Americans agreed.
- He won 56.2% of the vote.
Fractions and decimals
Express mixed number in figures, except at the beginning of a sentence.
Best practice is to use decimal points (1.5, 2.75). When spelling out fractions, do not use a hyphen between the whole number and fraction.
Example:
“One and a-half…” at the beginning of a sentence.
Inclusive numbers
Use the word “to” to link two figures that represent a continuous sequence. The only exceptions are references to school years, tax years and the like. In these references, do not abbreviate the second figure.
Examples:
- The latest sales projections indicate an increase this year from $5.2 million to $6.3 million.
- the 1998-1999 fiscal year
Don’t:
- the 1998-99 fiscal year