Excel COUNTIFS Function

The COUNTIFS function in Excel counts the number of cells in a range that match one supplied criteria. Unlike the older COUNTIF function, COUNTIFS can apply more more than one condition at the same time. Conditions are supplied with range/criteria pairs, and only the first pair is required.  For each additional condition, you must supply another range/criteria pair. Up to 127 range/criteria pairs are allowed. 

Criteria can include logical operators (>,<,<>,=) and wildcards (*,?) for partial matching. Criteria can also be based on a value from another cell, as explained below.

COUNTIFS is in a group of eight functions in Excel that split logical criteria into two parts (range + criteria). As a result, the syntax used to construct criteria is different, and COUNTIFS requires a cell range for range arguments, you can't use an array.

Examples

With the example shown, COUNTIFS can be used to count records using 2 criteria as follows:

=COUNTIFS(C5:C14,"red",D5:D14,"tx") // red and TX
=COUNTIFS(C5:C14,"red",F5:F14,">20") // red and >20

Notice the COUNTIFS function is not case-sensitive.

Double quotes ("") in criteria

In general, text values need to be enclosed in double quotes, and numbers do not. However, when a logical operator is included with a number, the number and operator must be enclosed in quotes as shown below:

=COUNTIFS(A1:A10,100) // count equal to 100
=COUNTIFS(A1:A10,">50") // count greater than 50
=COUNTIFS(A1:A10,"jim") // count equal to "jim"

Note: showing one condition only for simplicity. Additional conditions must follow the same rules.

Value from another cell

When using a value from another cell in a condition, the cell reference must be concatenated to an operator when used. In the example below, COUNTIFS will count the values in A1:A10 that are less than the value in cell B1. Notice the less than operator (which is text) is enclosed in quotes, but the cell reference is not:

=COUNTIFS(A1:A10,"<"&B1) // count cells less than  B1

Note: COUNTIFS is one of several functions that split conditions into two parts: range + criteria. This causes some inconsistencies with respect to other formulas and functions.

Wildcards

The wildcard characters question mark (?), asterisk(*), or tilde (~) can be used in criteria. A question mark (?) matches any one character, and an asterisk (*) matches zero or more characters of any kind. For example, to count cells in a A1:A5 that contain the text "apple" anywhere, you can use a formula like this:

=COUNTIFS(A1:A5,"*apple*") // count cells that contain "apple"

The tilde (~) is an escape character to allow you to find literal wildcards. For example, to count a literal question mark (?), asterisk(*), or tilde (~), add a tilde in front of the wildcard (i.e. ~?, ~*, ~~).

Notes

• Multiple conditions are applied with AND logic, i.e. condition 1 AND condition 2, etc.
• Each additional range must have the same number of rows and columns as range1, but ranges do not need to be adjacent. If you supply ranges that don't match, you'll get a #VALUE error.
• Non-numeric criteria needs to be enclosed in double quotes but numeric criteria does not. For example: 100, "100", ">32", "jim", or A1 (where A1 contains a number).
• The wildcard characters ? and * can be used in criteria. A question mark matches any one character and an asterisk matches any sequence of characters.
• To find a literal question mark or asterisk, use a tilde (~) in front question mark or asterisk (i.e. ~?, ~*).