Beginnercomposition
Stacked Bar Chart
Stack multiple series vertically to show composition and total simultaneously.
Quick Facts
Complexity
beginner
Category
composition
Stacked Bar Chart · Example Data
When to use a Stacked Bar Chart
- Showing composition across multiple categories
- Comparing both totals and parts in one chart
- Replacing multiple pie charts for the same data
- 2–5 segments that are additive and part of a whole
About the Stacked Bar Chart
A stacked bar chart divides each bar into colored segments representing different categories, stacked to show both the total value and the contribution of each segment. It communicates composition across multiple categories better than multiple pie charts.
The 100% stacked bar variant normalizes all bars to 100%, which is better when proportion matters more than total magnitude.