How to calculate month-over-month growth in Excel

Q: How do I calculate year-over-year growth for monthly data?

Compare with 12 rows up: =B14/B2-1 for January next year against January.

Q: How do I show the average monthly growth?

Use the compound rate between the first and last month: =(B8/B2)^(1/6)-1.

Formula (Excel and Google Sheets)

=B3/B2-1

Divide each month by the month before and subtract 1, starting in the second row: =B3/B2-1, filled down.

Result on the example: one result per row in C3, filled down to C8
Works in: Every current version
Google Sheets: Same formula

See it work

The formula is already in C3, filled down to C8. Change any input and the result updates, or edit the formula to experiment.

How it works

The formula starts in row 3 because January has no month before it. B3/B2 compares each month with the previous row, and subtracting 1 turns the ratio into growth: February is 10% up on January. The references are relative, so each row compares with the one directly above.

=B3/B2-1

Result0.1

B3$52,800
The value in B3.
B2$48,000
The value in B2.
B3/B21.1
The / operator divides.
B3/B2-10.1
The - operator subtracts.

In Google Sheets

The same formula works in Google Sheets: =B3/B2-1. We ran it in Google Sheets mode on the same data and it returns the same results.

Other ways to do it

Each one was run on the same example sheet.

Formula	Result	When to use it
=IF(B2=0,"",B3/B2-1)	10.0%, -5.0%, 10.0%…	Leaves a blank instead of #DIV/0! when the previous month is 0 or empty.
=(B3-B2)/B2	10.0%, -5.0%, 10.0%…	The same growth written as change over the old value.

Common mistakes

Putting the formula in row 2 compares January with the header, which returns #VALUE!.
Monthly rates don't add up to the overall change: +10%, -5% and +10% is 14.95%, not 15%. Compare the end with the start instead: =B5/B2-1.

Try it yourself

Same data, empty answer cell. Your formula is graded instantly, then re-checked on changed data, so a typed-in number won't pass.

Calculate month-over-month growth

In C3, calculate February's growth over January, then fill down to C8.

Questions

How do I calculate year-over-year growth for monthly data?

Compare with 12 rows up: =B14/B2-1 for January next year against January.

How do I show the average monthly growth?

Use the compound rate between the first and last month: =(B8/B2)^(1/6)-1.

Checked by running on 2026-10-30: every formula and result on this page was calculated by the Spreadsheet Practice formula engine, in both Excel and Google Sheets modes.