COUNTIF and COUNTIFS in Google Sheets - Step-by-Step Guide

Introduction

COUNTIF and COUNTIFS help you count how many times certain things happen in your data. They make it easy to find answers like how many sales were above a target or how many people belong to a specific group.

When you want to count how many times a product was sold more than 10 times.

When you need to find how many students scored above 80 in math.

When you want to count how many orders came from a specific city.

When you want to count how many employees are in a department and have a salary above a certain amount.

When you want to quickly see how many dates fall within a certain month.

Steps

Step 1: Click

- a blank cell where you want the count result

The cell is selected and ready for input

Step 2: Type

- the formula bar

You start entering the COUNTIF or COUNTIFS formula

💡 Start with =COUNTIF( for one condition or =COUNTIFS( for multiple conditions

Step 3: Enter

- the range and criteria inside the formula

The formula looks like =COUNTIF(A2:A10, ">10") or =COUNTIFS(A2:A10, ">10", B2:B10, "East")

💡 Use quotes around criteria like ">10" or "East"

Step 4: Press

- Enter key

The cell shows the count of items matching your criteria

Step 5: Check

- the result cell

You see the number of times your condition(s) are true in the data

Before vs After

Before

A list of sales numbers in cells A2 to A10 with values like 5, 12, 7, 15, 10

After

A cell with formula =COUNTIF(A2:A10, ">10") shows 2 because only 12 and 15 are greater than 10

Settings Reference

Range

📍 Inside the COUNTIF or COUNTIFS formula

The cells to check for your condition

Default: No default, you must specify

Criteria

📍 Inside the COUNTIF or COUNTIFS formula

The condition that decides which cells to count

Default: No default, you must specify

Common Mistakes

Not putting quotes around criteria like >10

Google Sheets treats >10 without quotes as an error or wrong input

Always put criteria with operators inside quotes, like ">10"

Using COUNTIF when you need to check more than one condition

COUNTIF only handles one condition, so results will be incorrect if multiple conditions are needed

Use COUNTIFS for multiple conditions, like =COUNTIFS(A2:A10, ">10", B2:B10, "East")

Summary

COUNTIF counts cells that meet one condition.

COUNTIFS counts cells that meet multiple conditions.

Always put criteria with comparison signs inside quotes.