How to Make a Histogram in Excel, by Excel Tutorials by EasyClick Academy on YouTube. 4 min 38 s.
- Video length
- 4 min 38 s
- Time to do it
- 5 minutes
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Steps
- 8
What you need
Steps
Click a cell inside your column of numbers, or select the whole range. Go to the Insert tab, open the Charts group, click the Statistic chart icon and choose Histogram.
Excel draws the chart straight away and picks the bin widths for you. Look at the shape and check it makes sense before you change anything.
To control the grouping, right-click the numbers on the horizontal axis and choose Format Axis. Set a Bin width, or switch to Number of bins and type a value.
In the same Format Axis pane, set Underflow bin and Overflow bin if you want the smallest and largest values grouped into their own bars instead of separate bins.
Right-click any bar and choose Format Data Series to change the gap width. A small gap or none makes the bars read as one continuous distribution.
Use the plus button beside the chart to add axis titles. Label the horizontal axis with the unit you measured and the vertical axis as Frequency.
For a different look, open the Chart Design tab, choose a style from Chart Styles and use Change Colors to match the bar colour to your report.
Drag the chart edges to resize it and move it beside your data. Save the workbook as an xlsx file so the chart is kept.
Tips and common mistakes
A histogram works on one column of numbers only, so remove text and blank cells from the range first.
Set the bin width yourself when you want round groups like 10 or 50, because automatic bins can look uneven.
If the Statistic chart icon is missing, you are on Excel 2013 or older, as histograms arrived in Excel 2016.
Questions
Where is the histogram chart in Excel?
It sits on the Insert tab in the Charts group, behind the Statistic chart icon with the small blue bars. It is available in Excel 2016 and later, including Microsoft 365.
What is the difference between a histogram and a bar chart?
A histogram groups numbers into ranges called bins, and the bars touch each other. A bar chart compares separate categories and leaves gaps between the bars.
How do I change the number of bins?
Right-click the horizontal axis, pick Format Axis, then choose Number of bins and enter a value, or set a fixed Bin width instead.
This guide was drafted from the video's details and general task knowledge. It has not been checked against the full video. Check the video and relevant product instructions before following a procedure. Report a correction.
