Critical values of χ²
Chi-Square Table: Critical Values with P-Value
A chi-square table for 1 to 30 and 40 to 100 degrees of freedom and ten right-tail areas, plus a calculator for the critical value and the p-value of a statistic.
χ²* = 3.841
Right-tail α = 0.05, 1 degree of freedom.
| df | 0.995 | 0.99 | 0.975 | 0.95 | 0.9 | 0.1 | 0.05 | 0.025 | 0.01 | 0.005 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 0.000039 | 0.000157 | 0.000982 | 0.0039 | 0.0158 | 2.706 | 3.841 | 5.024 | 6.635 | 7.879 |
| 2 | 0.0100 | 0.0201 | 0.0506 | 0.103 | 0.211 | 4.605 | 5.991 | 7.378 | 9.210 | 10.597 |
| 3 | 0.0717 | 0.115 | 0.216 | 0.352 | 0.584 | 6.251 | 7.815 | 9.348 | 11.345 | 12.838 |
| 4 | 0.207 | 0.297 | 0.484 | 0.711 | 1.064 | 7.779 | 9.488 | 11.143 | 13.277 | 14.860 |
| 5 | 0.412 | 0.554 | 0.831 | 1.145 | 1.610 | 9.236 | 11.070 | 12.833 | 15.086 | 16.750 |
| 6 | 0.676 | 0.872 | 1.237 | 1.635 | 2.204 | 10.645 | 12.592 | 14.449 | 16.812 | 18.548 |
| 7 | 0.989 | 1.239 | 1.690 | 2.167 | 2.833 | 12.017 | 14.067 | 16.013 | 18.475 | 20.278 |
| 8 | 1.344 | 1.646 | 2.180 | 2.733 | 3.490 | 13.362 | 15.507 | 17.535 | 20.090 | 21.955 |
| 9 | 1.735 | 2.088 | 2.700 | 3.325 | 4.168 | 14.684 | 16.919 | 19.023 | 21.666 | 23.589 |
| 10 | 2.156 | 2.558 | 3.247 | 3.940 | 4.865 | 15.987 | 18.307 | 20.483 | 23.209 | 25.188 |
| 11 | 2.603 | 3.053 | 3.816 | 4.575 | 5.578 | 17.275 | 19.675 | 21.920 | 24.725 | 26.757 |
| 12 | 3.074 | 3.571 | 4.404 | 5.226 | 6.304 | 18.549 | 21.026 | 23.337 | 26.217 | 28.300 |
| 13 | 3.565 | 4.107 | 5.009 | 5.892 | 7.042 | 19.812 | 22.362 | 24.736 | 27.688 | 29.819 |
| 14 | 4.075 | 4.660 | 5.629 | 6.571 | 7.790 | 21.064 | 23.685 | 26.119 | 29.141 | 31.319 |
| 15 | 4.601 | 5.229 | 6.262 | 7.261 | 8.547 | 22.307 | 24.996 | 27.488 | 30.578 | 32.801 |
| 16 | 5.142 | 5.812 | 6.908 | 7.962 | 9.312 | 23.542 | 26.296 | 28.845 | 32.000 | 34.267 |
| 17 | 5.697 | 6.408 | 7.564 | 8.672 | 10.085 | 24.769 | 27.587 | 30.191 | 33.409 | 35.718 |
| 18 | 6.265 | 7.015 | 8.231 | 9.390 | 10.865 | 25.989 | 28.869 | 31.526 | 34.805 | 37.156 |
| 19 | 6.844 | 7.633 | 8.907 | 10.117 | 11.651 | 27.204 | 30.144 | 32.852 | 36.191 | 38.582 |
| 20 | 7.434 | 8.260 | 9.591 | 10.851 | 12.443 | 28.412 | 31.410 | 34.170 | 37.566 | 39.997 |
| 21 | 8.034 | 8.897 | 10.283 | 11.591 | 13.240 | 29.615 | 32.671 | 35.479 | 38.932 | 41.401 |
| 22 | 8.643 | 9.542 | 10.982 | 12.338 | 14.041 | 30.813 | 33.924 | 36.781 | 40.289 | 42.796 |
| 23 | 9.260 | 10.196 | 11.689 | 13.091 | 14.848 | 32.007 | 35.172 | 38.076 | 41.638 | 44.181 |
| 24 | 9.886 | 10.856 | 12.401 | 13.848 | 15.659 | 33.196 | 36.415 | 39.364 | 42.980 | 45.559 |
| 25 | 10.520 | 11.524 | 13.120 | 14.611 | 16.473 | 34.382 | 37.652 | 40.646 | 44.314 | 46.928 |
| 26 | 11.160 | 12.198 | 13.844 | 15.379 | 17.292 | 35.563 | 38.885 | 41.923 | 45.642 | 48.290 |
| 27 | 11.808 | 12.879 | 14.573 | 16.151 | 18.114 | 36.741 | 40.113 | 43.195 | 46.963 | 49.645 |
| 28 | 12.461 | 13.565 | 15.308 | 16.928 | 18.939 | 37.916 | 41.337 | 44.461 | 48.278 | 50.993 |
| 29 | 13.121 | 14.256 | 16.047 | 17.708 | 19.768 | 39.087 | 42.557 | 45.722 | 49.588 | 52.336 |
| 30 | 13.787 | 14.953 | 16.791 | 18.493 | 20.599 | 40.256 | 43.773 | 46.979 | 50.892 | 53.672 |
