Pokémon cards by evolution stage — which stages hold the most, and what do they cost?
The 16,955 English cards on file split into 5 stages, and their typical prices run from $1.90 to $94.61.
5 stages · 16,955 cards · 16,365 with a price on file · read August 14, 2026
How many evolution stages do Pokémon cards split into?
Sorted by evolution stage, the 16,955 English Pokémon cards on file fall into 5 stages. The largest is Basic with 9,991 cards, and the dearest by typical price is Level-Up at $94.61. The cheapest is Stage 1 at $1.90, and the single most expensive card anywhere in this list is Lugia 149 at $4,500.00.
Card facts are read from openly published card files; prices are read once a day from public marketplace listings into this site's own archive. Counts on this page were taken on August 14, 2026.
Evolution stage 5 stages16,955 cards
Evolution stage summary for Pokémon cards
16,955 of the 20,444 cards on file carry one · 16,365 have a price · typical prices $1.90 to $94.61
9,991 of 16,955 cards sit in one group
What stands out across these stages
- Scale 16,955 cards carry a evolution stage, which is 82.9% of the 20,444 English cards on file.
- Split The stage biggest group, Basic, holds 9,991 cards — 58.9% of the list.
- Price Half the stages have a typical price under $5.21; the range across all of them runs $1.90 to $94.61.
- Record Every figure here is counted from 16,365 priced cards, not estimated. Cards without a price are left out of the price columns.
How concentrated are Pokémon cards across these stages?
Across = stages ordered by how many cards they hold · Up = share of cards reached so farThe biggest stage alone holds 58.9% of the cards, and half the stages (3 of them) hold 99.3%. "There are many stages" and "the cards are spread evenly" are not the same statement.
Four things that split the price of these stages — press a panel to reach the part of the page that shows it
Pokémon card evolution stage at a glance
- What this splits. The stage is where a card stands in an evolution line, recorded with each card in the card files this site reads. Trainer and energy cards carry no stage, so this axis covers only the Pokémon part of the archive.
- How many groups. 5 stages, holding 16,955 cards between them, of which 16,365 carry a price.
- How the sizes run. From 35 cards in the smallest group to 9,991 in the largest, with the middle group holding 1,749.
- How the prices run. Typical prices go from $1.90 to $94.61, and the middle of those is $5.21. Single cards inside the groups run from $0.02 to $4,500.00.
- What is not counted. Cards with no price on file are excluded from every price figure, so a group's card count and its priced count can differ. Graded prices, population counts and sealed product values are not published here.
- When it was read. The counts and prices on this page come from the archive as it stood on August 14, 2026.
Every Pokémon card evolution stage, biggest group first
1Basiclargest9,991 cards$2.43Lugia — Aquapolis 149
2Stage 1cheapest5,102 cards$1.90Umbreon ex — Prismatic Evolutions 161
3Stage 21,749 cards$5.21Gengar — SWSH Black Star Promos SWSH241
4Level-Updearest78 cards$94.61Snorlax LV.X — Rising Rivals 111
5BREAK35 cards$5.39Greninja BREAK — BREAKpoint 41There is no page to turn — all 5 stages are on this one address. The price column is the typical price of that group, which is the middle price of the cards inside it. Prices were read on August 14, 2026.
Group size and group price do not move together. Basic holds the most cards (9,991), while Level-Up carries the highest typical price ($94.61) — and those are different groups.
A big group is a common one, so its cards are easy to find and usually cheap. A dear group is a scarce one. Reading both columns together is what tells you whether a card is expensive because of what it is, or because there are few of them.
How Pokémon card prices are spread across evolution stages
The 5 stages on this page are cut from the 16,955 cards that carry an evolution stage. The grey slice is the rest of the archive, which this axis says nothing about.
Each slice is one size band: how many of the 16,955 cards the stages in that band hold between them.
How many of the 5 stages fall into each price band, counted by the typical price of the group.
Bands are read from the middle price of each group, not from single cards. A group can hold cards far above its own band.
| Group | Share | Value |
|---|---|---|
| Typical price $1 to $5 | 40.0% | 2 stages |
| Typical price $5 to $20 | 40.0% | 2 stages |
| Typical price $20 to $100 | 20.0% | 1 stage |
How many of the 5 stages fall into each size band.
