How to Create a Crosstab in Google Sheets

A crosstab is a table that summarizes the relationship between two categorical variables.

The following step-by-step example shows how to create a crosstab in Google Sheets.

Step 1: Enter the Data

First, let’s enter the following dataset into Google Sheets that shows information for various basketball players:

Step 2: Create the Crosstab

Next, click the Insert tab along the top ribbon and then click Pivot table from the dropdown menu:

In the new window that appears, enter Sheet1!A1:C13 as the Data range and Sheet1!E1 as the Insert to location, then click Create:

Step 3: Populate the Crosstab with Values

Once you click Create, a new Pivot table editor panel will appear on the right side of the screen.

Choose Team for the Rows, Position for the Columns, and Points for the Values:

Once you do so, the following crosstab will appear in the cell that you specified:

Step 4: Interpret the Crosstab

Here’s how to interpret the values in the crosstab:

Row Grand Totals:

• A total of 6 players are on team A
• A total of 6 players are on team B

Column Grand Totals:

• A total of 3 players have a position of Center
• A total of 4 players have a position of Forward
• A total of 5 players have a position of Guard

Individual Cells:

• 1 player has a position of Center on team A
• 3 players have a position of Forward on team A
• 2 players have a position of Guard on team A
• 2 players have a position of Center on team B
• 1 player has a position of Forward on team B
• 3 players have a position of Guard on team B

Additional Resources

The following tutorials explain how to perform other common tasks in Google Sheets:

How to Calculate Frequencies in Google Sheets
How to Calculate Cumulative Percentage in Google Sheets
How to Extract Top N Values from Range in Google Sheets