Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Excel in Microsoft 365. If you are using an earlier version (Excel 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Excel, click here: Returning the MODE of a Range.
Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated May 16, 2024)
This tip applies to Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Excel in Microsoft 365
Excel provides the MODE function to help you determine the most frequently recurring value in a range. For instance, let's say you have a table that contains sales orders. One of the columns indicates the number of items ordered in each order. Over time, you may have accumulated quite a bit of data in the table. If you wanted to know the most common number of items ordered, you could use the MODE function.
Suppose your items ordered column is F, and you have 1,200 orders detailed in rows 2 through 1,201. If want to know the most common number of items ordered, you can use the following:
=MODE(F2:F1201)
The value returned represents the most commonly recurring value in the range. Thus, if 520 of your customers ordered 3 items, and the next most common was 314 customers ordering 4 items, then MODE would return the number 3.
It should be noted that the MODE function has been replaced for use in newer versions of Excel. (The MODE function is still available, but it may be completely removed in updated versions of Excel.) The new MODE functions include MODE.MULT function and MODE.SNGL function. These new functions appear to improve accuracy and give a better description of their usage. See the following Office Support articles for descriptions of these new functions:
https://support.office.com/en-us/article/mode-mult-function-50fd9464-b2ba-4191-b57a-39446689ae8c
https://support.office.com/en-us/article/mode-sngl-function-f1267c16-66c6-4386-959f-8fba5f8bb7f8
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2020-09-01 20:23:12
Peter Atherton
Rick
Excel 365 has a UNIQUE function, you might be able to combine this with COUNTIF. If you do not mind UDFs you can try this.
Function MaxTextVals(ref As Range) As String
Dim coll As New Collection, i As Long, maxCount As Long
Dim c As Range
On Error Resume Next
For Each c In ref
coll.Add c.value, CStr(c.value)
Next
Dim v()
ReDim v(1 To coll.Count)
maxCount = 1
For i = 1 To coll.Count
With WorksheetFunction
v(i) = .CountIf([ref], coll(i))
End With
If v(i) > maxCount Then
maxCount = v(i)
MaxTextVals = coll(i)
ElseIf v(i) = maxCount Then
MaxTextVals = MaxTextVals & ", " & coll(i)
End If
Next
End Function
SIngle Argument =MAXTEXTVALS(A1:A20)
A single value Returns John
If there are more than one max val It Returns Helen, John
2020-08-31 15:32:07
Rick
This as well as mode.mult and mode.sngl work for lists of numbers. However, is there a formula to find the "mode" of a list containing text such as names, companies, or alphanumeric part numbers?
I can do it using the advanced filter to create a list of unique records, use the countif formula, and then sort by the quantity found. But if all I am interested in is the most frequently recurring name, company, or part number, is there a formula for this?
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Please Note:
This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Excel in Microsoft 365. If you are using an earlier version (Excel 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Excel, click here:
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