data-type-precedence-transact-sql.md

title	Data type precedence (Transact-SQL)
description	Learn about data type precedence for Transact-SQL.
author	MikeRayMSFT
ms.author	mikeray
ms.reviewer	randolphwest
ms.date	10/25/2024
ms.service	sql
ms.subservice	t-sql
ms.topic	reference
ms.custom	ignite-2025
helpviewer_keywords	precedence [SQL Server] data types [SQL Server], converting data types [SQL Server], precedence converting data types [SQL Server], precedence precedence [SQL Server], data types
dev_langs	TSQL
monikerRange	=azuresqldb-current || =azuresqldb-mi-current || >=sql-server-2016 || >=sql-server-linux-2017 || =azuresqledge-current || =azure-sqldw-latest || =fabric || =fabric-sqldb

Data type precedence (Transact-SQL)

[!INCLUDE sql-asdb-asdbmi-asa-pdw-fabricse-fabricdw-fabricsqldb]

When an operator combines expressions of different data types, the data type with the lower precedence is first converted to the data type with the higher precedence. If the conversion isn't a supported implicit conversion, an error is returned. For an operator combining operand expressions having the same data type, the result of the operation has that data type.

[!INCLUDE ssNoVersion] uses the following precedence order for data types:

1. user-defined data types (highest)
2. json
3. sql_variant
4. xml
5. datetimeoffset
6. datetime2
7. datetime
8. smalldatetime
9. date
10. time
11. float
12. real
13. decimal
14. money
15. smallmoney
16. bigint
17. int
18. smallint
19. tinyint
20. bit
21. ntext
22. text
23. image
24. timestamp
25. uniqueidentifier
26. nvarchar, including nvarchar(max)
27. nchar
28. varchar, including varchar(max)
29. char
30. varbinary, including varbinary(max)
31. binary (lowest)

Related content

• Data types (Transact-SQL)
• Expressions (Transact-SQL)
• CAST and CONVERT (Transact-SQL)