SQL Server Data Types and Ranges

Quick reference for SQL Server data types

Applies to: SQL Server 2000, SQL Server 2005, SQL Server 2008

Saving disk space is not the only benefit of properly selected data types for SQL Server columns. In addition to disk space benefits, the right data types reduce backup times, improve SQL Server performance, and enhance the execution of queries and joins. Here’s a comprehensive list of all SQL Server datatypes, ranges, and limitations:

Exact numerics

Type	From	To
bigint	-9,223,372,036,854,775,808	9,223,372,036,854,775,807
int	-2,147,483,648	2,147,483,647
smallint	-32,768	32,767
tinyint	0	255
bit	0	1
decimal	-10^38 +1	10^38 -1
numeric	-10^38 +1	10^38 -1
money	-922,337,203,685,477.5808	+922,337,203,685,477.5807
smallmoney	-214,748.3648	+214,748.3647

numeric and decimal are Fixed precision and scale data types and are functionally equivalent.

Approximate numerics

Type	From	To
float	-1.79E + 308	1.79E + 308
real	-3.40E + 38	3.40E + 38

datetime and smalldatetime

Type	From	To
datetime (3.33 milliseconds accuracy)	Jan 1, 1753	Dec 31, 9999
smalldatetime (1 minute accuracy)	Jan 1, 1900	Jun 6, 2079
date (1 day accuracy. Introduced in SQL Server 2008)	Jan 1, 0001	Dec 31, 9999
datetimeoffset (100 nanoseconds accuracy. Introduced in SQL Server 2008)	Jan 1, 0001	Dec 31, 9999
datetime2 (100 nanoseconds accuracy. Introduced in SQL Server 2008)	Jan 1, 0001	Dec 31, 9999
time (100 nanoseconds accuracy. Introduced in SQL Server 2008)	00:00:00.0000000	23:59:59.9999999

Character Strings

Type	Description
char	Fixed-length non-Unicode character data with a maximum length of 8,000 characters.
varchar	Variable-length non-Unicode data with a maximum of 8,000 characters.
varchar(max)	Variable-length non-Unicode data with a maximum length of 2^31 characters (Introduced in SQL Server 2005).
text	Variable-length non-Unicode data with a maximum length of 2,147,483,647 characters.

Unicode Character Strings

Type	Description
nchar	Fixed-length Unicode data with a maximum length of 4,000 characters.
nvarchar	Variable-length Unicode data with a maximum length of 4,000 characters.
nvarchar(max)	Variable-length Unicode data with a maximum length of 2^30 characters (Introduced in SQL Server 2005).
ntext	Variable-length Unicode data with a maximum length of 1,073,741,823 characters.

Binary Strings

Type	Description
binary	Fixed-length binary data with a maximum length of 8,000 bytes.
varbinary	Variable-length binary data with a maximum length of 8,000 bytes.
varbinary(max)	Variable-length binary data with a maximum length of 2^31 bytes (Introduced in SQL Server 2005).
image	Variable-length binary data with a maximum length of 2,147,483,647 bytes.

Other Data Types

• sql_variant: Stores values of various SQL Server-supported data types, except text, ntext, and timestamp.
• timestamp: Stores a database-wide unique number that gets updated every time a row gets updated.
• uniqueidentifier: Stores a globally unique identifier (GUID).
• xml: Stores XML data. You can store xml instances in a column or a variable (Introduced in SQL Server 2005).
• cursor: A reference to a cursor.
• table: Stores a result set for later processing.
• hierarchyid: A variable length, system data type used to represent position in a hierarchy (Introduced in SQL Server 2008).