XP Levels in Minecraft: XP per Level Table & Best Sources

Every enchanting table roll and every anvil operation in Minecraft is paid in experience levels, but the game does not hand out levels. It hands out experience points (XP), and the number of points a level takes grows as you climb. That one fact explains why the first 30 levels come quickly and the 39th feels endless, why the same anvil bill costs more XP when you pay it from a high level, and why the best way to earn XP changes as your world progresses. This guide gives the exact XP table, shows what an anvil plan from AnvilCalc really costs in points, and ranks the ways to earn XP from early game to late game.

XP points versus XP levels

Experience ("XP" or "EXP") is mostly dropped as experience orbs, which you collect by walking close to them. Collected points fill the bar above your hotbar, and when the bar is full you gain a level. The level is the number you read; the points are what actually accumulate.

The Minecraft Wiki gives the XP needed to go from your current level to the next one:

levels 0 to 15: 2 × level + 7 points
levels 16 to 30: 5 × level − 38 points
level 31 and up: 9 × level − 158 points

So going from level 0 to level 1 takes 7 points, from level 15 to 16 takes 37, from level 30 to 31 takes 112 and from level 39 to 40 takes 202. Each level costs 2 points more than the one before it up to level 15, then 5 more per level from 16 to 30, then 9 more per level from 31 on. The wiki gives one curve and does not split it by edition, so Java Edition and Bedrock Edition share it; the editions differ in some XP sources, noted below.

The XP table

Checked against the Minecraft Wiki's Experience page on 2026-10-23 and recomputed from the formulas above (the totals also match the wiki's closed-form total-XP equations for every level from 0 to 100):

Level	XP to the next level	Total XP to reach this level
0	7	0
5	17	55
10	27	160
15	37	315
16	42	352
20	62	550
25	87	910
30	112	1,395
31	121	1,507
35	157	2,045
39	193	2,727
40	202	2,920
45	247	4,020
50	292	5,345

Two rows matter most on this site:

Level 30 (1,395 points) is the highest level requirement an enchanting table asks for (see the Enchanting Table Guide).
Level 39 (2,727 points) is the largest bill an anvil accepts in Survival. A single operation worth more than 39 levels is refused with "Too Expensive!" however much XP you hold (see Why Does My Anvil Say Too Expensive). Per the wiki, level 30 is about halfway to level 39 in XP terms.

A handy number from the wiki: getting from level 27 back to level 30 takes 306 points, which is what refilling after a level 30 enchant at the table costs (the table charges 1 to 3 levels, not its displayed level).

What an anvil plan costs in XP points

An anvil operation is paid in levels, and those are taken off your current level. Each level is worth more points the higher you are, so the same level cost is more XP the higher your starting level. In points, paying c levels at level L costs the total at L minus the total at L − c (this ignores any partial progress on your bar and assumes you collect no XP between steps).

Level cost	Paid from level	XP points spent
14 levels	14 (down to 0)	280
14 levels	30 (down to 16)	1,043
14 levels	50 (down to 36)	3,143
39 levels (the cap)	39 (down to 0)	2,727
39 levels (the cap)	50 (down to 11)	5,158

The same 14 levels cost 280 points from level 14 and 1,043 points from level 30, nearly four times as much. A level on the AnvilCalc plan is not a fixed amount of work: it is cheapest in points when you pay it from the low end of the curve.

Here is a real plan from the calculator's solver (Java Edition 1.21.11, Min XP): a diamond pickaxe with Efficiency V, Unbreaking III, Fortune III and Mending, every enchantment on its own fresh book. It takes four anvil steps of 2, 6, 9 and 6 levels, 23 levels in total.

You pay the 23 levels starting from	XP points spent
level 23 (the minimum, down to 0)	751
level 30	1,304
level 40	2,526
level 50	4,256

See this pickaxe plan in the calculator →

A plan with fewer levels saves points on every level it drops, and the saving is bigger the higher you pay from. That is where a better order matters (see Minimum Prior Work, and why a master book usually costs more). Enchanting Strategy explains how the prior-work penalty drives the bill and How to Use an Anvil covers one operation. Open the calculator to get the level cost of your own build, then use the table above to turn it into points.

How players actually earn XP

These are the figures the Minecraft Wiki lists (Experience, Smelting, Trading, Fishing, Ender Dragon, Bottle o' Enchanting and Grindstone pages, checked 2026-10-24), one card per source or mob tier. Per-edition differences are marked. The kill counts are for a plain mob without an equipment bonus, counted from level 0 with an empty bar and no Mending item.

