8 Bar Graph Examples With Data You Can Copy

The fastest way to learn a chart is to read a few. These bar graph examples start with the simplest possible bar graph and add one idea at a time: long labels, sorting, a second series, stacking, negative values and value labels. Each one has a chart, the data behind it, a note on what to look at and one question with its answer. All the numbers are sample data, and you can copy any table straight into your own chart.

What Is a Bar Graph?

A bar graph, also called a bar chart, presents categorical data with rectangular bars whose heights or lengths are proportional to the values they represent. The bars can be plotted vertically or horizontally, and a vertical one is sometimes called a column chart, according to Wikipedia. So if someone asks for a column graph example, a vertical bar graph is what they want.

Here is the idea in one sentence. Each bar is one category, and the length of the bar is the amount. The chart compares categories: which is biggest, which is smallest and by how much.

The Parts of a Bar Graph

Every bar graph is built from the same pieces. The NCES Kids’ Zone, the U.S. National Center for Education Statistics’ graphing guide for students, walks through six parts of a bar graph. Here they are, with our own notes.

• Title. A short explanation of what the graph contains. It tells the reader what they are about to look at.
• Source. Where the data came from. NCES stresses giving credit to the people who collected it.
• X-axis. In most bar graphs it runs horizontally, as the NCES page describes it, and names the categories, such as subjects or months. Bars can also be drawn sideways, and then the axes turn too.
• Y-axis. Usually the vertical axis, with numbers for the amount being measured. NCES says it usually starts counting at 0 and is divided into equal parts.
• Data. The bars themselves. A graph can show one group of data or more than one.
• Legend. It tells the reader what each bar or color stands for. You need one when there are two or more groups of data.

A popular search asks for “the 7 parts of a bar graph”. We did not find a standard list of seven. NCES lists the six above, and some school lists add the scale, the numbers along the axis, as a seventh. Treat the six as the reliable list.

Bar Graph or Column Graph?

Wikipedia treats the two names as one chart, and calls the vertical version a column chart. In practice, “bar graph” covers both directions. Use vertical bars when the categories are things like months, and horizontal bars when the labels are long. The examples below show both.

Eight Bar Graph Examples, One Idea at a Time

For each example, read the chart first and try the question before you read the answer. The data table under every chart has the exact numbers, and the “Open in the tool” button opens the chart with the data filled in.

Example 1: A Simple Vertical Bar Graph

The chart above is the simplest case: one series, six categories, vertical bars. The numbers are 18 for Math, 22 for Science, 15 for Reading, 12 for Art, 26 for PE and 7 for Music. They add up to 100, so each count is also a percent of the class.

What to notice. Each student picked one subject, so the bars add up to the whole class. The order of the subjects here is the order we listed them in the survey, not a ranking.

Question: How many more students chose PE than Music?

Answer: 26 minus 7 is 19 more.

Open the subject survey in the bar graph maker

This is a good spot for a beginner. Bar graph examples for students often look exactly like this: a survey, a handful of categories, one number for each.

Example 2: Horizontal Bars for Long Labels

Long category names are awkward under vertical bars, because the labels must shrink, wrap or tilt. Horizontal bars put the labels on the left, where they read in full.

What to notice. The names are two words each, up to 15 characters, and read level on any screen. Under vertical bars they would have to tilt or wrap. We sorted the rows from most votes to fewest, which we return to in Example 3. On a narrow phone screen the tool shortens a label that is longer than the space beside the bars, so keep labels to two or three words.

Question: How many more votes did the basketball hoop get than more benches?

Answer: 44 minus 12 is 32 more. The hoop alone got about 26 percent of all 168 votes (44 divided by 168).

Our bar graph maker helps here. When category labels do not fit under vertical bars, it shows a note offering to switch to horizontal bars.

Example 3: Sorted From Largest to Smallest

When categories have no natural order, you are free to arrange the bars in any order, according to Wikipedia. Bars arranged from highest to lowest are called a Pareto chart there, though the term has a stricter meaning in quality control. Sorting is our recommendation for this kind of data, and here is why: the eye can see the ranking at once.

