The error appears when a value exceeds the allowed range or precision of a target numeric data type in PostgreSQL.
Numeric value out of range occurs when a number exceeds the target column’s data type limits. Reduce the value, widen the column type, or cast properly to resolve the overflow.
ERROR: numeric value out of range
PostgreSQL raises this error when an INSERT, UPDATE, or arithmetic expression produces a number that cannot fit into the defined scale, precision, or size of a numeric column such as SMALLINT, INTEGER, BIGINT, NUMERIC, or DECIMAL.
The server aborts the current statement to avoid silent data corruption.
Understanding why the overflow happens lets you fix schema design, casting, or application logic errors quickly.
The error surfaces immediately at execution time. It can occur during bulk loads, ETL jobs, math operations, or application inserts that ignore column limits. Triggers, generated columns, and default expressions may also overflow and raise the same message.
Leaving the overflow unfixed blocks data ingestion, breaks transactions, and hides deeper issues in data pipelines.
Fast resolution keeps services online, preserves data integrity, and prevents customer-visible failures.
Values exceed the maximum or minimum range of INTEGER-family or NUMERIC columns. Casting strings to NUMERIC without validation can overflow. Incorrect scale or precision definitions truncate decimal places, then overflow. Aggregate or multiplication results can exceed BIGINT limits.
Identify the offending statement, check the column definition, and compare it with the incoming value.
Either widen the column type, constrain the data before insert, or cast to a wider type in the query.
Bulk CSV import fails because NUMERIC(10,2) column receives 9999999999.99. Widen to NUMERIC(12,2) or pre-validate rows. Financial app multiplies price * quantity and overflows INTEGER; cast to BIGINT or NUMERIC first.
Choose generous precision and scale for monetary or scientific data. Validate input ranges in the application layer. Use BIGINT for counters expected to grow.
Add CHECK constraints to reject unrealistic values early.
Division by zero, invalid input syntax for type numeric, out of bounds for smallint, and integer out of range share similar root causes—bad data or mismatched types. The fix pattern—validate and use correct data types—applies to all.
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No. PostgreSQL protects data integrity by design; you must fix the data or schema.
NUMERIC without precision offers virtually unlimited range at the cost of storage.
You can store the value as TEXT, but you lose numeric semantics and query performance.
Galaxy’s AI copilot warns of potential overflows, suggests correct data types, and auto-generates ALTER statements.
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