Heritability Calculator

Work out heritability instantly with clear inputs, formula shown and shareable results.

About Heritability Calculator

Divides additive and total genetic variance by phenotypic variance to give narrow-sense and broad-sense heritability.

Formula

Heritability

Narrow sense h2 = VA / VP; broad sense H2 = VG / VP; the remainder is environmental variance

Worked example

With the default values below, Heritability Calculator returns Narrow-sense heritability of 0.4000. Change any input above and every figure here is recalculated in your browser.

Inputs used

Additive genetic varianceaccepts 0–100,000: 40
Total genetic varianceaccepts 0–100,000: 50
Total phenotypic varianceaccepts 0.001–100,000: 100

Results

Narrow-sense heritability: 0.4000
Broad-sense heritability: 0.5000
Share of variance from environment: 50.00%
Share from non-additive genetic effects: 10.00%

Step by step

1Values used
2Heritability
3Narrow-sense heritability= 0.4000
4Broad-sense heritability= 0.5000
5Share of variance from environment= 50.00
6Share from non-additive genetic effects= 10.00

Assumptions and limits

The result is derived only from the 3 inputs listed above. Anything not among them is not part of the calculation.
In particular, this calculator does not take inflation, tax, fees or charges or compounding frequency into account.
Figures are rounded for display to 4 decimal places, so totals built from several rounded parts can differ slightly from the unrounded arithmetic.

How these calculators are built and tested is described on the Methodology page. If a figure looks wrong, please report it.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does narrow-sense heritability matter for breeding?

Only additive variance is reliably transmitted to offspring, so it predicts the response to selection.

Does high heritability mean the trait is unchangeable?

No. Heritability describes variance within one population and environment, not the potential for environmental change.