Calculating the percentage increase between 2 values is very easy with Excel and doesn't require a specific Excel function.

Context to calculate percentage increase

Let's say you have your total sales for each month.

The values look OK but you want to calculate the percentage increase (or decrease) between each month.

Method to calculate the percentage

Subtract the two months' sales

The first thing we have to do is calculate the difference between 2 months. The formula is very simple.

=B3-B2

Then you copy this formula to the other cells with the fill-handle.

If you are not familiar with Excel, you have to know that Excel automatically changes the cell references when you copy a formula.

Divide by the first month of sales

On the first column, we have calculated the difference between each month.

Now we just have to calculate what this difference represents compared to the sales of the first month. The formula is just the result of the difference divided by the first month's sales.

=C3/B2

Apply a percentage formatting and it's done !

The result is 31.9%. So our February sales are 31.9% higher than January's sales (Hey! Good job 😃😍)

Write the formula as a single cell

In Maths, addition and subtraction have a lower priority than multiplication and division. And of course, Excel respects those same maths rules.

So to write the same result using only one formula, you must write the subtraction in parentheses.

=(B3-B2)/B2

And the result is obviously the same 😉

Related articles about the Percentage

How to do percentages in a pivot table without a formula?

How to add percentages in chart's data labels?