Every site with a Powerball frequency table tells you which numbers came up most. Almost none of them tell you the part that matters, which is whether that gap is bigger than the gap a fair machine produces on its own.
So we did both. Below is the real count from all 1,388 Powerball draws since the current 69-ball matrix started on 7 October 2015, straight out of the same database that powers our ticket checker. Then we ran the standard test for a loaded die against it.
The most drawn Powerball numbers
White balls only, 1 to 69. The Powerball itself is drawn from a separate machine and is counted further down.
| Rank | Number | Times drawn | vs expected |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 61 | 123 | +22.4 |
| 1 | 21 | 123 | +22.4 |
| 3 | 64 | 121 | +20.4 |
| 4 | 28 | 119 | +18.4 |
| 5 | 27 | 117 | +16.4 |
| 5 | 36 | 117 | +16.4 |
| 7 | 32 | 116 | +15.4 |
| 7 | 23 | 116 | +15.4 |
| 9 | 63 | 115 | +14.4 |
| 9 | 33 | 115 | +14.4 |
Each of the 69 white balls should turn up about 100.6 times over this many draws. Five balls are drawn per game, 1,388 games, 69 candidates: the arithmetic is not complicated.
So 61 and 21 are each running about 22 draws ahead of schedule. That sounds like a lot. It is not.
The least common Powerball numbers
| Number | Times drawn | vs expected |
|---|---|---|
| 13 | 75 | -25.6 |
| 49 | 81 | -19.6 |
| 26 | 81 | -19.6 |
| 46 | 83 | -17.6 |
| 34 | 84 | -16.6 |
Thirteen is last. Of course it is. That is the sort of coincidence that launches a thousand blog posts, and it is worth sitting with for a second, because somebody has to come last and the number that does will always look meaningful afterwards.
Is the spread bigger than chance? We tested it
Here is the test almost nobody publishes alongside their frequency table.
A chi-square goodness-of-fit test asks a single question: if this machine were perfectly fair, how often would it produce a distribution at least this lopsided? Run against all 69 white balls, Powerball returns a statistic of 80.5 on 68 degrees of freedom.
That gives p = 0.14. In plain terms, a flawless machine would produce a spread this uneven or worse roughly one time in seven. Nothing here is out of line.
The 95% range for a fair ball over 1,388 draws runs from 81 to 120 appearances. Six of the 69 balls fall outside it. Chance alone puts about 3.5 outside it, and six against an expectation of 3.5 is the kind of difference that arrives constantly in samples this size. (We ran the same test on Mega Millions over 916 draws: p = 0.73, which is about as boring a result as statistics produces.)
Gone is the interesting version of this story. What is left is a machine doing exactly what a machine should.
What are the most common Powerball numbers to win?
There is no such thing, and the phrasing is where people go wrong. A number that has been drawn 123 times has not been winning. It has been appearing. Those are different claims, and only the first one implies anything about the future.
Each Powerball draw is independent. The machine holds no memory of October, or of last Saturday. Ball 61 enters tonight’s draw with the same 5-in-69 chance as ball 13, which is to say a 7.2% chance of being one of the five drawn.
Are hot and cold numbers real?
“Hot” and “cold” are honest words for a historical count and dishonest words for a forecast.
A hot number is one that has appeared more than average. That is a fact about the past. The leap people make, that it will keep appearing, requires the machine to be biased, and the test above says it is not. The opposite leap, that a cold number is “due”, is the gambler’s fallacy in its purest form.
Both cannot be true at once, which is worth noticing. If hot numbers were on a streak and cold numbers were due, you would have to bet on the same ball twice in opposite directions.
The most common Powerball (red ball)
The red Powerball is drawn from its own machine holding 26 balls, so it needs its own count. Expected appearances: about 53.
| Powerball | Times drawn |
|---|---|
| 14 | 65 |
| 4 | 65 |
| 21 | 63 |
| 24 | 62 |
| 18 | 61 |
The red ball matters more than any white one, which is a genuinely useful thing to know. It is the difference between a $4 prize and nothing, and it is the only ball that pays on its own.