Passive animals
1–3 XP
Cows, sheep, pigs and most other animals. Most baby animals, bats, golems and villagers give none.
Most hostile mobs
5 XP
Also ghasts, hoglins, phantoms, piglins and more. Add 1 to 3 XP for each piece of equipment the mob spawned with.
Kills needed from level 0
- to level 1032 kills
- to level 1563 kills
- to level 20110 kills
From level 0, one kill takes you to level 0 plus 5 of the 7 points needed for the next level.
Blaze, guardian, evoker and breeze
10 XP
Elder guardians give the same. These mobs carry no equipment bonus.
Kills needed from level 0
- to level 1016 kills
- to level 1532 kills
- to level 2055 kills
From level 0, one kill takes you to level 1 plus 3 of the 9 points needed for the next level.
Ravager and piglin brute
20 XP
Add 1 to 3 XP for each piece of equipment the mob spawned with.
Kills needed from level 0
- to level 108 kills
- to level 1516 kills
- to level 2028 kills
From level 0, one kill takes you to level 2 plus 4 of the 11 points needed for the next level.
The Wither
50 XP
One kill is worth as much as ten ordinary hostile mobs.
Kills needed from level 0
- to level 104 kills
- to level 157 kills
- to level 2011 kills
From level 0, one kill takes you to level 4 plus 10 of the 15 points needed for the next level.
The Ender Dragon
12,000 / 500 XP
The first kill is worth far more than any later one, which needs the dragon to be respawned with end crystals. Some orbs can fall into the exit portal; go to the world origin to collect the rest.
First kill: 12,000
- From level 0: level 68 (plus 22 points)
- From level 30: level 71 (plus 28 points)
Each later kill: 500
- From level 0: level 19 (plus 7 points)
- From level 30: level 33 (plus 137 points)
Breaking a monster spawner
15–43 XP
The block pays out when you break it, on top of the XP of the mobs it spawns.
Catching a fish with a rod
1–6 XP
Awarded when you reel in, even if you do not pick up the item.
Breeding animals
1–7 XP
One orb appears where the parents stand, along with the baby.
Trading with a villager
3–6 XP
Every trade pays XP. The villager must level up on that trade for the extra.
Each trade
3–6
Extra if the trade levels the villager up
+5
Mining ore
0–7 XP
Ore blocks give no XP when mined with Silk Touch.
Coal ore
0–2
Nether gold ore
0–1
Redstone ore
1–5
Lapis lazuli or nether quartz ore
2–5
Diamond or emerald ore
3–7
Smelting
0.1–2 XP
Per item taken out of the furnace. A fraction is the chance of one more point: 64 cobblestone give 6 points plus a 40% chance of a seventh.
Ancient debris
2
Raw gold, gold ore, diamond ore, emerald ore, nether gold ore
1
Cactus (Java)
1
Cactus (Bedrock)
0.2
Raw iron, raw copper, iron ore, copper ore, redstone ore
0.7
Raw meat, raw fish, potatoes
0.35
Logs
0.15
Cobblestone, stone, sand, kelp and similar
0.1
Throwing a Bottle o' Enchanting
3–11 XP
A Master-level cleric sells them for emeralds, so they are a portable way to top up a level.
Average 7 XP
Disenchanting in a grindstone
23–45 XP
Between half and all of the combined minimum cost of the enchantments removed; curses give none.
Sharpness V gives 23–45
Grindstone guide: how much XP it gives
Completing challenge advancements
40–1,000 XP
Java Edition only.

Smelting rules that decide how useful it is: the furnace remembers the XP of every item it finishes, and you collect it when you take an item out through the furnace window or break the furnace. If a hopper takes the items, the XP waits in the furnace until you take one item out by hand. Fractional values are a chance of a bonus point (64 cobblestone smelted gives 6 points plus a 40% chance of a seventh). Mobs only drop XP when a player or a tamed wolf kills them, or when they die within 5 seconds of a player hit, so a mob farm that kills in some automatic way drops loot but no XP.

Which source to use at which stage

The right source depends on how much you can already do. Useful targets: 1,395 points for level 30 from zero, 306 to refill after a table enchant, 2,727 for a level 39 anvil bill.

Early game (stone and iron tools, no grinder):

Mine ore. Lapis lazuli, redstone and diamond ore give 2 to 7 points each, and you are digging for them anyway.
Smelt in bulk. A stack of 64 raw meat or potatoes smelts for 22.4 points, so level 30 from furnaces alone takes about 62 stacks. Ancient debris (2 each) gives far more per item, but it is a Nether resource.
Breed animals. 1 to 7 points per pairing, plus food and leather.
Kill what you meet. A skeleton or zombie is 5 points, more if it wears armor.

