Problem

Given a table of data, write a SQL query to find the 3rd highest salary.
Example input:
| ID | Name  | Salary |
|----|-------|--------|
| 1  | John  | 1000   |
| 2  | Jane  | 2000   |
| 3  | Joe   | 3000   |
| 4  | Sarah | 4000   |
| 5  | Dave  | 5000   |
Example output:
| ID | Name  | Salary |
|----|-------|--------|
| 3  | Joe   | 3000   |

Solution

SELECT TOP 1 Salary
FROM Employee
ORDER BY Salary DESC
OFFSET 2 ROWS
FETCH NEXT 1 ROWS ONLY;

/*

The above solution is optimal because it uses the TOP and OFFSET keywords to return the 3rd highest salary.

*/