| 40 | 20.707 | 22.164 | 24.433 | 26.509 | 29.051 | 51.805 | 55.758 | 59.342 | 63.691 | 66.766 |
| 50 | 27.991 | 29.707 | 32.357 | 34.764 | 37.689 | 63.167 | 67.505 | 71.420 | 76.154 | 79.490 |
| 60 | 35.534 | 37.485 | 40.482 | 43.188 | 46.459 | 74.397 | 79.082 | 83.298 | 88.379 | 91.952 |
| 70 | 43.275 | 45.442 | 48.758 | 51.739 | 55.329 | 85.527 | 90.531 | 95.023 | 100.425 | 104.215 |
| 80 | 51.172 | 53.540 | 57.153 | 60.391 | 64.278 | 96.578 | 101.879 | 106.629 | 112.329 | 116.321 |
| 90 | 59.196 | 61.754 | 65.647 | 69.126 | 73.291 | 107.565 | 113.145 | 118.136 | 124.116 | 128.299 |
| 100 | 67.328 | 70.065 | 74.222 | 77.929 | 82.358 | 118.498 | 124.342 | 129.561 | 135.807 | 140.169 |
Every value is calculated in your browser from the standard normal distribution (Marsaglia’s series for Φ) and rounded to four decimals; the tables were checked cell by cell against an independent calculation. These tables give the area to the left of z. Some textbooks, including the NIST handbook, print the area from 0 to z instead, which is the left area minus 0.5 for positive z.
How to read the chi-square table
Find the row for your degrees of freedom and the column for your significance level, which is the area to the right of the critical value. With 1 degree of freedom at α = 0.05 the critical value is 3.841; with 10 degrees of freedom it is 18.307. If your statistic is larger than the critical value, reject the null hypothesis.
Common questions
Is the chi-square test one-tailed?
Goodness-of-fit and independence tests use the right tail, because large differences between observed and expected counts make the statistic large.
Why are the left columns (0.995 to 0.90) so small?
Those columns leave most of the area to the right. They are used for left-tail tests and for confidence intervals for a variance.
Sources and further reading
The studio notebook
A useful place to begin.
Clear steps, considered details, and ideas you can put to use.
How to Read a Z Table (Left-Tail Areas, Step by Step)
Learn to read a standard normal z table: find the row and column, get left-tail, right-tail and between-two-values areas, and handle other table layouts.
Z-Score Formula and Worked Examples
Use the z-score formula z = (x − μ) / σ, read what the sign and size mean, convert a z-score to a percentile, and handle sample means with σ/√n.
Sample vs Population Standard Deviation (n vs n − 1)
Know when to divide by n and when to divide by n − 1, with the formulas, a worked data set, the link to variance, and the mistakes that cost points.
Mean, Median and Mode: Definitions, Examples and Which to Use
Find the mean, median and mode of a data set, see how one outlier moves each one, and decide which measure of center to report for your data.
T Table vs Z Table: Which One to Use and How to Read It
Decide between the t table and z table, find degrees of freedom, read one-tailed and two-tailed columns, and see why t values approach z as df grows.
How to Read a Chi-Square Table (df, Critical Values, p-Values)
Find degrees of freedom for goodness-of-fit and independence tests, read right-tail critical values, and compare them with your chi-square statistic.