by The tutorial explains how to use COUNTIFS and COUNTIF formulas with multiple criteria in Excel based on AND as well as OR logic. You will find a number of examples for different data types - numbers, dates, text, wildcard characters, non-blank cells and more.
Of all Excel functions, COUNTIFS and COUNTIF are probably most often mixed up because they look very much alike and both are purposed for counting cells based on the specified criteria.
The difference is that COUNTIF is designed for counting cells with a single condition in one range, whereas COUNTIFS can evaluate different criteria in the same or in different ranges. The aim of this tutorial is to demonstrate different approaches and help you choose the most efficient formula for each particular task.
Excel COUNTIFS function - syntax and usage
The Excel COUNTIFS function counts cells across multiple ranges based on one or several conditions. The function is available in Excel 365, 2021, 2019, 2016, 2013, Excel 2010, and Excel 2007, so you can use the below examples in any Excel version.
COUNTIFS syntax
The syntax of the COUNTIFS function is as follows:
- criteria_range1 (required) - defines the first range to which the first condition (criteria1) shall be applied.
- criteria1 (required) - sets the condition in the form of a number, cell reference, text string, expression or another Excel function. The criteria defines which cells shall be counted and can be expressed as 10, "<=32", A6, "sweets".
- [criteria_range2, criteria2]… (optional) - these are additional ranges and their associated criteria. You can specify up to 127 range/criteria pairs in your formulas.
In fact, you don't have to remember the syntax of the COUNTIF function by heart. Microsoft Excel will display the function's arguments as soon as you start typing; the argument you are entering at the moment is highlighted in bold.
Excel COUNTIFS - things to remember!
- You can use the COUNTIFS function in Excel to count cells in a single range with a single condition as well as in multiple ranges with multiple conditions. If the latter, only those cells that meet all of the specified conditions are counted.
- Each additional range must have the same number of rows and columns as the first range (criteria_range1 argument).
- Both contiguous and non-contiguous ranges are allowed.
- If the criteria is a reference to an empty cell, the COUNTIFS function treats it as a zero value (0).
- You can use the wildcard characters in criteria - asterisk (*) and question mark (?). See this example for full details.
How to use COUNTIFS and COUNTIF with multiple criteria in Excel
Below you will find a number of formula examples that demonstrate how to use the COUNTIFS and COUNTIF functions in Excel to evaluate multiple conditions.
How to count cells with multiple criteria (AND logic)
This scenario is the easiest one, since the COUNTIFS function in Excel is designed to count only those cells for which all of the specified conditions are TRUE. We call it the AND logic, because Excel's AND function works this way.
Formula 1. COUNTIFS formula with multiple criteria
Suppose you have a product list like shown in the screenshot below. You want to get a count of items that are in stock (value in column B is greater than 0) but have not been sold yet (value is column C is equal to 0).
The task can be accomplished by using this formula:
=COUNTIFS(B2:B7,">0", C2:C7,"=0")
And the count is 2 ("Cherries" and "Lemons"):
Formula 2. COUNTIFS formula with two criteria
When you want to count items with identical criteria, you still need to supply each criteria_range / criteria pair individually.
For example, here's the right formula to count items that have 0 both in column B and column C:
=COUNTIFS($B$2:$B$7,"=0", $C$2:$C$7,"=0")
This COUNTIFS formula returns 1 because only "Grapes" have "0" value in both columns.
Using a simpler formula with a single criteria_range like COUNTIFS(B2:C7,"=0") would yield a different result - the total count of cells in the range B2:C7 containing a zero (which is 4 in this example).
How to count cells with multiple criteria (OR logic)
As you have seen in the above examples, counting cells that meet all of the specified criteria is easy because the COUNTIFS function is designed to work this way.
But what if you want to count cells for which at least one of the specified conditions is TRUE, i.e. based on the OR logic? Overall, there are two ways to do this - by adding up several COUNTIF formulas or using a SUM COUNTIFS formula with an array constant.