Every Powerball number, ranked
The full count for all 69 white balls, so you can look up whichever one you were going to look up anyway. Expected is 100.6 for every row.
| Number | Drawn | Number | Drawn | Number | Drawn |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 93 | 24 | 99 | 47 | 112 |
| 2 | 101 | 25 | 88 | 48 | 91 |
| 3 | 111 | 26 | 81 | 49 | 81 |
| 4 | 96 | 27 | 117 | 50 | 101 |
| 5 | 91 | 28 | 119 | 51 | 90 |
| 6 | 107 | 29 | 91 | 52 | 109 |
| 7 | 95 | 30 | 100 | 53 | 113 |
| 8 | 93 | 31 | 99 | 54 | 95 |
| 9 | 93 | 32 | 116 | 55 | 91 |
| 10 | 93 | 33 | 115 | 56 | 99 |
| 11 | 98 | 34 | 84 | 57 | 97 |
| 12 | 104 | 35 | 91 | 58 | 95 |
| 13 | 75 | 36 | 117 | 59 | 110 |
| 14 | 93 | 37 | 110 | 60 | 94 |
| 15 | 93 | 38 | 95 | 61 | 123 |
| 16 | 109 | 39 | 108 | 62 | 112 |
| 17 | 99 | 40 | 102 | 63 | 115 |
| 18 | 103 | 41 | 90 | 64 | 121 |
| 19 | 102 | 42 | 96 | 65 | 89 |
| 20 | 100 | 43 | 99 | 66 | 101 |
| 21 | 123 | 44 | 110 | 67 | 101 |
| 22 | 91 | 45 | 100 | 68 | 97 |
| 23 | 116 | 46 | 83 | 69 | 114 |
One more check worth doing while the whole table is in front of you. If players’ birthday habits somehow leaked into the machine, draws made entirely of numbers 1 to 31 would show up unusually often. They happen in 21 of 1,388 draws, which is 1.5%. Pure chance predicts 1.5%.
Why our numbers differ from other sites
Compare four Powerball frequency tables and you will get four answers. The reason is almost always the start date.
Powerball changed its matrix on 7 October 2015, moving from 59 white balls to 69 and from 35 Powerballs to 26. Any table that counts draws from before that date is mixing two different games. Balls 60 to 69 look artificially cold because they did not exist yet, and the low numbers look hot because they had a smaller pool to compete in.
We start at the matrix change. Every draw counted here was played under the rules being played tonight.
So what should you actually do with this?
Enjoy it, and then ignore it when you fill in the slip. That is the honest answer, and we would rather give it than sell you a system.
There is one decision that does change your outcome, though it has nothing to do with frequency: which numbers other people pick. You cannot improve your chance of winning, but you can improve how much you keep if you do, by avoiding the combinations thousands of other players are sharing. We wrote that up separately in how to pick lottery numbers.
Already holding a ticket? The checker on our homepage compares your line against the latest draw and tells you which tier it hit, free and without an account.
Frequently asked questions
What is the most common Powerball number?
Powerball numbers 61 and 21 are tied as the most common, each drawn 123 times in the 1,388 draws held since October 2015. Next are 64 with 121 appearances, 28 with 119, and 27 and 36 with 117 each.
What are the 5 luckiest Powerball numbers?
By raw frequency the top five are 61, 21, 64, 28, and then 27 and 36 tied. No number is actually luckier than any other, because each of the 69 white balls has the same 7.2% chance of being drawn in any given draw regardless of its history.
What is the least drawn Powerball number?
The least drawn Powerball number is 13, which has appeared 75 times against an expected 100.6. It is followed by 49 and 26 on 81 each, then 46 on 83 and 34 on 84.
What are the most overdue Powerball numbers?
No Powerball number is ever overdue. The numbers furthest below their expected count are 13, 49 and 26, but a draw has no memory of previous draws, so a number that has appeared less often is not more likely to appear next. This is the gambler’s fallacy.
Do hot Powerball numbers actually win more often?
No. A chi-square goodness-of-fit test across all 69 balls returns p = 0.14, meaning the observed spread is what a completely fair machine produces about one time in seven. There is no measurable bias for a hot-number strategy to exploit.
What is the most common red Powerball?
The most common red Powerball numbers are 14 and 4, drawn 65 times each since October 2015, followed by 21 on 63, 24 on 62 and 18 on 61. The red ball is drawn from a separate 26-ball machine, so it is counted separately from the white balls.
How many Powerball draws does this analysis cover?
All 1,388 draws from 7 October 2015 to 1 August 2026. The start date is the day Powerball changed to its current 5/69 plus 1/26 matrix, so every counted draw was played under the rules in force today.
Key takeaways
- The most drawn Powerball numbers since October 2015 are 61 and 21, at 123 appearances each in 1,388 draws.
- The least drawn is 13, at 75. Expected for any ball is about 100.6.
- A chi-square test returns p = 0.14, so the spread is consistent with a fair machine. There is no bias to exploit.
- Frequency describes the past and predicts nothing. Hot and cold numbers are labels, not forecasts.
- Tables that count draws from before 7 October 2015 mix two different game matrices and should not be trusted.
Counts taken from LottoScan’s draw database on 3 August 2026, covering all 1,388 Powerball draws from 7 October 2015 to 1 August 2026. Figures update as new draws are published. LottoScan is unofficial and not affiliated with the Multi-State Lottery Association.