Suppose we had left the rows in the order we wrote them down: Fish 9, Dog 34, Rabbit 6, Cat 28, Hamster 11, Bird 4. Every number is the same, but the picture jumps up and down. To find the second most common pet, you would have to compare all six bars. In the sorted chart it is simply the second bar.

What to notice. The tool draws the bars in the order of the rows in your table, so you sort the table, not the chart.

Question: What share of the students have a dog or a cat?

Answer: 34 plus 28 is 62 out of 92 students, which is about 67 percent, or roughly two thirds.

One warning. Sort only when the categories have no order of their own. Months, ages and grades should stay in their natural order, because the order is part of the message.

Example 4: Grouped Bars, or a Double Bar Graph

A double bar graph draws two bars side by side for each category, one color for each data set. Wikipedia calls this a grouped, or clustered, bar chart: for each categorical group there are two or more color-coded bars. It is the right choice when you want to compare two sets of data inside each category.

What to notice. The legend above the chart says which color is the fall and which is the spring. Compare the two bars inside each group first, then compare groups.

Question: Which classroom recycled less paper in the spring than in the fall, and how much less?

Answer: Room 103, which went from 51 to 47 pounds, so 4 pounds less. Across the four rooms the total rose from 156 to 170 pounds, or 14 more.

In the tool this is the “Side by side” choice under “With several series”. Use “Add series” for each extra group. For time on the horizontal axis, a double line graph often reads better, as our guide to line graph examples explains.

Example 5: Stacked Bars

A stacked bar graph piles the series in one bar, so the height of the stack is the combined total. Use it when the total matters and the parts show what it is made of.

What to notice. Only the bottom segment starts at the axis, so it is the easiest to compare. Claus Wilke’s textbook Fundamentals of Data Visualization names the problem: the other segments have different baselines. Saturday’s stack is tallest because both parts are largest that day.

Question: How many tickets were sold in all three days?

Answer: 180 plus 290 plus 240 is 710 tickets, made up of 450 adult tickets and 260 child tickets.

Stacked bars have their own traps, from different baselines to too many colors. We cover them in our full guide to the stacked bar chart, so this page keeps to one example.

Example 6: Bars With Negative Values

Not every quantity is zero or more. Profit can be a loss, and temperature can fall below zero. A bar graph handles this well: bars for positive values rise above the zero line, and bars for negative values drop below it.

What to notice. The zero line is the reference. Length still means size, but direction now means gain or loss. The two loss months hang below the line, and the four profitable months rise above it.

Question: What was the total profit for the six months?

Answer: The four profitable months add up to 8,100 dollars, and the two losses to minus 1,600. The net is 6,500 dollars.

Our tool draws values below zero downward, or to the left in horizontal mode, from a clear zero line. In stacked mode, positive values stack upward and negative values stack downward, separately, each from zero.

Example 7: Value Labels On

A bar graph lets you compare lengths by eye, but sometimes the reader needs the exact number. Value labels print each number on its bar, so nobody has to estimate from the gridlines.

What to notice. With the labels on, you can read every bar without looking at the axis. The labels are worth it when there are few bars. With many bars they get crowded, so the tool leaves out a label that does not fit.

Question: What is the range of points, and what is the average?

Answer: The range is 72 minus 47, which is 25 points. The six games total 361 points, so the average is about 60.2 points per game.

In the tool this is the checkbox “Show values on the chart”.

Example 8: Many Categories, Horizontal

The last example has twelve categories. Vertical bars would leave each bar narrow, and the labels would squeeze together. Horizontal bars give each category its own row, like a list with a bar behind each name.

What to notice. The rows are sorted and the values are printed, so this chart works like a table with bars. It is easy to scan from the top.

Question: What share of all club members belong to the three biggest clubs?

Answer: Soccer, Band and Drama have 48, 41 and 36 members, which is 125. All twelve clubs total 314, so the top three hold about 40 percent.

As a rough rule of thumb, which is our own and not a published limit, switch to horizontal bars when you have more than about eight categories or when a label is longer than a couple of words.

How to Read Any Bar Graph

Use the same routine for every bar graph. It takes half a minute.