Size is the number of cards on file in that group, whether or not each card carries a price.
| Group | Share | Value |
|---|---|---|
| Under 50 cards | 20.0% | 1 stage |
| 50 to 99 | 20.0% | 1 stage |
| 1,000 and up | 60.0% | 3 stages |
| Size band | Stages | Cards they hold |
|---|---|---|
| 1,000 and up | 3 stages | 16,842 cards · 99.3% of the list |
| 50 to 99 | 1 stage | 78 cards · 0.5% of the list |
| Under 50 cards | 1 stage | 35 cards · 0.2% of the list |
The 5 stages sorted into size bands, largest band first, with the number of cards behind each band.
| Band | Stages | Cards | Share of cards |
|---|---|---|---|
| Typical price $1 to $5 | 2 | 15,093 | 89.0% |
| Typical price $5 to $20 | 2 | 1,784 | 10.5% |
| Typical price $20 to $100 | 1 | 78 | 0.5% |
| Group size Under 50 cards | 1 | 35 | 0.2% |
| Group size 50 to 99 | 1 | 78 | 0.5% |
| Group size 1,000 and up | 3 | 16,842 | 99.3% |
The two halves of this table count the same groups twice — once by what they cost and once by how big they are. Shares are of the 16,955 cards in this list.
Half of the 5 stages have a typical price below $5.21, and the whole set of typical prices runs from $1.90 to $94.61. Inside the groups the individual cards go much wider — from $0.02 to $4,500.00.
That gap between the group middle and the single cards is the point of this axis: a cheap group can still hold an expensive card. The group tells you what to expect, not what you will pay.
- Basic $2.43
middle half $0.41 – $13.96 - Stage 1 $1.90
middle half $0.41 – $11.52 - Stage 2 $5.21
middle half $0.79 – $36.02 - Level-Up $94.61
middle half $61.43 – $159.26 - BREAK $5.39
middle half $3.60 – $7.51
Each notch is ten times the one before.
- Cheapest to dearest card
- Middle half of the cards
- Typical price (the middle card)
The tick inside the box is the middle card. The closer it sits to the box's left edge, the more the cards cluster at the cheap end of that range.
| Stage | Cards | Cheaper quarter | Typical | Dearer quarter | Dearest card | Year change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | 9,991 | $0.41 | $2.43 | $13.96 | $4,500.00 | +67.6% |
| Stage 1 | 5,102 | $0.41 | $1.90 | $11.52 | $1,499.24 | +52.0% |
| Stage 2 | 1,749 | $0.79 | $5.21 | $36.02 | $2,199.99 | +43.1% |
| Level-Up | 78 | $61.43 | $94.61 | $159.26 | $566.33 | +89.6% |
| BREAK | 35 | $3.60 | $5.39 | $7.51 | $30.74 | +72.8% |
Read the three price columns together: a group where all three are close is dear all the way through, while a group with a low typical price and a very high dearest card is carrying one chased print. A dash means fewer than four cards in that group carry a price, which is too few to split into quarters.
Basic9,991 cards · a cheap one $0.41, the dearest $4,500.0010,976times wider ($0.41 to $4,500.00)2Stage 15,102 cards · a cheap one $0.41, the dearest $1,499.243,657times wider ($0.41 to $1,499.24)3Stage 21,749 cards · a cheap one $0.79, the dearest $2,199.992,785times wider ($0.79 to $2,199.99)The widest stages on this page: how many times the dearest card inside costs more than a cheap one. A wide stage is not an expensive stage — it is one where the price of a single card tells you almost nothing about the next.
Back to summaryAre Pokémon cards going up in value, stage by stage?
| Reading date | Typical price | Where it started |
|---|---|---|
| 12 Sep 25 | 1.54 | |
| 10 Oct 25 | 1.58 | |
| 7 Nov 25 | 1.58 | |
| 5 Dec 25 | 1.61 | |
| 2 Jan 26 | 1.62 | |
| 30 Jan 26 | 1.7 | |
| 27 Feb 26 | 1.77 | |
| 27 Mar 26 | 1.86 | |
| 24 Apr 26 | 1.97 | |
| 22 May 26 | 2.12 | |
| 19 Jun 26 | 2.3 | |
| 17 Jul 26 | 2.41 | |
| 14 Aug 26 | 2.5 |
One line per stage, each drawn against its own scale so the shapes can be compared rather than the heights. The figures beneath are the typical price now and the change over the 11 months on file; the ladder below ranks the same moves by size.
5 stages tracked across the yearSee them all
Rose the most over 11 months
Fell the most over 11 months
Change in the typical price of each stage between September 12, 2025 and August 14, 2026, counted from 5 stages that carry a price on both dates.
Taken together, Pokémon cards sorted by evolution stage rose from a typical $1.54 to $2.50 over the 11 months on file — +62.3%. The ladder shows that the whole did not move as one: 5 stages rose and 0 fell over the same window.
