provide a list of monthly average contractors at down by month, covering January 2025 through February 2026?

Question

Looking for the formula to provide a list of monthly average contractors broken down by month, covering January 2025 through February 2026?

Answer 1

Hi,

Explore the GROUPBY() function/Pivot Tables/AVERAGEIF() function.

Answer 2

Hi @Cheryl Albee,

Thank you for posting your question in the Microsoft Q&A forum.

According to your concern, please share some screenshots or sample data of your current worksheet so I can clearly understand your data structure to provide the most appropriate formula and also to ensure the provided formula is guaranteed to work properly based on your request.

Please understand that my initial response may not always resolve the issue immediately. However, with your help and more detailed information, we can work together to find a solution. 

Thank you for your understanding and cooperation. I look forward to hearing from you.

Answer 3

Assuming there is a table with one row per contractor per day (or per assignment) including a date column, use AVERAGE with MONTH/YEAR to calculate the monthly average, and then copy the formula down for each month from Jan‑2025 to Feb‑2026.

Example layout (adjust ranges/columns as needed):

• Dates in column A (e.g., each row is a contractor-day or a daily headcount date)
• Daily contractor count in column B
• A list of month start dates in column D: 1/1/2025, 2/1/2025, …, 2/1/2026

In E2 (average contractors for the month in D2), enter:

=AVERAGE(IF((YEAR($A$2:$A$1000)=YEAR(D2))*(MONTH($A$2:$A$1000)=MONTH(D2)),$B$2:$B$1000))

Confirm as an array formula if required by Excel version (Ctrl+Shift+Enter), then fill down through February 2026.

Explanation of the logic based on the context functions:

• MONTH($A$2:$A$1000) extracts the month number from each date in the data range.
• YEAR($A$2:$A$1000) extracts the year.
• The logical test (YEAR(...) = YEAR(D2))*(MONTH(...) = MONTH(D2)) selects only rows in the same month/year as the month in D2.
• AVERAGE then calculates the average of the contractor counts for that month.

If the data is instead one row per contractor with a single date (e.g., start date) and a numeric value to average, the same pattern applies: use YEAR and MONTH on the date column to filter, and AVERAGE on the contractor metric.

The key functions used are AVERAGE to compute the mean and MONTH/YEAR to group by month, as shown in the context for calculating averages and working with dates.

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References:

• Calculate the average of a group of numbers
• MONTH function
• Examples of common formulas in lists
• Calculate an average