How to find highest value in a row and return column header in Excel?

In this article, I will talk about how to return the column header of the largest value in a row in Excel. For Example, I have the following data range, column A is the year, and column B to F are populated the order numbers from Jan to May. And now, I want to get the month name of the largest value in each row.

doc-get-column-header-1

Find highest value in a row and return column header with formula

Select or highlight cells with max & min value in a range of cells or each column or row:

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Find highest value in a row and return column header with formula

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To retrieve the column header of the largest value in a row, you can apply a combination of INDEX, MATCH and MAX functions to get the result. Please do as follows:

1. Enter this formula into a blank cell you need: =INDEX($B$1:$F$1,0,MATCH(MAX($B2:$F2),$B2:$F2,0)), and then press Enter key to get the month name which matches the largest value in a row. See screenshot:

doc-get-column-header-2

2. And then select the cell and drag the fill handle over to the range that you want to contain this formula, see screenshot:

doc-get-column-header-3

Note: In the above formula: B1: F1 is the headers row that you want to return, B2: F2 is the data range which contains the largest value you want to find.

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Janice Matthies · 1 years ago
Thank you so much!!!
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Kirthika · 1 years ago
Hi, am trying to find lowest value in a row and the highest value on the corresponding column. Is there a formula or shortcut to find this. Please guide
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Sean · 1 years ago
Thank you! very helpful!
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dave · 2 years ago
pardon: think my message dissappeard (2nd copy?)
hi, i am trying to find the column number of a max number in 1 row of 5 cells. if i start from M9 to Q9 and the max number is in the middle cell: O9 the result looking for would be: 3. i cannot change the header cells to have: 1 2 3 4 5 as they get values pasted over.. if this is the same formula as above. how to i modify it to use column locations instead of header values. thanks:

=INDEX(M1:Q1,0,MATCH(MAX(M9:Q9),M9:Q9,0))
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dave · 2 years ago
hi, i am having trouble finding an "unquote" :) column number for where the maximun number is. if i use columns M9 thru Q9 and the max is in the middle column: O9, that is the 3rd column in that range. i cannot put 1 2 3 4 5 in the header cells as they get values pasted over. if this is the same formula as above, how do i modify it to get a result eg: 3 for 3rd column in. thanks.

=INDEX(M1:Q1,0,MATCH(MAX(M9:Q9),M9:Q9,0))
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