Which stage holds the most valuable Pokémon card?
No. 1 Lugia at $4,500.00 is $2,300.01 above No. 2 Gengar at $2,199.99 — 2.0 times its price.
The four rows below are No. 2 to No. 5. Each bar is that card against Lugia at $4,500.00, the dearest card on this page.
LugiaBasic · Aquapolis 149 · Rare Secret$4,500.001,852× the group medianGengarStage 2 · SWSH Black Star Promos SWSH241 · Promo$2,199.99422× the group medianUmbreon exStage 1 · Prismatic Evolutions 161 · Special Illustration Rare$1,499.24789× the group medianSnorlax LV.XLevel-Up · Rising Rivals 111 · Rare Holo LV.X$566.336.0× the group medianGreninja BREAKBREAK · BREAKpoint 41 · Rare BREAK$30.745.7× the group medianThe last column is that one card measured against the typical price of the stage it belongs to, not against the other cards on this list.
A large multiple means the stage is carried by a single chased print: the card is dear but an ordinary card of that stage is not. A small multiple means the group is dear all the way through. Stages that record no typical price are left out of this list rather than shown as zero.
The two rankings disagree, and that is the useful part. Basic holds the dearest single card at $4,500.00, but Level-Up is the dearest stage by typical price at $94.61. One group has a chased card in it; the other is dear all the way through — and only the second of those makes an ordinary card of that group expensive.
Pokémon card evolution stage records — the biggest, the dearest and the fastest moving
Basic9,991 cardsTypical $2.43 → $94.61
Level-Up$94.61Basic is the largest stage with 9,991 cards. The remaining 4 stages share what is left.
No single stage holds every record. The largest is Basic, the dearest by typical price is Level-Up, and the one card that tops the list sits in Basic — three different places on this page.
The most valuable Pokémon card in every stage
Market $4,500.00Lugia [149]2Market $2,199.99Gengar [SWSH241]3Market $1,499.24Umbreon ex [161]4Market $566.33Snorlax LV.X [111]5Market $30.74Greninja BREAK [41]The dearest card of each of the 5 stages, dearest first.
All 5 cards are on this one page — there is nothing folded away. Each picture opens that card's own price page; to open the stage instead, use the list higher up. Prices were read on August 14, 2026.
Back to summaryOther ways to sort the same Pokémon cards
Pokémon cards in Basic9,991 cards · typical $2.43Dearest: LugiaPokémon cards in Stage 15,102 cards · typical $1.90Dearest: Umbreon exPokémon cards in Stage 21,749 cards · typical $5.21Dearest: GengarPokémon cards in Level-Up78 cards · typical $94.61Dearest: Snorlax LV.XPokémon cards in BREAK35 cards · typical $5.39Dearest: Greninja BREAK
Pokémon cards by rarityRarity is the grade recorded with each card in the card files this site reads. Every English card carries one, so the archive splits into rarity tiers without anything left over.Pokémon cards by print variantA print variant is the finish a card was sold in. The same artwork can be issued in more than one finish, and each finish keeps its own price record, so the two are priced apart.
Pokémon cards by Pokédex numberThe Pokédex number ties every print of the same Pokémon together, whatever the set is called and whatever extra words the card name carries. Grouping by the number keeps prints of one Pokémon in one place instead of scattering them by name.
Pokémon cards by regulation markThe regulation mark is the single letter recorded with each modern card. Older prints carry no mark at all, so this axis covers only the part of the archive that has one.
Pokémon cards by energy typeThe energy type is the element recorded for each Pokémon card. Trainer and energy cards carry none, so this axis covers only the Pokémon part of the archive.Pokémon cards by setA set is the expansion a card was printed in, and every card in the card files this site reads names exactly one. Sorting by set puts each release back together the way it was sold, so a card can be read next to the cards it shared a pack with.
Pokémon cards by artistThe artist is the illustrator credited on the printed card, recorded with each card in the card files this site reads. One illustrator can appear across many expansions and many decades, so this axis cuts the archive by hand rather than by release.
