Excel SUMIF Formula Guide with Real Examples

SUMIF adds up only the numbers that meet a condition. It's the formula behind almost every "total by category" report — sales by region, expenses by type, hours by project. Here's how it works, with examples you can copy.

The syntax.

=SUMIF(range, criteria, [sum_range])

range — the cells Excel checks against your condition.
criteria — the condition (text, a number, or an expression).
sum_range — the cells to actually add. Optional — if you leave it out, Excel sums the range itself.

Example 1: total by category. Sales region in column A, amount in column B. Total the East region:

=SUMIF(A2:A100,"East",B2:B100)

Excel checks column A for "East" and sums the matching amounts in column B.

Example 2: reference the criteria from a cell. Hard-coding "East" is fragile. Put the region in cell D1 and point to it:

=SUMIF(A2:A100,D1,B2:B100)

Now you can change D1 to "West" and the total updates. This is how you build a one-cell category selector.

Example 3: number conditions. Criteria can be comparisons, written as text in quotes:

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

totals every value over 1,000. Note there's no sum_range here — we're summing the same column we're testing. Combine the operator with a cell reference like this: =SUMIF(B2:B100,">"&D1).

Example 4: wildcards. Use * (any characters) and ? (one character) for partial text matches:

=SUMIF(A2:A100,"North*",B2:B100)

totals every region starting with "North" (North, Northeast, etc.).

Common mistakes.

Mismatched range sizes. range and sum_range should be the same shape; misaligned ranges give wrong totals.
Forgetting quotes on operators. ">1000" must be in quotes, including when joined to a cell: ">"&D1.
Extra spaces in data. "East " won't match "East." Clean with TRIM if needed.

When to upgrade to SUMIFS. SUMIF handles one condition. The moment you need two — East region and June — switch to SUMIFS, which takes multiple range/criteria pairs. We cover that in a dedicated guide.