Count Overlapping Features
ArcGIS Pro has a handy geoprocessing utility that combines a geometric Union operation with a simple count of overlapping features. It is called the Count Overlapping Features tool and is reviewed in this tutorial.
Included in this tutorial:
Accessing the Count Overlapping Features Tool
The Count Overlapping Features Tool Parameters
Running the Tool and Examining Results, with an Example
Software version in examples: ArcGIS Pro 3.5.2
Tutorial Data: The tutorial includes demonstration with sample data available here.
Credits: L. Meisterlin (2025)
Related: Unlike the Union operation, this tool does not maintain the attributes associated with overlapping features. To learn more, see the Feature Unions tutorial.
Accessing the Count Overlapping Features Tool
the Count Overlapping Features tool within the Geoprocessing Pane’s toolboxes
You can find the Count Overlapping Features tool by searching within the Geoprocessing Pane or navigating through the toolboxes at Analysis Tools > Overlay > Count Overlapping Features.
The Count Overlapping Features Tool Parameters
This simple tool has similarly simple parameters. These are described below.
the Count Overlapping Features tool parameters
Input Features: One or many vector layers whose features will be evaluated for any spatial overlaps.
Output Feature Class: Specify the name and saving location for the output vector feature class.
Minimum Overlap Count: This optional parameter allows you to set a minimum threshold of overlapping features to be included in the output. By default, this value is 1 which means that all portions of input features will be included within the results. (Here, “1” means that a single feature is present without any overlapping additional features.)
Output Overlap Table: You have the additional option to export results as a standalone table as well as the output feature class. To generate an output table, specify the name and saving location for the table. Leaving this parameter blank will not generate a table.
Running the Tool and Examining Results, with an Example
This example demonstrates counting the overlapping features from two polygon layers. Each layer consists of buffer polygons created from the points in the Standard Tutorial Data package. As shown in the image below, the two input layers (pink and orange) exhibit numerous overlapping features.
example input layers
The images below include the output geometry (symbolized by number of overlapping features counted) as well as the output attribute table.
After running the tool, the result is a single vector polygon dataset. This dataset contains polygons that delineate areas where the two input layers intersect.
In the attribute table, you notice two fields with “Count” results:
COUNT_ includes the total number of overlapping features from all input layers.
COUNT_FC includes the number of input feature classes contributing to the overlap count. That is, this field tells you whether the overlapping features come from a single input layer or multiple input layers.
example results with geometry and attributes