SQL Subquery Questions with Answers
(Employees Table)
Employees Table (Assumption)
Columns: employee_id, first_name, last_name, job_id, salary, department_id, manager_id,
hire_date
Easy Level (Basic Subqueries)
1. Find the employees who earn more than the average salary of all employees.
SELECT * FROM employees WHERE salary > (SELECT AVG(salary) FROM employees);
2. Display the employees whose salary is equal to the minimum salary in the company.
SELECT * FROM employees WHERE salary = (SELECT MIN(salary) FROM employees);
3. List the employees who were hired after the earliest hire date in the company.
SELECT * FROM employees WHERE hire_date > (SELECT MIN(hire_date) FROM employees);
4. Show employees working in the same department as 'Smith'.
SELECT * FROM employees WHERE department_id = (SELECT department_id FROM employees
WHERE last_name = 'Smith');
5. Find the employee who earns the highest salary using a subquery.
SELECT * FROM employees WHERE salary = (SELECT MAX(salary) FROM employees);
Medium Level (Correlated Subqueries)
6. Display employees who earn more than the average salary of their department.
SELECT * FROM employees e WHERE salary > (SELECT AVG(salary) FROM employees WHERE
department_id = e.department_id);
7. Find the employees who have the same job as 'John'.
SELECT * FROM employees WHERE job_id = (SELECT job_id FROM employees WHERE
first_name = 'John');
8. List the employees whose salary is greater than the salary of their manager.
SELECT * FROM employees e WHERE salary > (SELECT salary FROM employees WHERE
employee_id = e.manager_id);
9. Find employees who joined before the manager of department 10.
SELECT * FROM employees WHERE hire_date < (SELECT hire_date FROM employees WHERE
employee_id = (SELECT manager_id FROM employees WHERE department_id = 10 FETCH FIRST
1 ROWS ONLY));
10. Show employees who earn more than the lowest salary in department 30.
SELECT * FROM employees WHERE salary > (SELECT MIN(salary) FROM employees WHERE
department_id = 30);
Hard Level (Nested & Complex Subqueries)
11. Find the second highest salary from the employees table using a subquery.
SELECT MAX(salary) FROM employees WHERE salary < (SELECT MAX(salary) FROM
employees);
12. List the employees who earn the top 3 highest salaries.
SELECT * FROM employees WHERE salary IN (SELECT DISTINCT salary FROM employees ORDER
BY salary DESC FETCH FIRST 3 ROWS ONLY);
13. Display employees whose salary is greater than the average salary of employees hired after
2010.
SELECT * FROM employees WHERE salary > (SELECT AVG(salary) FROM employees WHERE
EXTRACT(YEAR FROM hire_date) > 2010);
14. Find the employees who do not manage anyone (not present as a manager_id in employees
table).
SELECT * FROM employees WHERE employee_id NOT IN (SELECT DISTINCT manager_id FROM
employees WHERE manager_id IS NOT NULL);
15. Display the employees who belong to a department where the total salary is above the
company’s average department salary.
SELECT * FROM employees WHERE department_id IN (SELECT department_id FROM employees
GROUP BY department_id HAVING SUM(salary) > (SELECT AVG(total) FROM (SELECT
SUM(salary) AS total FROM employees GROUP BY department_id)));