Mid game (villagers, rod, Nether access):

Trade with villagers. Each trade gives 3 to 6 points, and 5 more when it levels the villager up. Villagers are also where Mending and other enchanted books come from. A trading hall is a steady, safe source if you already farm something to sell.
Fish. 1 to 6 points a catch, plus enchanted books and rods (Fishing for Enchanted Books). It is slow but nearly free, and a Mending rod repairs itself from its own catches.
Kill hostile mobs by hand or at a spawner. Breaking a spawner gives 15 to 43 points, and each mob it spawns gives its normal XP, but only if you (or a tamed wolf) land the kill.

Late game (everything is already built):

The Ender Dragon, once. The first kill drops 12,000 points (the wiki says that takes you from zero to level 68), and every kill after that drops 500. Some orbs can drop into the exit portal; go to the world origin to collect the rest.
XP farms and mob grinders. The wiki's experience-farming tutorial (still marked work in progress) lists spawner, enderman, zombified piglin and guardian farms and automatic smelters. Remember that the mob must die to you or a tamed wolf to drop XP, so a grinder that kills everything automatically gives you loot and no points.
Bottles o' Enchanting. A Master-level cleric sells one for 3 emeralds, up to 12 trades at a time. A bottle gives 3 to 11 points (average 7), and the trade itself gives 3 to 6. A stack of 64 bottles averages about 448 points, which makes them a portable way to top up to any level.

One thing that affects all of these is Mending. If you wear or hold a damaged item with Mending, each orb you collect repairs it first (2 durability per point), and only what is left goes to your bar. If you are trying to bank levels, take the mended items off first.

Do not carry spare levels into danger. When you die you drop only 7 × your level in points, up to 100 (about level 7), and the rest is gone, unless the keep_inventory gamerule is on.

What we left out

The wiki's experience-farming tutorial quotes points per hour for specific farm designs (for example guardian and zombified piglin farms), but it is marked work in progress and depends on the design, so we do not print those rates. Likewise the wiki's Experience and Ender Dragon pages disagree on how the Ender Dragon's 12,000 points are split into waves of orbs, so we give only the total.

See also: XP Farm Minecraft: Best XP Farms for Java & Bedrock compares the XP farms worth building at each stage of the game, from smelting and fishing to blaze, guardian and enderman farms. Grindstone in Minecraft: Recipe, Uses & How Much XP It Gives has the exact grindstone XP formula and a table for every enchantment and level.

Frequently asked questions

How much XP is one level in Minecraft?

It depends on the level. Going from level 0 to 1 takes 7 points, from 15 to 16 takes 37, from 30 to 31 takes 112 and from 39 to 40 takes 202. In total, level 15 needs 315 points, level 30 needs 1,395 and level 39 needs 2,727. The Minecraft Wiki gives one curve for both Java Edition and Bedrock Edition.

What is the difference between XP points and XP levels?

Points are what you collect from orbs; levels are the number shown above the bar and are what the enchanting table and the anvil charge. A level costs more points the higher you are, so the same level cost is more XP from level 30 than from level 14. Paying 14 levels costs 280 points from level 14 and 1,043 points from level 30.

How much XP do I need for a level 30 enchantment?

1,395 points take you from level 0 to level 30. A level 30 table roll only charges you 3 levels, so after one enchant you need 306 points to get back from level 27 to 30.

How much XP is the anvil's 39-level limit?

Reaching level 39 from zero takes 2,727 points. In Survival the anvil refuses any single operation worth more than 39 levels with Too Expensive, however many levels you have, so the limit is on one operation's level cost, not on your total XP.

What is the fastest way to get XP early in the game?

Mining lapis lazuli, redstone and diamond ore gives 2 to 7 points each, smelting a stack of raw meat or potatoes in a furnace gives 22.4 points, and breeding gives 1 to 7 points per pairing. Villager trading (3 to 6 points per trade) and fishing (1 to 6 points per catch) come next once you have emeralds and a rod.

How much XP does the Ender Dragon give?

12,000 points the first time it is killed, which the wiki says takes you from zero to level 68. Each later kill, after respawning it with end crystals, gives only 500 points. Some of the orbs can fall into the exit portal and have to be collected at the world origin.

How much XP is in a Bottle o' Enchanting?

3 to 11 points per bottle, 7 on average. A stack of 64 averages about 448 points. A Master-level cleric sells them for 3 emeralds each.

Why do mob farms sometimes give no XP?

Because mobs only drop XP when a player or a tamed wolf kills them, or when they die within 5 seconds of a player hit. If the farm kills them in some automatic way you get the loot but no experience.