What Is a Good Engagement Rate on YouTube?
Engagement rate is likes plus comments, divided by views. The typical channel sits at 2.4%, and above 3.3% puts a channel in the top quarter. It varies a lot by niche.
How to work out yours
For one video, or a channel's recent videos.
(likes + comments) ÷ views × 100
A video with 10,000 views, 220 likes and 20 comments: (220 + 20) ÷ 10,000 × 100 = 2.4%.
For a channel, work it out per video and take the middle value, so one viral upload does not carry the rest.
Engagement rate by niche
Where a channel's typical video lands against others in its niche.
| Niche | Bottom quarter | Typical | Top quarter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Automotive | below 2.4% | 3.5% | above 4.7% |
| Food | below 2.4% | 3% | above 3.5% |
| Lifestyle | below 2% | 2.9% | above 4.7% |
| Finance | below 1.6% | 2.4% | above 2.6% |
| Tech | below 1.7% | 2.4% | above 3.5% |
| Entertainment | below 1.8% | 2.3% | above 2.8% |
| Gaming | below 1.8% | 2.3% | above 2.7% |
| Science | below 1.7% | 2.2% | above 2.4% |
| Education | below 1.7% | 2% | above 2.8% |
| Sports | below 1.5% | 1.8% | above 2.5% |
More benchmarks
From long-form videos published in the past 12 months on the YouTube channels Claritea tracks, updated Oct 27, 2026. Each channel's typical value is taken first, so a channel that uploads daily counts the same as one that uploads monthly. These channels lean toward ones that run sponsors, so read the figures as how sponsored channels compare, not as all of YouTube.