Find Nth Highest Value in SQL

WITH RankedSalaries AS (
    SELECT
        employee_id,
        salary,
        DENSE_RANK() OVER (ORDER BY salary DESC) as rank_num
    FROM
        Employees
)
SELECT
    salary
FROM
    RankedSalaries
WHERE
    rank_num = 2; -- For the 2nd highest salary

How it works: This query finds the Nth highest salary (e.g., 2nd highest in this example). It uses a Common Table Expression (CTE) named `RankedSalaries` to assign a dense rank to each salary in descending order. `DENSE_RANK()` assigns the same rank to employees with identical salaries, ensuring no gaps in the ranking. Finally, it selects salaries where the `rank_num` matches the desired N.