diff --git a/src/stats.jl b/src/stats.jl
index 65f5a37..b955f7f 100644
--- a/src/stats.jl
+++ b/src/stats.jl
@@ -456,7 +456,7 @@ function _merge!(o::Variance, o2::Variance)
 end
 function value(o::Variance{T}) where {T} 
     if nobs(o) > 1 
-        o.σ2 * bessel(o) 
+        o.σ2 * T(bessel(o))
     else
         isfinite(mean(o)) ? T(1) ^ 2 : NaN * T(1) ^ 2
     end
diff --git a/test/test_stats.jl b/test/test_stats.jl
index bb66150..fe82800 100644
--- a/test/test_stats.jl
+++ b/test/test_stats.jl
@@ -251,6 +251,8 @@ println("  > Variance")
     @test std(Variance()) == 1
     @test std(fit!(Variance(), 1)) == 1
     @test std(fit!(Variance(), [1, 2])) == sqrt(.5)
+    # https://github.com/joshday/OnlineStats.jl/issues/217
+    @test value(fit!(Variance(Float32), randn(Float32, 10))) isa Float32
 end
 
 end # end "Test Stats"
\ No newline at end of file