Need SQl help

powerbidev123 — Sun, 02 Aug 2026 13:31:27 GMT

Hi All

I need help with a SQL problem as desc below

Find the second highest salary from an Employee table without using LIMIT, TOP, or window functions.

Re: Need SQl help

ShivekMaharaj — Sat, 29 Aug 2026 17:29:33 GMT

Hi powerbidev123 ,

You can use a subquery to find the maximum salary that is lower than the overall maximum salary:

SELECT MAX(salary) AS second_highest_salary FROM Employee WHERE salary < ( SELECT MAX(salary) FROM Employee );

The inner query finds the highest salary. The outer query then finds the highest salary below that value, which gives you the second-highest distinct salary.

This also handles duplicate highest salaries correctly.

AI-assisted drafting: AI was used to help structure and phrase this response. I reviewed and validated the technical content before posting.

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Need SQl help

Re: Need SQl help