The Most Common Powerball and Mega Millions Numbers (Real Draw Data)

The counts below come from the official winning-number histories that the New York State Gaming Commission publishes on the state's open data portal, covering every drawing through October 3, 2026 for Powerball and October 2, 2026 for Mega Millions. We counted only drawings held under each game's current number range, since a number like 65 couldn't be drawn in Powerball before 2015.

What are the most common Powerball numbers?

Powerball draws five white balls from 1 to 69 and one red Powerball from 1 to 26. The game has used those ranges since the drawing on October 7, 2015. In the 1,415 drawings from then through October 3, 2026, each white ball would be expected to appear about 102 or 103 times.

The least-drawn white ball over the same period is 13, with 76 appearances. Next come 26 and 46 (83 each), then 34 and 49 (84 each).

Among red Powerballs, 14 has come up most often (68 times), followed by 4 (66) and then 21 and 24 (63 each). Number 16 has been drawn least, 40 times, against an expected count of about 54.

Powerball numbers in 2026 so far

There were 118 Powerball drawings from January 3 to October 3, 2026, so each white ball would be expected about 8 or 9 times. Number 64 led with 16 appearances, followed by 58 (14) and 21, 42 and 56 (13 each). Number 1 was drawn only once all year, and 34 three times. The most frequent red ball in 2026 is 14, drawn 10 times.

What are the most common Mega Millions numbers?

Mega Millions draws five white balls from 1 to 70. That range has been in place since the drawing on October 31, 2017. The game changed again in April 2025, when the ticket price rose to $5 and the gold Mega Ball range went from 1–25 to 1–24, but the white-ball range stayed the same. In the 932 drawings from October 31, 2017 through October 2, 2026, each white ball would be expected about 67 times.

The least-drawn white ball is 51, with 52 appearances, followed by 45, 65 and 67 (53 each).

Because the Mega Ball range changed in 2025, we counted Mega Balls only from the first drawing of the current game on April 8, 2025. In those 156 drawings, 12 came up most often (13 times), then 16 and 24 (11 each). Number 15 was drawn only twice.

Mega Millions numbers in 2026 so far

In the 79 Mega Millions drawings from January 2 to October 2, 2026, the most frequent white balls were 30 (11 times), then 36 and 43 (10 each). Number 28 was drawn once. The expected count for any one number over that stretch is between 5 and 6.

Can the most common numbers predict the next draw?

No. A lottery drawing has no memory. The balls and machines don't change because a number came up last week, so every number has the same chance in every drawing. Rutgers statistician Rong Chen puts it plainly: last week's winning numbers have the same chance of winning as any other numbers.

The gaps in the tables are the kind random drawings produce. Flip a fair coin 100 times and you'll rarely get exactly 50 heads. The same thing happens with lottery balls, so some numbers always end up ahead and others behind. For Powerball, a typical number's count would be expected to wander roughly 10 draws above or below 102.5 by chance, and with 69 numbers, a few landing more than 20 away is normal. When we ran a standard chi-square test on both sets of counts, neither showed a spread larger than chance would explain.

The belief that frequency tells you something about the next drawing is a version of the gambler's fallacy. Our guide to hot, cold and due numbers explains it in more detail. The Powerball and Mega Millions statistics pages on this site show hot and cold numbers over the last 50 drawings, a much shorter window, so their lists won't match the ones above.

Is there any number strategy that actually works?

No choice of numbers improves your odds. Powerball's jackpot odds are 1 in 292,201,338 and Mega Millions' are 1 in 290,472,336, whatever you pick.

What you can affect is how many people you'd share a jackpot with. Many players use birthdays, so numbers from 1 to 31 are chosen more often, and simple patterns such as 1-2-3-4-5 are popular as well. A ticket with some numbers above 31 and no obvious pattern is no more likely to win, but a win would be less likely to be split. Chen gives the same advice in the Rutgers piece. Our guide to picking lottery numbers covers it in more detail.

To run your own counts, you can download each game's draw history from our data page or from the New York State open data portal (Powerball, Mega Millions). The latest results are on our homepage.

Common questions about the most common numbers

What is the most common Powerball number?

Since Powerball's current format began on October 7, 2015, white balls 21 and 61 have been drawn most often, 126 times each, followed by 64 with 125. The most common red Powerball is 14. The counts describe past drawings and don't affect future ones.

What is the most common Mega Millions number?

Since Mega Millions moved to its 1–70 white-ball range on October 31, 2017, number 10 has been drawn most often, 87 times, followed by 17 with 84. Like any frequency count, this says nothing about the next drawing.

Should I play the most common lottery numbers?

Only if you enjoy it. Every combination has the same odds in every drawing, so frequently drawn numbers are no more likely to win. Including numbers above 31 and avoiding obvious patterns can make a shared jackpot less likely, but it doesn't change your odds.

Are some lottery numbers drawn more often than others?

Over any stretch of drawings, yes, purely by chance. Random drawings never produce perfectly even counts. The differences in the Powerball and Mega Millions histories are within the range chance would produce and don't show that any number is favored.

Sources: New York State Gaming Commission winning-number datasets on data.ny.gov (Powerball from 2010, Mega Millions from 2002), counted through October 3 and October 2, 2026; powerball.com prize chart; megamillions.com How to Play; Rutgers University (January 2023).