Formula 1. Add up two or more COUNTIF or COUNITFS formulas
In the table below, supposing you want to count orders with the "Cancelled" and "Pending" status. To have it doen, you can simply write 2 regular Countif formulas and add up the results:
=COUNTIF($C$2:$C$11,"Cancelled") + COUNTIF($C$2:$C$11,"Pending")
In case each of the functions is supposed to evaluate more than one condition, use COUNTIFS instead of COUNTIF. For example, to get the count of "Cancelled" and "Pending" orders for "Apples" use this formula:
=COUNTIFS($A$2:$A$11, "Apples", $C$2:$C$11,"Cancelled") + COUNTIFS($A$2:$A$11, "Apples", $C$2:$C$11,"Pending")
Formula 2. SUM COUNTIFS with an array constant
In situations when you have to evaluate a lot of criteria, the above approach is not the best way to go because your formula would grow too big in size. To perform the same calculations in a more compact formula, list all of your criteria in an array constant, and supply that array to the criteria argument of the COUNTIFS function. To get the total count, embed COUNTIFS inside the SUM function, like this:
In our sample table, to count orders with the status "Cancelled" or "Pending" or "In transit", the formula would go as follows:
=SUM(COUNTIFS($C$2:$C$11, {"cancelled", "pending", "in transit"}))
In a similar manner, you can count cells based on two or more criteria_range / criteria pairs. For instance, to get the number of "Apples" orders that are "Cancelled" or "Pending" or "In transit", use this formula:
=SUM(COUNTIFS($A$2:$A$11,"apples",$C$2:$C$11,{"cancelled","pending","in transit"}))
You can find a few more ways to count cells with OR logic in this tutorial: Excel COUNTIF and COUNTIFS with OR conditions.
How to count numbers between 2 specified numbers
By and large, COUNTIFS formulas for numbers fall into 2 categories - based on several conditions (explained in the above examples) and between the two values you specify. The latter can be accomplished in two ways - by using the COUNTIFS function or by subtracting one COUNTIF from another.
Formula 1. COUNTIFS to count cells between two numbers
To find out how many numbers between 5 and 10 (not including 5 and 10) are contained in cells C2 through C10, use this formula:
=COUNTIFS(C2:C10,">5", C2:C10,"<10")
To include 5 and 10 in the count, use the "greater than or equal to" and "less than or equal to" operators:
=COUNTIFS(B2:B10,">=5", B2:B10,"<=10")
Formula 2. COUNTIF formulas to count numbers between X and Y
The same result can be achieved by subtracting one Countif formula from another. The first one counts how many numbers are greater than the lower bound value (5 in this example). The second formula returns the count of numbers that are greater than the upper bound value (10 in this case). The difference between the first and second number is the result you are looking for.
- =COUNTIF(C2:C10,">5")-COUNTIF(C2:C10,">=10") - counts how many numbers greater than 5 and less than 10 are in the range C2:C10. This formula will return the same count as shown in the screenshot above.
- =COUNTIF(C2:C10, ">=5")-COUNTIF(C2:C10, ">10") - the formula counts how many numbers between 5 and 10 are in the range C2:C10, including 5 and 10.
How to use cell references in COUNTIFS formulas
When using logical operators such as ">", "<", "<=" or ">=" together with cell references in your Excel COUNTIFS formulas, remember to enclose the operator in "double quotes" and
add an ampersand (&) before a cell reference to construct a text string.
In a sample dataset below, let's count "Apples" orders with amount greater than $200. With criteria_range1 in cells A2:A11 and criteria_range2 in B2:B11, you can use this formula:
=COUNTIFS($A$2:$A$11, "Apples", $B$2:$B$11, ">200")
Or, you can input your criteria values in certain cells, say F1 and F2, and reference those cells in your formula:
=COUNTIFS($A$2:$A$11, $F$1, $B$2:$B$11, ">"&$F$2)
Please notice the use of absolute cell references both in the criteria and criteria_range arguments, which prevents the formula from being broken when copied to other cells.
For more information about the use of an ampersand in COUNTIF and COUNTIFS formulas, please see Excel COUNTIF - frequently asked questions.
How to use COUNTIFS with wildcard characters
In Excel COUNTIFS formulas, you can use the following wildcard characters:
- Question mark (?) - matches any single character, use it to count cells starting and/or ending with certain characters.
- Asterisk (*) - matches any sequence of characters, you use it to count cells containing a specified word or a character(s) as part of the cell's contents.
Tip. If you want to count cells with an actual question mark or asterisk, type a tilde (~) before an asterisk or question mark.
