Stacked bar chart: definition, examples, and best practices.

What is a stacked bar chart?

A stacked bar chart, also called a segmented bar chart, places series on top of each other inside each category. The full bar height is the total. The colored bands are the parts. That makes it the right graph when you need composition and magnitude in one view.

It is easy to confuse with a clustered bar. Clustered bars compare series against each other. Stacked bars build a total. If the total is not part of the story, you are probably on the wrong chart.

A worked example

Quarterly sales by business line in $ thousands, from FY08 Q1 to FY12 Q3. Legacy hands over to Core, then Abc grows from 237 to 7,405 and carries almost all of the 80% increase. Selected quarters shown.

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When to use a stacked bar chart

• Showing headcount or cost by function within each office or region
• Breaking revenue into product lines while still showing the regional total
• Comparing how a mix contributes to different category totals
• Presenting a portfolio where absolute size and composition both belong on the slide

When not to use it

• When series comparison matters more than the total, use a clustered bar chart
• When absolute size distracts from share, use a 100% stacked bar

How to read it

Read the full bar height as the total, then read segments from the base upward. Segments that share a color across categories form the composition story.

Best practices

• Put the most important or most stable segment at the base of the stack
• Limit segments to five or six before the stack turns into noise
• Show totals on the bar when the absolute number matters as much as the mix
• Keep segment colors consistent across every stacked chart in the deck
• Avoid stacking series that readers need to compare precisely against each other