COVARIANCE.S Function in Excel: Do Two Series Move Together?

COVARIANCE.S Function in Excel: Do Two Series Move Together? featured illustration

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⏱ 2 min readUpdated 28 September 2026

StatisticsLevel: ExpertAvailable in: Excel 2010+

In this article
  1. Syntax
  2. Examples
  3. Example 1
  4. COVARIANCE.S in practice
  5. Where you will use it
  6. Worked example
  7. Mistakes people make
  8. Related functions
  9. Continue learning

COVARIANCE.S measures whether two variables rise and fall together. Its size depends on units, so CORREL is easier to read.

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Syntax

=COVARIANCE.S(array1, array2)
Argument What it means
array1, array2 Same length.

Examples

Example 1

=COVARIANCE.S(B2:B61, C2:C61)

Covariance of two share returns, used in portfolio risk.

COVARIANCE.S in practice

Where you will use it

  • How two returns move together
  • Portfolio risk inputs
  • Sales vs footfall

Worked example

CasePairFormulaResult
1Ad spend vs sales=ROUND(COVARIANCE.S(INDEX($H$1:$L$3,A2,0),INDEX($N$1:$R$3,A2,0)),2)200.1
2Rainy days vs umbrellas=ROUND(COVARIANCE.S(INDEX($H$1:$L$3,A3,0),INDEX($N$1:$R$3,A3,0)),2)57.5
3Unrelated numbers=ROUND(COVARIANCE.S(INDEX($H$1:$L$3,A4,0),INDEX($N$1:$R$3,A4,0)),2)-0.75

Results calculated in Excel.

Mistakes people make

MistakeWhat to do instead
Hard to interpretUnits multiply; use CORREL for a -1..1 measure
S vs PS for a sample, P for the whole population

CORREL · VAR.S

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📎 Practice files for this article

  • 📗
    Practice workbook: Statistics advanced33 tasks on realistic sales data — type your formula, the Check column turns green when it is right. Answers sheet included.
    ⬇ XLSX · 36 KB

Free to use for learning. Files with macros (.bas) are plain text — import them with Alt+F11 → File → Import File, and always test on a copy.

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