SPSS FAQ
How do I interpret the results from crosstabs? 

It can be tricky to interpret the results from crosstabs in SPSS. Consider the example below.  We have included row percentages, column percentages and cell percentages.

We have reproduced this table below, with footnotes explaining the percentages.

Anxiety * Tension Crosstabulation

			Tension		Total
			low	high
Anxiety	low	Count	5	21	26
		% within Anxiety	19.2%1	80.8%	100.0%
		% within Tension	25.0%2	75.0%	54.2%4
		% of Total	10.4%3	43.8%	54.2%4
	high	Count	15	7	22
		% within Anxiety	68.2%	31.8%	100.0%
		% within Tension	75.0%	25.0%	45.8%
		% of Total	31.3%	14.6%	45.8%
Total		Count	20	28	48
		% within Anxiety	41.7%5	58.3%	100.0%
		% within Tension	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%
		% of Total	41.7%5	58.3%	100.0%

1. This is the row percentage (i.e., out of the 26 who are low anxiety, 5 are low tension, 5/26=19.2%).
2. This is the column percentage (i.e., out of the 20 who are low tension, 5 are low anxiety, 5/20=25%).
3. This is the cell percentage (i.e., out of all 48, 5 are low anxiety and low tension, 5/48=10.4%).
4. This is the overall row percentage (i.e., out of all 48 people, 26 were low anxiety, 26/48=54.2%).
5. This is the overall column percentage (i.e., out of all 48 people, 20 were low tension, 20/48=41.7%).