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,
I came across to this forum and it looks nice.
I need your help in excel that would assign the same number in multiple rows example below.
I need to do this in 58,000 plus records and really want to somehow automate the process.
Col1 Col2 Results
Kit 1 Kit 1
Kit 2 Kit 1
Kit 3 Kit 1
Len 4 Len 2
Len 5 Len 2
Len 6 Len 2
Len 7 Len 2
Daddy 8 Daddy 3
Daddy 9 Daddy 3
Daddy 10 Daddy 3
Amy 11 Amy 4
Amy 12 Amy 4
Amy 13 Amy 4
Stephanie 14 Stephanie 5
Stephanie 15 Stephanie 5
Stephanie 16 Stephanie 5
Mommy 17 Mommy 6
Mommy 18 Mommy 6
Mommy 19 Mommy 6
Mommy 20 Mommy 6
Col1 Col2 Results
Kit 1 Kit 1
Kit 2 Kit 1
Kit 3 Kit 1
Len 4 Len 2
Len 5 Len 2
Len 6 Len 2
Len 7 Len 2
Daddy 8 Daddy 3
Daddy 9 Daddy 3
Daddy 10 Daddy 3
Amy 11 Amy 4
Amy 12 Amy 4
Amy 13 Amy 4
Stephanie 14 Stephanie 5
Stephanie 15 Stephanie 5
Stephanie 16 Stephanie 5
Mommy 17 Mommy 6
Mommy 18 Mommy 6
Mommy 19 Mommy 6
Mommy 20 Mommy 6
hi,
i have multiple mobile numbers where i want to check that how many time 1 Numbers coming but i am not able found however i have check with countifs but it not happening so please help me then how can check such type values in 10 digit mobile numbers
Regards
Bhajan lal Sharma
Ok. Because question 4 passed in mass i need to track earned sick time. I want to set up the sheet that if a cell is 30 the next cell =1 if 60 =2 and so on. What formula should I use.
Is there way count cells when the date change? Say for instance I have a list people and their birthdays. Column A includes the names and Column B includes the birthdays. Is it possible to count how many people have the same birthdays? I believe I can do it birthday individually but is there is there a function that will automatically count them. I am do something similar to that however I have over 75,000 records to check. Is there that well automatically give me total after each birthday is changed. Like, if the previous birthday is not equal to the next date, display total of the previous birthday and reset total. Please advise. Thanks in advance!
Svetlana,
Having some dificulties trying to figure out, how to count certain transactions that met 2 criterias City=Dallas and Type=SH.
The table has multiple values and the following columns
City
Date
Type
Transaction
I have been trying using Countifs, with no success.
Thanks a lot for your support.
Juan Pablo...
Hello Svetlana,
can you help please?
I have a workbook referencing different tabs, on one sheet I have:
Crew Manpower
A 4
A 4
B 5
C 3
And on the other sheet I have:
Crew Crew Member
A John
Steve
Beto
Frank
B Ted
Mike
Chris
Nate
Terry
In the cell that states "Manpower" I wan to count the number of crew members according to the "crew" letter. I've tried nested COUNTA, IF, AND COUNTIFS and i keep getting errors.
what am i doing wrong?
Thank you!
Hi,
Im trying to do a sum of a range whilst looking at the date completed, for example....
Qty Date
5 02-Oct-14
100 02-Nov-14
5 02-Oct-14
5 02-Nov-14
4 02-Nov-14
54 02-Dec-14
5 02-Dec-14
6 02-Dec-14
Is there a formula give me the sum of left column against the factor Oct for instance and should bring back the result 10.
Thanks for your help
Gavin
Is there any way I can use a formula that will add up different amount of rows but in the same column? Example. In cell AG12, I need it to have the sum of AF8:AF12, however, then I need AG15 to have the sum of AF13:AF15
The only solution I can suggest in this case is writing different formulas for those cells.
Hi Svetlana,
I have data in Col that A.
I want to know no of lines between each pipe (|)
Expected Result in B col for
first pipe is 0
Second Pipe is 6
Third Pipe is 7
Data
|
1
ZGF1213420
S ILIYAAZ
S AZEES MIAH
34-53-22
29
|
2
ZGF0316174
U SUMALATA
NARASHIMHA
MURTHI
53/1
21
|
Kindly do the neeful.
I have emailed the sheet to you emailid.
Hi Khalid,
You need a special macro for your task, sorry I cannot help with this.
I skimmed the comments and didn't see my situation listed:
I want to determine the number of unique entries in a column (D:D) that fall between a pair of dates (say a1 and a2) where the dates of the events are in a different column (J:J).
I know I can count all of the entries in the date range using
=COUNTIFS(!J:J, ""&A2)
and I know I can count all of the unique entries in D:D using
=SUMPRODUCT((D:D"")/COUNTIF(D:D,D:D&""))
How do I put them together?
That didn't post right:
COUNTIFS(J:J, ""&A2)
It's not posting correctly, but hopefully you can interpret what I mean.
