How to Calculate Your Life Path Number

Your life path number is the single most important number in numerology, and it comes straight from your date of birth. Here is exactly how to work it out, with examples, plus what to do if you land on a master number.

How to calculate your life path number

Take your full date of birth and add every digit together, then keep reducing the total until you reach a single digit, 1 through 9. The exceptions are the master numbers: if you reach 11, 22 or 33, you stop there rather than reducing further.

A worked example

Say you were born on 14 March 1992. Reduce the day: 1 plus 4 is 5. The month is 3. Reduce the year: 1 plus 9 plus 9 plus 2 is 21, then 2 plus 1 is 3. Now add the three results: 5 plus 3 plus 3 is 11. Eleven is a master number, so this life path is 11, not reduced to 2.

Another: 7 July 1988. Day is 7, month is 7, year is 1 plus 9 plus 8 plus 8 is 26, then 2 plus 6 is 8. Total is 7 plus 7 plus 8, which is 22, a master number. Life path 22.

What if I get a master number?

11, 22 and 33 carry the energy of their reduced digits, 2, 4 and 6, at a higher and more demanding octave. They are read as their own numbers and not reduced.

Find and read your number

Once you have it, read the full meaning: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and the master numbers 11, 22 and 33.

Going deeper into the name-based numbers: soul urge number and expression number.

Frequently asked questions

Do I reduce the year or the whole date?

Reduce the day, month and year separately to single digits or master numbers first, then add those three together and reduce again.

Can my life path be a two-digit number?

Only if it is a master number, 11, 22 or 33. Otherwise you reduce all the way to a single digit.

Is the life path the same as the destiny number?

No. The life path comes from your birth date; the destiny or expression number comes from your full name.