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The Excel AVERAGEIF Function

Related Functions:
AVERAGEIFS
SUMIF
SUMIFS

Function Description

The Excel AVERAGEIF function finds the values in a supplied array that satisfy a specified criteria, and returns the average (i.e. the statistical mean) of the corresponding values in a second supplied array.

The function is new in Excel 2007, and so is not available in earlier versions of Excel.

The syntax of the Averageif function is:

AVERAGEIF( range, criteria, [average_range] )

Where the function arguments are:

range - An array of values (or range of cells containing values) to be tested against the supplied criteria.
criteria - The condition to be tested against each of the values in the supplied range.
[average_range] -

An optional array of numeric values (or cells containing numbers) for which the average is to be calculated, if the corresponding value in range satisfies the supplied criteria.

If the [average_range] argument is omitted, the average is calculated for values in the initial supplied range.

Wildcards

You can also use the following wildcards in text-related criteria:

?    -    matches any single character
*    -    matches any sequence of characters

if you do actually want to find the ? or * character, type the ~ symbol before this character in your search.

E.g. the condition "A*e" will match all cells containing a text string beginning with "A" and ending in "e".

The supplied criteria can be either:

or or

Note also that the Excel Averageif function is not case-sensitive. So, for example, the text strings "TEXT" and "text" will be evaluated as equal.


Excel Averageif Function Examples

Cells A16-A20 of the following spreadsheet shows five examples of the Excel Averageif function.

For each call to the Excel Averageif function the range argument (to be tested against the criteria) is the cell range A1-A14 and the [average_range] argument (containing the values to be averaged) is the cell range B1-B14.

 Formulas:
  A B C
1 Monday 500  
2 Tuesday 50  
3 Thursday 100  
4 Friday 100  
5 Thursday 200  
6 5 300  
7 2 200  
8 3 100  
9 4 50  
10 5 100  
11 1 50  
12 TRUE 200  
13 TRUE 250  
14 FALSE 50  
15      
16 =AVERAGEIF( A1:A14, "Thursday", B1:B14 )
17 =AVERAGEIF( A1:A14, 5, B1:B14 )
18 =AVERAGEIF( A1:A14, ">2", B1:B14 )
19 =AVERAGEIF( A1:A14, TRUE, B1:B14 )
20 =AVERAGEIF( A1:A14, "<>TRUE", B1:B14 )
 Results:
  A B
1 Monday 500
2 Tuesday 50
3 Thursday 100
4 Friday 100
5 Thursday 200
6 5 300
7 2 200
8 3 100
9 4 50
10 5 100
11 1 50
12 TRUE 200
13 TRUE 250
14 FALSE 50
15    
16 150  
17 200  
18 137.5  
19 225  
20 150  

Note that, in cells A16, A18 and A20 of the above 'Formulas' spreadsheet, the text value "Thursday" and the expressions ">2" and "<>TRUE" are encased in quotes. This is essential for all text or expressions.


For further examples of the Excel Averageif function, see the Microsoft Office website.


Averageif Function Errors

If you get an error from the Excel Averageif function, this is likely to be one of the following:

Common Errors
#DIV/0! -

Occurs if either:

  • None of the values in the supplied range array satisfy the supplied criteria;
  • The values to be averaged are all non-numeric.
#VALUE! - Occurs if the criteria argument is a text string that is greater than 255 characters in length.
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