COUNTIFS(J:J, ""&A2)
Thank you for any help.
Hello!
Regrettably, we don't know the way to fulfill your task using just one formula. You can either add a helper column or use a VBA macro.
For example, you can enter one of the following formulas in cell K2 (if unique entries are checked by column D and date range):
1 =IF(AND(J2>=$A$1,J2<=$A$2,COUNTIFS(D:D,D2,J:J,">="&$A$1,J:J,"<="&$A$2)=1),1,0)
If you check for unique data only by column D:
2 =IF(AND(J2>=$A$1,J2<=$A$2,COUNTIF(D:D,D2)=1),1,0)
Just copy the formula to the other cells of the helper column and then sum the data in the column.
Thank you for the quick and informative reply.
Hi
I want to use coutifs to select some criteria and count the number of unique numbers (or text) in a column.
Is this possible?
eg I have a list of product codes and each code as a different column for the colour, I want to count the number of product codes (ie some are in more than once)
Cheers, Kate
Is it possible to change the value of a cell so that is counted as two as opposed to one? I'm using COUNTIF to calculate the number of hours each employee is working in a schedule, but some cells equate to 2 hours and others equate to 3.
Hi Abby,
And how do you determine that a particular cell equates 2, or 3 or 1?
In cells A1 to A30 I have 2 alphabets A&E and in the BCells have values .I need a formula to count the no. Of values of A& E in the Bcell. Pl help
Hello Gespion,
Try the following formulas:
Sum values in column B corresponding to "A" in column A:
=SUMIF(A1:A20,"a",B1:B30)
Sum values in column B corresponding to "E" in column A:
=SUMIF(A1:A20,"e",B1:B30)
Hi,
Your example 4: The formula show B and C cells but you highlighted B and D cells in the printscreen.
Regards.
Hi - how can I find the LATEST TIME for different products. Product can be repeated multiple times. example:
Prod1 - 12:30
Prod1 - 13:45
Prod2 - 07:00
Prod2 - 16:00
Prod1 - 09:00
Now it should report Prod1 as 13:45 and Prod2 as 16:00.
Thanks for your help in advance.
Hey Svetlana Cheusheva, I am trying to count values in a column, but I would like to leave out all the blanks and 0 values. Any help would be appreciated.
Hi,
I have a doubt in excel. I have row from a1 to d1 with numbers or string and c1 have no numbers or string.
what i am looking is when any cell is blank then the formula would return the text otherwise sum of all number from a1 to d1.
reply or solutions much appreciated
thanks
I don't have too much experience but I think a simple if min=0 then text else sum shoulf=d be easy to make.
hi
Can you explain with an example?
If you come with an example that would be great
Hi there,
Here is the formula I am working with that almost produced the desired result:
=COUNTIF('Entity SPORTS'!$A6:$A20,"'Entity SUMMARY'!A6")+COUNTIF('Entity SPORTS'!$C6:$C20,"m")
I want to count ONLY IF the first part is true AND the second part is true. Should I be using a different type of formula?
To provide some context: On one worksheet I have a list of clubs (column a - club name is repeated as many times as there are people in the club), the names of the people in the clubs (column b), and their gender (column c, listed as M or F). I want to summarize the number of males and females for each club on a separate worksheet so that column A states the club name, column b will have the number of M, and column C will have the number of F.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Hi Svetlana, I just sent you an email asking for your help with a formula. Thank you so much for all you do!
Hi, Svetlana,
Do you know if you can use countifs accross multiple worksheets? I'm tyring to count an occurance of a entry from a pick list, it occurs in the same column on each sheet but I can't find out how to reference multiple sheets?
Any help would be greatly apprciated!
Hi Brandy,
Just add a sheet's name with the exclamation mark before the range, for example like this:
=COUNTIFS(Sheet1!A:A,1, Sheet2!A:A,1)
This formula counts how many 1's there are in column A in Sheet1 and Sheet2 in the same rows.
Hello Svetlana,
Iam impressed with your suggestions given above.
below is the table for date & related days. I want count of total Saturdays. Means it should not consider repeated entries of same dates.
My result should be 2.
Can you help me
3-Jan-15 Sat
3-Jan-15 Sat
10-Jan-15 Sat
10-Jan-15 Sat
Thanks in advance.
Hello Tushar,
If you want to count only unique Saturdays, then you need to add a helper column to your table.
Please enter the following formula into the 2nd cell of the helper column:
=IF(AND(COUNTIF($A$2:A2,A2)=1,WEEKDAY(A2,2)=6),1,0)
Where A is the column with dates.
Then just copy the formula down to the end. After that you need to sum this column, e.g. =sum(C:C)
Where C is the helper column.
Svetlana Cheusheva
Hi,
I'm trying to get a count of common digit like (1234-2345-2789-1289-2548 = 2 100% 4 50% 8 50% 3 20%
Please help