Pokémon cards by mechanicA mechanic is the special kind a card is printed as — V, VMAX and ex among Pokémon, Item, Supporter and Stadium among Trainers — recorded with each card in the card files this site reads. Evolution stages are counted on their own, and a plain card carries no mechanic at all, so this axis covers only the part of the archive that has one.Pokémon cards by attack costThe attack cost is how many energy a card's cheapest attack asks for, counted from the energy printed on each attack in the card files this site reads. Cards with no attack carry none, so this axis covers only the part of the archive that attacks.Pokémon cards by damage rangeThe damage figure is the highest number any of a card's attacks prints, gathered here into ranges rather than counted one number at a time. Attacks that print no number carry none, so this axis covers only the part of the archive that prints damage.Pokémon cards by retreat costThe retreat cost is how many energy a card asks for to retreat, counted from the retreat cost recorded with each card in the card files this site reads. Cards with no retreat cost on file carry none, so this axis covers only the part of the archive that has one.What the Pokémon cards inside each evolution stage are like
Each dot is one stage: further right means tougher cards, further up means harder-hitting ones. The size of the dot is how many cards that stage holds. HP and damage are the averages of the Pokémon cards inside it, so Trainer and energy cards take no part in either figure.
| Group | Typical HP | Typical max damage | Cards |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stage 2 | 162 | 102 | 1,749 |
| Basic | 93 | 51 | 9,991 |
| Stage 1 | 109 | 67 | 5,102 |
| Level-Up | 121 | 84 | 78 |
| BREAK | 150 | 98 | 35 |
The most common weakness inside each of the 4 stages that record one.
4 of the 5 stages report a main weakness; the rest hold no Pokémon cards that print one, so they are not counted here rather than counted as zero.
| Group | Share | Value |
|---|---|---|
| Fighting | 50.0% | 2 stages |
| Fire | 25.0% | 1 stage |
| Water | 25.0% | 1 stage |
| Stage | Cards | Typical HP | Typical max damage | Main weakness | Most common stage | Usual retreat cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | 9,991 | 93 | 51 | Fighting | Basic | 1 |
| Stage 1 | 5,102 | 109 | 67 | Fighting | Stage 1 | 1 |
| Stage 2 | 1,749 | 162 | 102 | Fire | Stage 2 | 2 |
| Level-Up | 78 | 121 | 84 | Water | Level-Up | 1 |
| BREAK | 35 | 150 | 98 | not recorded | BREAK | not recorded |
Typical HP and typical max damage are the averages across the Pokémon cards in that group. Main weakness, stage and retreat cost are the most common value in the group, not the only one.
Two groups can hold the same number of cards and still play nothing alike. Reading this table next to the prices above is what turns evolution stage from a label into a description — you can see whether a dear group is dear because its cards are strong, or only because there are few of them.
Pokémon card evolution stage — frequently asked questions
How many evolution stages do Pokémon cards split into?
Which Pokémon card evolution stage holds the most cards?
Which Pokémon card evolution stage is the most expensive?
What is the most expensive Pokémon card in the evolution stage list?
Do all Pokémon cards have an evolution stage?
Why do some Pokémon card evolution stages have no price?
How often are these Pokémon card evolution stage prices updated?
Are Pokémon cards going up in value by evolution stage?
Which Pokémon card evolution stage rose the most this year?
Which Pokémon card evolution stage holds the most valuable card?
How much does a cheap Pokémon card cost, by evolution stage?
Does evolution stage tell you what a Pokémon card is worth?
How these counts are made, and where you can check them
Primary official source
First-party official sources — the body that issues the data itself, such as a government agency, a statutory register or a rights holder publishing its own records.
Industry source
Second-party sources — marketplaces, trade associations, research institutes and companies that compile data about the market.
Before you rely on these figures
What this page counts when it counts stages, and what it leaves out
- This page counts the 20,444 English cards this site holds on file, not every Pokémon card ever printed. Cards in other languages are not in these figures.
- Only 16,955 of those cards record a evolution stage at all, so the stages below add up to that number and not to 20,444.
- Prices are read from 16,365 cards. The remaining 590 carry no price in the archive, so they are left out of every price figure rather than counted as zero.
- A stage appears here only when it is big enough to stand on its own — at least 24 cards, 12 of them priced, and 10 with a card image. Smaller ones are still counted in the totals above.
- Every price is a median, not an average. One chased card can be worth thousands of times an ordinary one, and an average would let that single card speak for the whole group.
- These figures are a snapshot of a market that moves. Nothing here is an offer, a valuation or advice to buy or sell.
Prices read on August 14, 2026 · card facts counted on the same file.
Note: Prices on this page are asking and market prices for ungraded English cards, taken from a daily snapshot of public marketplace listings read on August 14, 2026. They are not offers, they exclude shipping, duty and marketplace fees, and they move. Counts cover only the English cards this site holds on file, so a stage can hold cards that are not counted here. Graded prices, population counts, sealed product values and pack odds are not published on this site because no free commercial source provides them.
Last updated: 2026-08-14