Brace yourselves.

The AP Stylebook says the percentage sign is now acceptable when paired with a numeral in most cases.

On Friday, Stylebook Editor Paula Froke announced the latest round of changes to the grammar bible for journalists at the annual conference for ACES: The Society for Editing. This year’s changes are yet another shift toward more common usage.

Here’s part of the updated entry:

percent, percentage, percentage points Use the % sign when paired with a numeral, with no space, in most cases (a change in 2019): Average hourly pay rose 3.1% from a year ago; her mortgage rate is 4.75%; about 60% of Americans agreed; he won 56.2% of the vote. Use figures: 1%, 4 percentage points. For amounts less than 1%, precede the decimal with a zero: The cost of living rose 0.6% In casual uses, use words rather than figures and numbers: She said he has a zero percent chance of winning.

That change will take effect next week. Past changes like this one include: