Excel
Word
PowerPoint
Outlook
Google Sheets
Google Docs
Google Slides

Learning Hub › Formulas › Count

Count Cells Greater Than a Value in Excel and Google Sheets

Count 📊 All versions ✓ Google Sheets Same syntax in both apps

Purpose

Counting the number of values above a threshold is one of the most common analytical questions I answer in a…

Counting the number of values above a threshold is one of the most common analytical questions I answer in a spreadsheet. How many orders were above $1000? How many students scored higher than 80? How many employees were hired after the cutoff date? Every above-target, above-budget, above-benchmark question is the same counting pattern. The COUNTIF function handles it with a small change to the criteria — you put the > operator inside the quotes followed by the threshold. The same formula works for positive numbers, negative numbers, dates, and cell references. Once you have this pattern in your head, it pairs naturally with the count cells less than a value formula to cover the whole range of single-threshold counting, and combining the two gives you the count cells between two numbers formula for range-based counts. This is the third foundational COUNTIF pattern every analyst should know by heart, alongside the count cells equal to a value formula for exact matching.

Syntax

✓ All versions ✓ Google Sheets = Same syntax

=COUNTIF(range, ">value")

Arguments

Argument	Required	Description
range	Required	The cells to examine. Use a range like B2:B100 or a whole column reference like B:B. Non-numeric cells such as text and blanks are ignored by comparison operators.
criteria	Required	The comparison as a quoted string, such as ">1000" for greater than 1000. For a dynamic threshold use ">"&D1 which concatenates the > with the value in D1. For dates use ">"&DATE(2024,1,1) or ">"&TODAY().

How it works

COUNTIF compares each cell in the range to the threshold using the > operator and counts only the cells where the cell value is strictly greater than the threshold. The critical rule is that the operator and the threshold must be together inside a single pair of double quotes — ">1000" works, but writing the > outside the quotes produces a syntax error. The comparison is strict, so a cell that exactly equals the threshold is not counted; if you want to include the boundary value, use ">=" instead. For numbers, the comparison uses the underlying stored value, not the displayed format, so currency symbols and decimal places have no effect. For dates, the comparison works because dates are stored as sequential numbers internally — January 1 2024 is greater than January 1 2023 because its serial number is larger. When you need a dynamic threshold from another cell, the & concatenation operator joins the > sign to a cell reference, which is exactly the same pattern you use in the count cells less than a value formula. Text cells in a numeric range are ignored entirely.

Examples

Count how many sales transactions had an amount greater than 1000 by searching the Amount column.

fx =COUNTIF(B2:B11,">1000")

	A	B	C
1	Order ID	Amount	Count Above 1000
2	ORD-001	850	=COUNTIF(B2:B11,">1000")
3	ORD-002	1200
4	ORD-003	650	6
5	ORD-004	1500
6	ORD-005	2000
7	ORD-006	950
8	ORD-007	1100
9	ORD-008	780
10	ORD-009	1800
11	ORD-010	1350

Row 2: 6 — Six amounts are strictly greater than 1000: 1200, 1500, 2000, 1100, 1800, and 1350. The 950, 850, 780, and 650 values are all below the threshold.

The > operator and the number 1000 are together inside a single pair of double quotes. Writing =COUNTIF(B2:B11,>1000) without the quotes produces a syntax error. The number inside the quotes is automatically interpreted as a numeric comparison, not a string match.

Count how many test scores are greater than 80 to identify high performers in a class.

fx =COUNTIF(B2:B11,">80")

	A	B	C
1	Student	Score	Count Above 80
2	Alice	72	=COUNTIF(B2:B11,">80")
3	Ben	85
4	Carla	68	5
5	Dan	91
6	Ella	79
7	Finn	88
8	Gia	65
9	Hugo	94
10	Iris	82
11	Jo	77

Row 2: 5 — Five scores exceed 80: Ben at 85, Dan at 91, Finn at 88, Hugo at 94, and Iris at 82. The 79 does not count because > is strict.

If you needed to include scores of exactly 80, you would change the criteria to ">=80" and the count would become 5 still — since no student scored exactly 80 in this dataset, the result is the same. In other datasets the difference can change the count significantly.

Use a cell reference for the threshold. Cell D1 contains 1500, so count amounts strictly greater than the value in D1.

fx =COUNTIF(B2:B11,">"&D1)

	A	B	C	D
1	Order ID	Amount	Threshold	Count
2	ORD-001	850	1500	=COUNTIF(B2:B11,">"&D1)
3	ORD-002	1200
4	ORD-003	650		2
5	ORD-004	1500
6	ORD-005	2000
7	ORD-006	950
8	ORD-007	1100
9	ORD-008	780
10	ORD-009	1800
11	ORD-010	1350

Row 2: 2 — Cell D1 contains 1500. Only two amounts are strictly above 1500: ORD-005 at 2000 and ORD-009 at 1800. ORD-004 at exactly 1500 is not counted because > is strict.

The & symbol joins the > operator with the value in D1 to build the final criteria string ">1500". Change D1 to 1000 and the count jumps to 6. This pattern makes thresholds interactive without editing the formula.

Common use cases

1. Count orders above a revenue threshold for a sales performance report

=COUNTIF(B2:B100,">1000")

2. Count students who scored above the pass mark for a grade distribution

=COUNTIF(C2:C200,">60")

3. Count days where temperature exceeded 30 degrees from a weather log

=COUNTIF(D2:D365,">30")

4. Count employees earning above a salary benchmark using a cell reference

=COUNTIF(E2:E500,">"&H1)

5. Count dates after a specific cutoff to track recent activity

=COUNTIF(F2:F1000,">"&DATE(2024,1,1))

Common errors

Syntax error or formula shows as text

The > operator is outside the quotes or the whole criteria is missing quotes. Excel interprets the formula as invalid.

Fix: Write the entire comparison as one quoted string such as ">1000". The operator and the value must be inside the same pair of double quotes.

Count returns 0 when you expect matches

The range contains numbers stored as text, which comparison operators cannot evaluate.

Fix: Convert text-numbers to real numbers using VALUE or by multiplying by 1. You can check with =ISNUMBER(B2) — if it returns FALSE, your data is text.

Boundary value not counted when you expected it

The > operator is strict, so a cell with the exact threshold value is not counted.

Fix: Use ">=" instead of ">" to include the boundary. For example, ">=1000" counts both values above 1000 and values equal to exactly 1000.

Tips and variations

Use a cell reference for the threshold to make the formula dynamic

Put the threshold in a cell like D1 and concatenate the > operator using &. Changing D1 updates every count instantly — this is how I build every threshold-based dashboard. The same pattern works with any comparison operator in the COUNTIF function.

=COUNTIF(B2:B100,">"&D1)

Use >= to include the boundary value in the count

The > operator is strict and excludes exact matches to the threshold. If you want "1000 or more", write ">=1000" instead. This is the single most common mistake I see — always double-check whether your requirement is strict or inclusive.

=COUNTIF(B2:B100,">=1000")

Count dates after a cutoff using DATE or TODAY

Combine > with DATE or TODAY to count future, past, or future-of-a-specific-date ranges. This is how I track anything time-sensitive — contracts expiring, tickets overdue, campaigns still running. Pair it with the count cells less than a value pattern to get "between two dates".

=COUNTIF(B2:B100,">"&TODAY())

Excel vs Google Sheets

⚡

Excel vs Google Sheets

COUNTIF with comparison operators works identically in Excel 2003 and newer, Excel 365, and every version of Google Sheets. The > and >= operators behave the same in both applications, and formulas copy between them without changes.