Barplot

⏱ Quick start

Matplotlib is pretty convenient to build a barplot thanks to its bar() function. Seaborn works perfectly as well, see its dedicated section.🔥

Most basic barplot with Python & Matplotlib.

# Libraries
import numpy as np
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

# Make a random dataset:
height = [3, 12, 5, 18, 45]
bars = ('A', 'B', 'C', 'D', 'E')
y_pos = np.arange(len(bars))

# Create bars
plt.bar(y_pos, height)

# Create names on the x-axis
plt.xticks(y_pos, bars)

# Show graphic
plt.show()

Barplot with Matplotlib

Matplotlib is probably the most famous and flexible python library for data visualization. It is appropriate to build any kind of chart, including the barchart thanks to its bar() function.

The examples below should get you started. They go from basic examples to the details on how to customize a barplot appropriately.

Horizontal barplot, handy to make labels more readable.

Barplot and color customization.

Change the bar stroke colors.

Title and axis labels with Matplotlib.

Custom bar width. Can be handy to illustrate the sample size.

Custom space between bars.

Change bar texture.

More space under X axis to fit long labels.

Customize the bar labels.

Barplot with confidence interval.

Highly customized barplot with colors, legend, labels and more.

Barplot with Seaborn

Seaborn is definitely a good alternative to Matplotlib to build a barplot. It comes with a barplot() function that will get you started in minutes.

As often, note that the Seaborn alternative allows to write less code to build the chart, but is slighlty more limited in term of customization

Most basic barplot with Python and Seaborn

Make your barplot vertical by swapping the x and y parameters

Learn how to reorder groups in a seaborn barplot

Add error bars on a seaborn barplot

Population pyramid of a marketing funnel

Stacked and Grouped barplot with Matplotlib

Stacked and Grouped barplots are a variation of the more simple barplot. They display the value of a numeric variable for each group and subgroups of a dataset. Subgroups can be stacked (stacked barplot) or set one beside the other (grouped barplot).

The three examples below are in-depth tutorial explaining how to build them with Python.

How to build a stacked barplot with Python.

How to build a grouped barplot with Python.

How to build a percent stacked barplot with Python..

Stacked and Grouped barplot with Seaborn

The barplot() function of seaborn allows to quickly build a grouped barplot. You just have to pass the column used for subgrouping to the hue parameter.

It gets a bit more tricky for stacked and percent stacked barplot, but the examples below should hopefully help.

Grouped barplot with python and seaborn

Stacked barchart with python and seaborn

Percent stacked barchart with python and seaborn

Grouped barplot with small multiples to show 3 levels of grouping.

Barplot with Pandas

The bar() function of pandas allows to quickly build a barplot. You will find below examples of how to create simple and grouped barcharts using pandas.

Introduction to barplot with pandas

Customizing barplot with pandas

Barplots grouped by color with pandas

Stacked barplot with pandas

Stacked 100% barplot with pandas

Best python barplot examples

The web is full of astonishing charts made by awesome bloggers, (often using R). The Python graph gallery tries to display (or translate from R) some of the best creations and explain how their source code works. If you want to display your work here, please drop me a word or even better, submit a Pull Request!

A circular barchart with several features per group made with Python and Matplotlib.

Lear how to mimick the style of the Economist on this horizontal barplot.

How to combine a heatmap with a radial barplot on the same figure with heaps of visual tweaks.

Mirror barplot with data points and annotations on top.