Tip: Other languages are Google-Translated. You can visit the English version of this link.
Log in
x
or
x
x
Register
x

or

 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:

doc-get-column-header-4

Kutools for Excel: with more than 200 handy Excel add-ins, free to try with no limitation in 60 days. Download and free trial Now!

arrow blue right bubble 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:

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.

Related article:

How to find the highest value and return adjacent cell value in Excel?

Kutools for Excel Solves Most of Your Problems, and Increases Your Productivity by 80%

  • Reuse: Quickly insert complex formulas, charts and anything that you have used before; Encrypt Cells with password; Create Mailing List and send emails...
  • Super Formula Bar (easily edit multiple lines of text and formula); Reading Layout (easily read and edit large numbers of cells); Paste to Filtered Range...
  • Merge Cells/Rows/Columns without losing Data; Split Cells Content; Combine Duplicate Rows/Columns... Prevent Duplicate Cells; Compare Ranges...
  • Select Duplicate or Unique Rows; Select Blank Rows (all cells are empty); Super Find and Fuzzy Find in Many Workbooks; Random Select...
  • Exact Copy Multiple Cells without changing formula reference; Auto Create References to Multiple Sheets; Insert Bullets, Check Boxes and more...
  • Extract Text, Add Text, Remove by Position, Remove Space; Create and Print Paging Subtotals; Convert Between Cells Content and Comments...
  • Super Filter (save and apply filter schemes to other sheets); Advanced Sort by month/week/day, frequency and more; Special Filter by bold, italic...
  • Combine Workbooks and WorkSheets; Merge Tables based on key columns; Split Data into Multiple Sheets; Batch Convert xls, xlsx and PDF...
  • More than 300 powerful features. Supports Office/Excel 2007-2019 and 365. Supports all languages. Easy deploying in your enterprise or organization. Full features 30-day free trial.
kte tab 201905

Office Tab Brings Tabbed interface to Office, and Make Your Work Much Easier

  • Enable tabbed editing and reading in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Publisher, Access, Visio and Project.
  • Open and create multiple documents in new tabs of the same window, rather than in new windows.
  • Increases your productivity by 50%, and reduces hundreds of mouse clicks for you every day!
officetab bottom
Say something here...
symbols left.
You are guest ( Sign Up? )
or post as a guest, but your post won't be published automatically.
Loading comment... The comment will be refreshed after 00:00.
  • To post as a guest, your comment is unpublished.
    srosewall · 1 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:$M42,0)) but it gives a #N/A answer
  • To post as a guest, your comment is unpublished.
    Fernando · 2 months ago
    What happens if you have duplicate values in a row and you want the latest value's header. Is this possible?
    The current formula only returns the first match, but in my case I need to know the latest one
    • To post as a guest, your comment is unpublished.
      Hemanta Das · 1 months ago
      hi. having same issue. Pls do reply if u have found the way out.
  • To post as a guest, your comment is unpublished.
    Trickshot Films · 3 months ago
    You're Aces Kid !!! ... this example worked perfect for my application: =INDEX($B$1:$F$1,0,MATCH(MAX($B2:$F2),$B2:$F2,0))

    ISA 40:31
  • To post as a guest, your comment is unpublished.
    Janice Matthies · 2 years ago
    Thank you so much!!!
  • To post as a guest, your comment is unpublished.
    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
  • To post as a guest, your comment is unpublished.
    Sean · 2 years ago
    Thank you! very helpful!
  • To post as a guest, your comment is unpublished.
    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))
  • To post as a guest, your comment is unpublished.
    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))
  • To post as a guest, your comment is unpublished.
    Stephanie · 2 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????
  • To post as a guest, your comment is unpublished.
    Liz · 2 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).
  • To post as a guest, your comment is unpublished.
    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
  • To post as a guest, your comment is unpublished.
    Joseph · 3 years ago
    Is it possible to have this function work with multiple tabs on the same spreadsheet?
  • To post as a guest, your comment is unpublished.
    MikeS · 3 years ago
    Great thank you, I'd have strugled creating that formula myself, kind of you to share.
    • To post as a guest, your comment is unpublished.
      Murtaza · 3 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 ?
English English
en Englishar العربيةzh-CN 简体中文zh-TW 繁體中文nl Nederlandsfr Françaisde Deutschit Italianoja 日本語ko 한국어pt Portuguêsru Русскийes Español