A bar graph is a chart that compares amounts across separate categories using bars. Each bar stands for one category and its length shows that category’s value, measured against a scale that starts at zero.

What are the parts of a bar graph?

A title; a value axis with a scale of numbers starting at zero and a title saying what is counted; a category axis with a label under (or beside) each bar and a title; the bars themselves; and often gridlines and, for double or stacked bar graphs, a key.

What is the difference between a bar graph and a bar chart?

Nothing: they are two names for the same thing. “Bar chart” is more common in business and in British English, “bar graph” in schools in the United States. A vertical bar graph is also called a column chart.

When should you use a bar graph?

Use a bar graph to compare amounts between separate groups or categories, such as votes per option or sales per store. For change over time a line graph is often clearer, for parts of one whole a pie chart, and for the spread of a list of measurements a histogram.

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What is a bar graph?

A bar graph compares amounts. Each bar stands for one category, and the bar’s length shows how much of something that category has, measured against a scale that starts at zero.

That’s the whole idea, and it’s why bar graphs are the first graph most of us learn: lengths standing side by side on the same baseline are the easiest thing in a picture to compare. You don’t need to read a single number to see that the dog bar is the longest.

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The parts of a bar graph

Made-up example data: a class of 25 students.

Title: what the graph is about. A good title says what was counted, of whom, and when.
Value axis and scale: the numbers, evenly spaced, starting at zero. The scale’s steps (2, 4, 6…) are chosen so the longest bar fits.
Value axis title: what the numbers count (number of students, dollars, minutes).
Bars: one per category, all the same width, with gaps between them. Only the length carries information.
Category labels and axis title: what each bar is, and what kind of thing the categories are (Pet, Month, Country).
Gridlines (optional) help the eye carry a bar’s end across to the scale.
Key (only when there are two or more colours): which colour stands for which group.

The four kinds

Vertical, also called a column chart: the usual choice, especially for things in order like days.

Horizontal: better when labels are long, and for rankings.

Double bar graph: two groups side by side in each category, with a key.

Stacked: each bar is a total split into its parts.

All four figures use made-up example data.

How to read a bar graph

Read the title and both axis titles first, so you know what is being compared and what the numbers mean.
Check that the scale starts at zero. If it doesn’t, the bars’ lengths can’t be compared (why).
Find the longest and shortest bars: those are the most and the least.
To read one value, follow the end of the bar across to the scale. Value labels, when they’re there, save you the trip.
Compare: how many times longer is one bar than another? That ratio is the comparison the graph is built to show.

Bar graph or something else?

Bar graphs compare separate categories. If your categories are moments in time and the trend is the point, a line graph shows it better. If you have one whole split into a few parts, a pie chart shows the shares at a glance. If you have a list of measurements, like 30 test scores, and want to see how they’re spread out, you need a histogram, which looks like a bar graph but works differently (the differences).

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