How to Rank Variables by Group Using dplyr

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You can use the following basic syntax to rank variables by group in dplyr:

df %>% arrange(group_var, numeric_var) %>%
    group_by(group_var) %>% 
    mutate(rank = rank(numeric_var))

The following examples show how to use this syntax in practice with the following data frame:

#create data frame
df frame(team = c('A', 'A', 'A', 'A', 'B', 'B', 'B', 'C', 'C', 'C'),
                 points = c(12, 28, 19, 22, 32, 45, 22, 28, 13, 19),
                 rebounds = c(5, 7, 7, 12, 11, 4, 10, 7, 8, 8))

#view data frame
df

   team points rebounds
1     A     12        5
2     A     28        7
3     A     19        7
4     A     22       12
5     B     32       11
6     B     45        4
7     B     22       10
8     C     28        7
9     C     13        8
10    C     19        8

Example 1: Rank in Ascending Order

The following code shows how to rank the points scored by players in ascending order, grouped by team:

library(dplyr)

#rank points scored, grouped by team
df %>% arrange(team, points) %>%
    group_by(team) %>% 
    mutate(rank = rank(points))

# A tibble: 10 x 4
# Groups:   team [3]
   team  points rebounds  rank
          
 1 A         12        5     1
 2 A         19        7     2
 3 A         22       12     3
 4 A         28        7     4
 5 B         22       10     1
 6 B         32       11     2
 7 B         45        4     3
 8 C         13        8     1
 9 C         19        8     2
10 C         28        7     3

Example 2: Rank in Descending Order

We can also rank the points scored in descending order by group, using a negative sign within the rank() function:

library(dplyr)

#rank points scored in reverse, grouped by team
df %>% arrange(team, points) %>%
    group_by(team) %>% 
    mutate(rank = rank(-points))

# A tibble: 10 x 4
# Groups:   team [3]
   team  points rebounds  rank
          
 1 A         12        5     4
 2 A         19        7     3
 3 A         22       12     2
 4 A         28        7     1
 5 B         22       10     3
 6 B         32       11     2
 7 B         45        4     1
 8 C         13        8     3
 9 C         19        8     2
10 C         28        7     1

How to Handle Ties in Ranking

We can use the ties.method argument to specify how we should handle ties when ranking numerical values.

rank(points, ties.method='average')

You can use one of the following options to specify how to handle ties:

• average: (Default) Assigns each tied element to the average rank (elements ranked in the 3rd and 4th position would both receive a rank of 3.5)
• first: Assigns the first tied element to the lowest rank (elements ranked in the 3rd and 4th positions would receive ranks 3 and 4 respectively)
• min: Assigns every tied element to the lowest rank (elements ranked in the 3rd and 4th position would both receive a rank of 3)
• max: Assigns every tied element to the highest rank (elements ranked in the 3rd and 4th position would both receive a rank of 4)
• random: Assigns every tied element to a random rank (either element tied for the 3rd and 4th position could receive either rank)

Additional Resources

The following tutorials explain how to perform other common functions in dplyr:

How to Select the First Row by Group Using dplyr
How to Calculate Relative Frequencies Using dplyr
How to Recode Values Using dplyr
How to Replace NA with Zero in dplyr