You can use the following methods to calculate the average row values for selected columns in a pandas DataFrame:

Method 1: Calculate Average Row Value for All Columns

df.mean(axis=1)

Method 2: Calculate Average Row Value for Specific Columns

df[['col1', 'col3']].mean(axis=1)

The following examples shows how to use each method in practice with the following pandas DataFrame:

import pandas as pd

#create DataFrame
df = pd.DataFrame({'points': [14, 19, 9, 21, 25, 29, 20, 11],
                   'assists': [5, 7, 7, 9, 12, 9, 9, 4],
                   'rebounds': [11, 8, 10, 6, 6, 5, 9, 12]})

#view DataFrame
df

	points	assists	rebounds
0	14	5	11
1	19	7	8
2	9	7	10
3	21	9	6
4	25	12	6
5	29	9	5
6	20	9	9
7	11	4	12

Method 1: Calculate Average Row Value for All Columns

The following code shows how to create a new column in the DataFrame that displays the average row value for all columns:

#define new column that shows the average row value for all columns
df['average_all'] = df.mean(axis=1)

#view updated DataFrame
df

	points	assists	rebounds  average_all
0	14	5	11	  10.000000
1	19	7	8	  11.333333
2	9	7	10	  8.666667
3	21	9	6	  12.000000
4	25	12	6	  14.333333
5	29	9	5	  14.333333
6	20	9	9	  12.666667
7	11	4	12	  9.000000

Here’s how to interpret the output:

The average value of the first row is calculated as: (14+5+11) / 3 = 10.

The average value of the second row is calculated as: (19+7+8) / 3 = 11.33.

And so on.

Method 2: Calculate Average Row Value for Specific Columns

The following code shows how to calculate the average row value for just the “points” and “rebounds” columns:

#define new column that shows average of row values for points and rebounds columns
df['avg_points_rebounds'] = df[['points', 'rebounds']].mean(axis=1)

#view updated DataFrame
df

        points	assists	rebounds  avg_points_rebounds
0	14	5	11	  12.5
1	19	7	8	  13.5
2	9	7	10	  9.5
3	21	9	6	  13.5
4	25	12	6	  15.5
5	29	9	5	  17.0
6	20	9	9	  14.5
7	11	4	12	  11.5

The average value of “points” and “rebounds” in the first row is calculated as: (14+11) / 2 = 12.5.

The average value of “points” and “rebounds” in the second row is calculated as: (19+8) / 2 = 13.5.

And so on.

Additional Resources

The following tutorials explain how to perform other common operations in Python: