How to Do a FREQUENCY Table in Excel

What this does

A frequency table counts how many values fall into each category or numeric bin. For text categories, =COUNTIF(range, criterion) per distinct value is enough. For numbers you either write COUNTIFS with an explicit lower and upper bound per bin — which is readable and easy to audit — or use FREQUENCY, which takes the whole data range and a bins array and spills one count per bin plus one extra for everything above the last bin. Most people learn this as a sequence of clicks and forget it by next week; learning it as a pattern instead is what lets you apply it to the next, slightly different version of the problem without starting from scratch. That is the difference this page is trying to make. Treat “do a frequency table in excel” as a small repeatable workflow rather than a one-off click you hope to remember next time. Use a small test block before the live file, so any surprise in the affected cells shows up while it is still harmless. When a formula is involved, keep the inputs labelled beside it, reference cells instead of typing values, and apply number formatting only after the result checks out. That turns a layout choice that keeps the sheet readable and sortable into a method you can reuse, explain, and defend when the workbook leaves your screen.

A worked example

A2:A200 holds 199 order values. Bins in C2:C6 read 0, 50, 100, 200, 500 as upper bounds. =FREQUENCY(A2:A200, C2:C6) entered in D2 spills six numbers: the counts at or below each bound, plus a final count of everything above 500. Written as COUNTIFS instead, the 50–100 bin is =COUNTIFS($A$2:$A$200,">=50",$A$2:$A$200,"<100") — 47 orders. A frequency table is the first honest look at a column of numbers: it shows where the mass sits, whether the distribution is skewed, and whether an average is worth quoting at all. If there is any chance you will reuse this, drop it into a small template tab right now: a labelled input area on the left and the formula beside it, checked once against the tool above. Next time the same question comes up, the answer is a single paste away instead of a rebuild from memory.

In Google Sheets

Everything above works in Google Sheets too. Excel and Sheets share the formula syntax used here; only the surrounding menus are arranged differently. That portability is deliberate — learn it once and it follows you between the two tools and across Windows and Mac. Nothing on this page is behind a login: the tool runs entirely in your browser, the formula is shown in full with one-click copy, and the steps work the same on Windows and Mac. That is the whole promise here — the exact answer, a way to prove it on your own numbers, and just enough context to make it stick. Here is the takeaway for “do a frequency table in excel”: copy the answer if you are busy, but if you have a spare few minutes, rebuild the example in Excel yourself with the tool above open beside it. That single pass — type it, run it, watch the result move when you change an input — is what turns a formula you found into a technique you trust. Keep your inputs labelled and referenced, never hard-coded, and the same sheet stays correct and auditable as it grows. Done that way, you will not need to look this up again, and you will be the person others ask.

Common mistakes

• Overlapping bins (0–50 and 50–100 both using >= and <=), which counts boundary values twice.
• Forgetting FREQUENCY returns one more value than the number of bins — the overflow count for everything above the last bound.
• Leaving the data range relative, so filling the formula down shifts it off the data; anchor it with $.
• Building bins after looking at the answer you want, which is how a distribution gets shaped to fit a conclusion.

Frequently asked questions