How yards per carry is calculated
YPC is the average gain per rushing attempt: YPC = rushing yards ÷ carries. Gain 100 yards on 20 carries and your average is 100 ÷ 20 = 5 yards per carry.
A second example with a mixed workload: 68 yards on 17 carries is 68 ÷ 17 = 4.0 yards per carry. Add a 30-yard breakaway on an eighteenth carry and the average jumps to 98 ÷ 18 = 5.4 — a single play moving the figure by nearly a yard and a half.
The winning percentage calculator is the natural next step once you have this figure.
How to use this calculator
Enter total rushing yards and carries. The result is yards per carry, rounded to one decimal. Negative-yardage runs can be included by entering a smaller total. For scoring output, see the points per game calculator.
Kneel-downs at the end of a half count as carries for negative yardage, so late-game YPC can look worse than the running actually was. Check the raw carry count alongside the average before drawing conclusions.
Many people follow this up with the yards to feet calculator.
What YPC tells you
Yards per carry measures rushing efficiency rather than volume. A 5.0 average is excellent; around 4.0 is solid, and below 3.5 suggests a struggling ground game. A few long runs can inflate the figure, so it is read alongside total carries.
That sensitivity to long runs is why analysts also look at the median gain or the share of carries that gained four yards or more. A back averaging 4.5 on steady gains is more dependable for a short-yardage offence than one averaging 4.5 built from two long touchdowns and a pile of stuffed runs.
Sample size matters as well. Over five carries a single good play swings the average wildly, so YPC only becomes meaningful across a full game and genuinely stable across a season.
The feet to yards calculator answers the question that usually follows this one.
Frequently asked questions
- How do I calculate yards per carry?
- Divide rushing yards by carries. 100 ÷ 20 = 5.0 yards per carry.
- What is a good yards per carry?
- About 4.0 is solid and 5.0+ is excellent in the NFL. Below 3.5 is considered inefficient.
- Does YPC include receiving yards?
- No. Yards per carry counts only rushing attempts and rushing yards, not receptions.
- What if carries is zero?
- The average is undefined with zero carries, so the calculator shows a dash until you enter a positive number.
- Do quarterback sacks count in a team’s yards per carry?
- In the NFL they do, because sack yardage is charged to the rushing column, which drags a team YPC below its running backs’. College football scores it differently, treating sacks as lost rushing yards for the quarterback, so team figures are not comparable across the two.