Now let's see how you can use a wildcard char in real-life COUNTIFS formulas in Excel. Suppose, you have a list of projects in column A. You wish to know how many projects are already assigned to someone, i.e. have any name in column B. And because we are learning how to use the COUNTIFS function with multiple criteria, let's add a second condition - the End Date in column D should also be set.
Here is the formula that works a treat:
=COUNTIFS(B2:B10,"*",D2:D10,"<>"&""))
Please note, you cannot use a wildcard character in the 2nd criteria because you have dates rather that text values in column D. That is why, you use the criteria that finds non-blank cells: "<>"&""
COUNTIFS and COUNTIF with multiple criteria for dates
The COUNTIFS and COUNTIF formulas you use for dates are very much similar to the above formulas for numbers.
Example 1. Count dates in a specific date range
To count the dates that fall in a certain date range, you can also use either a COUNTIFS formula with two criteria or a combination of two COUNTIF functions.
For example, the following formulas count the number of dates in cells C2 through C10 that fall between 1-Jun-2014 and 7-Jun-2014, inclusive:
=COUNTIFS(C2:C9, ">=6/1/2014", C2:C9, "<=6/7/2014")
=COUNTIF(C2:C9, ">=6/1/2014") - COUNTIF(C2:C9, ">6/7/2014")
Example 2. Count dates with multiple conditions
In the same manner, you can use a COUNTIFS formula to count the number of dates in different columns that meet 2 or more conditions. For instance, the below formula will find out how many products were purchased after the 20th of May and delivered after the 1st of June:
=COUNTIFS(C2:C9, ">5/1/2014", D2:D9, ">6/7/2014")
Example 3. Count dates with multiple conditions based on the current date
You can use Excel's TODAY() function in combination with COUNTIF to count dates based on the current date.
For example, the following COUNTIF formula with two ranges and two criteria will tell you how many products have already been purchased but not delivered yet.
=COUNTIFS(C2:C9, "<"&TODAY(), D2:D9, ">"&TODAY())
This formula allows for many possible variations. For instance, you can tweak it to count how many products were purchased more than a week ago and are not delivered yet:
=COUNTIFS(C2:C9, "<="&TODAY()-7, D2:D9, ">"&TODAY())
This is how you count cells with multiple criteria in Excel. I hope you will find these examples helpful. Anyway, I thank you for reading and hope to see you on our blog next week!
2039 comments
Hi Svetlana -
I was wondering if you could help me on how I can use Countif or Countifs to check a list/colmun of different words, tell me how many times it appears in a search of about 300 rows. I have about 70 different words to search in it would be time consuming if I just simply worked one at a time using =countif(A1: LP12,"Different Words to Look up").
I believe there is a formula that I can just either drag and use to look all at onces.
Thanks,
Javier
Hi Javier,
If you have a list of those 70 words in some column, you can reference the first cell in the formula, say $A13, and then copy the formula down to other cells:
=COUNTIF($A$1:$LP$12, $A13)
Below is my formula, it is counting everything in the first () and not the second. Please help.
=COUNTIFS('513TH BYNAME'!G2:G1500,"09L5",'513TH BYNAME'!H2:H1500,"OO")+ COUNTIFS('513TH BYNAME'!I2:I1501,"9J,9Y,9T,9V,9R,9Q",'513TH BYNAME'!K2:K1501,"*2015")
Does not count the second COUNTIFS('513TH BYNAME'!I2:I1501,"9J,9Y,9T,9V,9R,9Q",'513TH BYNAME'!K2:K1501,"*2015")
Hi,
I want to count the number of cells from "today's date" to a specific charater, lets say S.
For example: If todays date where 15:th of july and I have my sheet like this:
Dates:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
S P T L L
I want it to count the number of cells, regardless if the cells are blank or have a different character(P,T or L) from 15th of july until it finds the first S, thus 15-3=12.
Hope you can help.
Thanks
Somehting went wrong when I sent the question as seen above, it would be: 15-1=14.
Please help
Hi there,
I have to get 2 columns of data from a data sheet.
Basicly Column X is a name and Column Y is an answer of one of six results.
While Column X will remain the same I need to see how many of each of the results appear for Coloumn y of the 6 criteria.
I used =COUNTIFS(A1:A941, "JOHN", C1:C941, "CLOSED")
But it wont tell me how many of the columns under Johns name are closed
Can you help?
