diff --git a/backend/src/__tests__/api/common.ts b/backend/src/__tests__/api/common.ts
index 5380391ac..fb245e15a 100644
--- a/backend/src/__tests__/api/common.ts
+++ b/backend/src/__tests__/api/common.ts
@@ -37,4 +37,27 @@ describe('Common', () => {
       });
     });
   });
+
+  describe('Effective Fee Statistics', () => {
+    test('returns safe defaults for blocks with only coinbase', () => {
+      const coinbaseTx = { weight: 1000, fee: 0, txid: 'coinbase0' };
+      const result = Common.calcEffectiveFeeStatistics([coinbaseTx]);
+
+      expect(result.medianFee).toBe(0);
+      expect(result.feeRange).toEqual([0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0]);
+    });
+
+    test('excludes coinbase from fee stats when multiple txs', () => {
+      const coinbaseTx = { weight: 1000, fee: 0, txid: 'coinbase0' };
+      const tx1 = { weight: 400, fee: 100, txid: 'tx1' }; // vsize 100, rate 1 sat/vB
+      const tx2 = { weight: 400, fee: 250, txid: 'tx2' }; // vsize 100, rate 2.5 sat/vB
+
+      const result = Common.calcEffectiveFeeStatistics([coinbaseTx, tx1, tx2]);
+
+      // Verify that coinbase (fee 0) was excluded from stats
+      // Fee range min/max should be > 0 (not affected by coinbase's 0 fee)
+      expect(result.feeRange[0]).toBeGreaterThan(0); // min fee
+      expect(result.feeRange[6]).toBeGreaterThan(0); // max fee
+    });
+  });
 });
diff --git a/backend/src/api/common.ts b/backend/src/api/common.ts
index 2538d7bd1..8fcd2b27b 100644
--- a/backend/src/api/common.ts
+++ b/backend/src/api/common.ts
@@ -1030,8 +1030,18 @@ export class Common {
   }
 
   static calcEffectiveFeeStatistics(transactions: { weight: number, fee?: number, effectiveFeePerVsize?: number, txid: string, acceleration?: boolean }[]): EffectiveFeeStats {
-    const sortedTxs = transactions.map(tx => { return { txid: tx.txid, weight: tx.weight, rate: tx.effectiveFeePerVsize || ((tx.fee || 0) / (tx.weight / 4)) }; }).sort((a, b) => a.rate - b.rate);
-    const totalWeight = transactions.reduce((acc, tx) => acc + tx.weight, 0);
+    // return early with safe default values
+    if (transactions.length <= 1) {
+      return {
+        medianFee: 0,
+        feeRange: [0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0],
+      };
+    }
+    // assume the first transaction is a coinbase if the fee is falsy (0 or undefined)
+    const nonCoinbaseTransactions = transactions[0].fee ? transactions : transactions.slice(1);
+
+    const sortedTxs = nonCoinbaseTransactions.map(tx => { return { txid: tx.txid, weight: tx.weight, rate: tx.effectiveFeePerVsize || ((tx.fee || 0) / (tx.weight / 4)) }; }).sort((a, b) => a.rate - b.rate);
+    const totalWeight = nonCoinbaseTransactions.reduce((acc, tx) => acc + tx.weight, 0);
 
     // include any unused space
     let weightCount = config.MEMPOOL.BLOCK_WEIGHT_UNITS - totalWeight;
@@ -1060,7 +1070,7 @@ export class Common {
     // b) the minimum effective fee rate in the last 2% of transactions (in block order)
     const minFee = Math.min(
       Common.getNthPercentile(1, sortedTxs).rate,
-      transactions.slice(-transactions.length / 50).reduce((min, tx) => { return Math.min(min, tx.effectiveFeePerVsize || ((tx.fee || 0) / (tx.weight / 4))); }, Infinity)
+      nonCoinbaseTransactions.slice(Math.ceil(nonCoinbaseTransactions.length * 49 / 50)).reduce((min, tx) => { return Math.min(min, tx.effectiveFeePerVsize || ((tx.fee || 0) / (tx.weight / 4))); }, Infinity)
     );
 
     // maximum effective fee heuristic:
@@ -1069,7 +1079,7 @@ export class Common {
     // b) the maximum effective fee rate in the first 2% of transactions (in block order)
     const maxFee = Math.max(
       Common.getNthPercentile(99, sortedTxs).rate,
-      transactions.slice(0, transactions.length / 50).reduce((max, tx) => { return Math.max(max, tx.effectiveFeePerVsize || ((tx.fee || 0) / (tx.weight / 4))); }, 0)
+      nonCoinbaseTransactions.slice(0, nonCoinbaseTransactions.length / 50).reduce((max, tx) => { return Math.max(max, tx.effectiveFeePerVsize || ((tx.fee || 0) / (tx.weight / 4))); }, 0)
     );
 
     return {
@@ -1083,6 +1093,9 @@ export class Common {
   }
 
   static getNthPercentile(n: number, sortedDistribution: any[]): any {
+    if (sortedDistribution.length === 0) {
+      return { rate: 0 };
+    }
     return sortedDistribution[Math.floor((sortedDistribution.length - 1) * (n / 100))];
   }
 
diff --git a/contributors/jramos0.txt b/contributors/jramos0.txt
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..6bca26801
--- /dev/null
+++ b/contributors/jramos0.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+I hereby accept the terms of the Contributor License Agreement in the CONTRIBUTING.md file of the mempool/mempool git repository as of February 6, 2025.
+
+Signed: jramos0