Shooting percentage calculator
By Matthew Parrott, who makes Tally Hoops ·
Enter your makes and attempts to get your shooting percentage, plus the range luck alone could put it in and how many makes in a row it takes to reach a goal. It works for free throws, threes and field goals.
Free to download · iPhone and Apple Watch
How the numbers are worked out
- Percentage is makes divided by attempts, times 100.
- Luck range is a 95% Wilson score interval: where your true make rate probably sits, given how many shots you've counted. It holds up better than “plus or minus two standard errors” for small samples and for percentages near the top, like free throws.
- Attempts to narrow it is how many shots it takes before luck moves a percentage like yours by about 5 points or less either way.
- Makes in a row is the smallest run of makes that lifts makes over attempts to your goal, with no misses in between.
How much luck can move a percentage
The fewer shots behind a number, the less it tells you. Here's where about 95% of samples land for two shooters whose true rates never change, at different shot counts. A 35% three-point shooter can look like a 22% or a 48% shooter over 50 shots by luck alone.
| True rate | 25 shots | 50 shots | 100 shots | 250 shots | 500 shots | 1,000 shots |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 35% shooter (threes) | 16–54% | 22–48% | 25–45% | 29–41% | 31–39% | 32–38% |
| 75% shooter (free throws) | 58–92% | 63–87% | 66–84% | 70–80% | 71–79% | 72–78% |
That's why one hot night means little and a month of logged shots means a lot. Count every attempt, keep free throws apart from threes, and judge the trend. How to track your shooting percentage walks through it, and what's a good shooting percentage puts your number next to high school, college and pro shooters.
Let your watch do the counting
Tally Hoops keeps your makes and attempts for you, shot by shot: Double Tap or roll the Digital Crown on Apple Watch, or tap or say “make” on iPhone. Threes, free throws and everything else stay in their own sessions, so each percentage is clean, and your records, streaks and Fatigue Cliff build up as you shoot.
Checked against Tally Hoops 3.11 on October 15, 2026.
Questions
How do you calculate shooting percentage?
Divide makes by attempts and multiply by 100. Seven makes on 20 shots is 7 ÷ 20 × 100 = 35%. The same formula works for field goals, threes and free throws; just keep the shot types apart.
How do you calculate free throw percentage?
Free throws made divided by free throws attempted, times 100. Sixteen of 20 is 80%.
How many shots do I need before my percentage means something?
More than most people think. For a 35% shooter, luck alone can move the number by about 5 points either way until around 347 attempts, and by about 10 points until around 84. Judge your shooting over hundreds of shots, not one session.
How many makes in a row do I need to raise my percentage?
Find the smallest number of makes k where (makes + k) ÷ (attempts + k) reaches your target. At 35 of 100, getting to 40% takes 9 makes in a row: 44 of 109 is 40.4%. The calculator above does it for any numbers.
What's a good shooting percentage?
It depends on the shot and the level you play at. Our guide to good shooting percentages has free throw, three-point and field goal numbers from high school to the NBA and WNBA.