Hi Svetlana,
I'm using excel mac and I'm trying to countif a date range and using a separate worksheet the name of the worksheet is KIDS and the column in that worksheet is R. Please where am I going wrong, below is an example;
=COUNTIFS(KIDS!R:R, ">01/07/2015", KIDS!R:R, "<31/07/2015")
Thanks heaps :)
I am working with excel to draw up characters in columns consisting of random alphanumeric combinations. For ex: TRG, 0RG, 12TT, in column organization. I want to list the number of each individual character and how many times the character appears within each column. .. IE: 0=1, R=2, T=3. The countif function completely works for alphabet characters, but not for numeric when next to alpha.
The 0 numeric when beside an alphabet character is simply not recognized. I've attempted some * with no luck..I'll keep reading could you please provide some insight?
Hi Andrea,
You can use the following array formula (Remember to press Ctrl+Shift+Enter to enter it correctly):
=SUM((LEN(A1:A100) - LEN(SUBSTITUTE(A1:A100, 0, ""))))
Where 0 is the digit you want to count.
Instead of supplying a numeric value in the formula, you can place it in some other cell, then the formula will be slightly different, as in the following example: Array formula to count any given character in a range.
Svetlana Cheusheva,hope yo helping me,thanks
YES NO
x
x
x
100%
hi,how can I automate, such that when is placed in a NO column then the percentage reduces eg
YES NO
x
x
x
67%
regards
Outlet type: A, B, C, D
Expected Product range by outlet type
A - 20g,30g,170g,410g,400g tin,400g pouch,uht fc,uht lf
B - 20g,30g,170g,410g,400g tin,400g pouch
C - 20g,30g,170g,410g
D - 20g,30g,170g
Product presence report (Yes means available while No means not available)
Peak 170g - No
peak 410g - Yes
peak 30g - Yes
peak 20g - Yes
peak 400g Tin - No
Peak 400g P - No
Peak 900g - No
Peak uht fc - No
Peak uht lc - No
Hi Svetlana, i have above merchandizing report data. Based on the outlet type and the lists of products expected there and the product presence report, i want a formula that will count and return the number of products present in the outlet by considering the type of outlet (A,B,C,D). Thanks
Dear Svetlana,
Still waiting please, i believe you are working on my request. Thanks
i have got data of employees for a mining company. i want to count those that appear on the breakfast, lunch and dinner differently. how can i do that?
thanks
Hi Abraham,
If you can provide more details about your data structure, we will try to make a formula.
hi,
i have got a big data of employees working for a mining comapany, i want to know the number of employees that come for breakfast, lunch and dinner differently. how can i do that?
thanks
Hello. I’m trying to count unique text values in column A that meet date criteria in column G as determined by one cell (H158160) that contains a drop down list of dates selected by users. The intention is for them to be able to select the date from the list and see the count of account numbers, the sum of units sold, and the sum of revenue. I’ve got all of the formulas working except for the count of account numbers, because I’m having trouble with the COUNTIFS formula. I’ve been able to count unique values using the array formula {=SUM(1/COUNTIF(A2:A796,A2:A796)}, but I don’t know how to set these multiple criteria. Hopefully you can help. Thanks in advance!
I am trying to count the number of people who have done an intervention by the place from which they come from. I am taking this information from another sheet. The thing is they have done up to four interventions and the intervention columns are not in direct order of one another. So I am trying to count the number of people say playing football which could be in four columns by the place the live.
I have tried =COUNTIFS('USER SHEET'!AC2:AC10000,Intervention!D3,'USER SHEET'!B2:B10000,Intervention!C4,('USER SHEET'!AF2:AF10000,Intervention!D3,'USER SHEET'!B2:B10000,Intervention!C4,('USER SHEET'!AI2:AI10000,Intervention!D3,'USER SHEET'!B2:B10000,Intervention!C4,('USER SHEET'!AL2:AL10000,Intervention!D3,'USER SHEET'!B2:B10000,Intervention!C4))))
How chose two fromm three number the best.
Excample:
A: 30
B: 20
C: 10
Two the best 30+20=50
I am trying to use a count function, but struggling to get the formula to work.
I have an area that will be filled in with different dates. On a separate sheet I have a running date column. I want to count how many boxes have a certain date in it.
=COUNTIF(Sheet3!$C$23:$EF$34,"=14/8")
This is the formula I'm currently using, which works fine, but I cant drag it down. I've tried doing the alternative:
=COUNTIF(Sheet3!$C$23:$EF$34,"=B8")
(B8 is where the 14th August is located). This does not work.