Read the Title, Axes and Legend

1. Read the title. What is being compared, and for whom or when?
2. Read both axes. One shows the categories. The other shows the amount, with its unit.
3. Check the legend. With two or more colors, find out which color is which before you look at any bar.

Check the Scale and Compare the Bars

4. Look at where the scale starts. Bars should start at zero, as we explain next.
5. Compare the lengths. Which bar is longest, which is shortest, and how do the others compare?
6. Use the numbers. If the values are printed, or if you open the data table, prefer them to your eye for exact answers.

Why Bars Start at Zero

Wikipedia says it is often considered correct for each bar to start from zero, because a non-zero start can make similar values look deceptively different. It adds that zero is not always appropriate, for example with temperatures in Celsius or Fahrenheit, where zero is somewhat arbitrary, or with logarithmic charts. NCES says in its guide that the y-axis usually starts counting at 0.

The reasoning is simple: the length of the bar is the message. If you cut the bottom off the bars, a bar that is twice as long no longer means twice the value.

Our bar graph maker always includes zero. It has no setting to start the axis anywhere else. If you need to show small changes in values far from zero, a line graph is the usual fit.

Copy the Data Into Your Own Chart

Every chart above has a “Show the data” table under it. You can select that table and paste it into a spreadsheet, or start from your own spreadsheet and paste it into the tool. The steps below use the control names on the bar graph maker page.

Paste a Table From a Spreadsheet

Copy a block of cells from Excel or Google Sheets, with the labels in the first column. Press “Paste from a spreadsheet” and paste. The tool accepts tab, comma or semicolon separated data, and a header row becomes the series names. Values such as 1,200 with a comma or a dollar sign are read as numbers.

Set the Layout

• Direction: “Vertical bars” or “Horizontal bars”.
• With several series: “Side by side” or “Stacked”.
• Legend: top, bottom or hidden, shown when there are two or more series.
• Show values on the chart: prints the number on each bar.
• Bar thickness: how wide each bar is inside its slot.

Type the title, subtitle and axis titles in the boxes at the top. Click a series color square to change its color, or leave the default colors.

Sort First, Then Paste

The order of the rows is the order of the bars. If you want a ranking, sort your spreadsheet from largest to smallest before you copy it.

Export

Download a PNG for slides and documents, or an SVG you can scale and edit. You can also copy the image to the clipboard, or copy a link that reopens the chart with the same data.

Bar Graph vs Other Charts

A bar graph compares separate categories. Other charts answer other questions, and picking the right one is half of good chart reading.

• Line graph: for values in an ordered sequence, especially time. Points are joined to show the trend. See our line graph examples.
• Pie chart: for a few parts of one whole. See how the circle graph works.
• Histogram: for one numeric variable split into ranges, such as test scores. Its bars touch, because the ranges are continuous. The difference is worth its own guide, bar graph vs histogram.

For a chooser table that covers more chart types, see our guide to types of graphs and charts.

Bar Chart Templates to Start From

If you would rather not start from an empty table, the gallery below has eight sample bar charts. You can filter them by business, school, survey and ranking, budget and personal use. Examples include sales by month for two years, a satisfaction survey, homework hours by grade and a ranked poll. Every number in them is sample data. Click “Use this template” to open one in the tool with its data filled in, or download it as a PNG or SVG straight from the card. A bar chart template like this saves the time of setting up the layout.

If you would rather start from something plain, this starter has one series and five categories. Type over the labels and values.

Open a plain starter in the bar graph maker

A Short History Note

Many sources consider William Playfair, who lived from 1759 to 1824, to have invented the bar chart. His The Commercial and Political Atlas contains a graph of the exports and imports of Scotland for one year from Christmas 1780 to Christmas 1781, which is regarded as the first bar chart in history, according to Wikipedia. The idea is more than two centuries old, and the eight examples above are still built on it.

Summary

A bar graph shows categories as bars whose lengths match their values. Its parts are the title, the source, the two axes, the data and, with more than one group, a legend. Use vertical bars for short labels, horizontal bars for long labels and long lists, sort when the categories have no order, and choose side by side or stacked bars for more than one series. Start bars at zero, and print the values when readers need exact numbers. When you are ready, build your own in the bar graph maker.