# How to calculate month-over-month growth in Excel

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

**Excel:** `=B3/B2-1` (Every current version)

**Google Sheets:** the same formula works.

## Example

Sample data (row 1 is the header):

| A | B | C |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Month | Revenue | MoM growth |
| Jan | 48000 |  |
| Feb | 52800 |  |
| Mar | 50160 |  |
| Apr | 55176 |  |
| May | 55176 |  |
| Jun | 49658.4 |  |
| Jul | 54624.24 |  |

Formula in C3, filled to C8: `=B3/B2-1`

Result: 10.0%; -5.0%; 10.0%; 0.0%; -10.0%; 10.0%

## 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.

## Other ways

- `=IF(B2=0,"",B3/B2-1)`: Leaves a blank instead of #DIV/0! when the previous month is 0 or empty.
- `=(B3-B2)/B2`: 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`.

## 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`.

Every formula and result on this page was checked by running it in the Spreadsheet Practice formula engine on 2026-10-30.

Source: https://spreadsheetpractice.com/formulas/month-over-month-growth