Please help.
Thanks
Craig
JUST REMOVE THE $ SIGN AND DRAG DOWN
Good Morning,
I am so thankful I found this site.
I am looking for a simple formula to find all 4s in column b, that has a code of X3,Z1, and Y9 in column E, PLUS all 5s in column B, that have blanks in column D, with codes of X3, Z1 and Y9 in column E.
Can this be done? If not, thats fine, I will complete it the same as always.
I appreciate all your help.
Rick
A B C D E
5659 4 91B 91B2 Z1
2935 4 68C 68C2 Z1
6572 4 92W 92W2 Z1
8675 4 91D 91D2 Z1
7627 5 12B 12B2 Z1
7450 5 19D 19D2 X3
9171 5 36B 36B2 Z1
3503 5 11B 11B2 Z1
5759 5 36B 36B2 X3
5062 5 15D 15D2 Z1
9088 4 91E Y9
1665 4 68W 68W2 x1
7212 4 68W 68W2 x1
4539 4 15U 15U2 Z1
2579 4 74D 74D2 Z1
8052 5 14H X3
2423 5 15U X3
5228 5 12P Z1
9080 5 19D Z1
9076 5 11B x1
691 5 74D x1
3504 5 31D x1
8594 5 14E x1
919 5 11B x1
4518 5 11B X3
Hi!
I have two columns (all text). The first column is a list of names (could be repeated) and the second column is a list of factors (i.e. "ontime", "late", etc.). I want to know how many times a certain name (from the first column) hits each factor from the second column. Hopefully this is clear.
Thank you!
Hi Again,
Please disregard. I used a SUMPRODUCT formula which worked like a charm!
Hi Melissa. How did you get this to work?
Hi I am trying to use a countifs formula for the following situation:
I have multiple staff and I want to get a tally of how many times each staff puts in overtime for each reason for overtime.
I have been successful with this but I want to take it to the next level and find out the total amount of time corresponding to each reason for each staff member. So the formula is referring to a separate tab in excel and basically saying that if B4:B30 says "X" and c4:c30 says "Y" I want the value of D4:D30 that corresponds to this condition to show in the cell. Is this possible?
Hi Kim,
Let me check if my understanding of the task is correct. so, if B4 says "x" and C4 says "y", you want to pull the value from D4. If so, you can enter the following formula in row 4 and then copy it down to other cells in the column:
=IF(AND(B4="x", C4="y"), D4, "")
If you want to sum the numbers in D4:D30 that correspond to those conditions, then you can use the following SUMIFS formula:
=SUMIFS(D4:D30, B4:B30, "x", C4:C30, "y")
Hi,
Do the different parts of the countif formula all have to be contained within the same worksheet?
I have created a report which has data on one tab, and a query form on a second tab. The countif formula is looking at concatenated fields which I want it to return a value of the number of occurrences of a selected concatenated value (such as contract number and month). I am getting a zero when using the countif formula which uses the data as the first part of the countif, but the second part of the countif formula is from a cell in my query form.
If I do a countif where both table and criteria are on the same tab, I get the value I'm expecting.
Thanks,
Paul
Hi,
I need to use the COUNTIFS to count ID#’s that are between specific dates (for example: 6/22/2015 -6/28/2015; 6/29/2015-7/5/15; 7/6/15-7/12/15) but I have more than one entry for the same ID# and I don’t want to count duplicate ID#s.
Thanks
ID# Dates
UTIC05019_000 7/14/2015
UTIC05019_000 7/14/2015
UTIC05019_000 7/14/2015
UTIC05019_000 7/14/2015
UTIC05021_000 6/24/2015
UTIC05021_000 6/24/2015
UTIC05021_000 6/24/2015
UTIC05022_000 6/27/2015
UTIC05022_000 6/27/2015
UTIC05023_000 6/28/2015
UTIC05023_000 6/28/2015
UTIC05027_000 6/28/2015
UTIC05027_000 6/28/2015
UTIC05030_000 6/26/2015
UTIC05030_000 6/29/2015
UTIC05030_000 6/29/2015
UTIC05030_000 6/29/2015
UTIC05030_000 7/1/2015
UTIC05032_000 7/8/2015
UTIC05032_000 7/8/2015
UTIC05032_000 7/8/2015