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.

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

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

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:

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

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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saad101 · 1 months ago
how can i modify this logic to show me all the records in one row where a value in all selected columns are greater than 1
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saad · 1 months ago
how can i modify this logic to show all the column header in a single row where the value is > 1?
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vireb · 11 months ago
Thank for this. It helped. Does it work the same way for a range of cells instead of just a row? I am trying to get the formula to return the column header (month) of the largest and smallest value in a range of cells? This is what I tried =INDEX($B$4:$M$4,0,MATCH(MAX($B5:$M42),$B5:$M42,0)) but it gives a #N/A answer
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Fernando · 1 years ago
What happens if you have duplicate values in a row and you want the latest value's header. Is this possible?
The current formula only returns the first match, but in my case I need to know the latest one
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  Hemanta Das · 11 months ago
  
  hi. having same issue. Pls do reply if u have found the way out.
  
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sierranord@gmail.com · 1 years ago
You're Aces Kid !!! ... this example worked perfect for my application: =INDEX($B$1:$F$1,0,MATCH(MAX($B2:$F2),$B2:$F2,0))

ISA 40:31
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Janice Matthies · 2 years ago
Thank you so much!!!
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Kirthika · 2 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 · 2 years ago
Thank you! very helpful!
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dave · 3 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 · 3 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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Stephanie · 3 years ago
Hi, i want to make a list with names and grades and i want to find the 3 highest grades and the names that go with them i used the formula =INDEX(A3:A13,MATCH(LARGE(K3:K13,2),K3:K13,0)) but if two people have the same grade what happens??? can someone help me????
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  Victoria · 3 years ago
  
  Hello, Did you find a solution?
  
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Liz · 3 years ago
How can I do this if I want to return a row header rather than column header? I would also like to base the row number on a value in another cell that matches the column header. (So, look up column header and max value in that column, return the row header for that max value).
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THANK YOU · 3 years ago
OMFG THIS ARTICLE JUST SAVED ME HOURS OF WORK TODAY

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS SOLUTION. YOU ARE TRULY A GENIUS AND THIS METHOD IS MUCH APPRECIATED!!!!

10/10
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Joseph · 4 years ago
Is it possible to have this function work with multiple tabs on the same spreadsheet?
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MikeS · 4 years ago
Great thank you, I'd have strugled creating that formula myself, kind of you to share.
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  Murtaza · 4 years ago
  
  Thanks. I would like to know how can this function work if there are multiple cells in a row with the same value ? Is it possible to return multiple column headers in the target cell ?
  
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