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Creating a Pareto chart in Google Sheets is a simple yet powerful way to visually display the most significant factors in your data. This type of chart, based on the Pareto principle or 80/20 rule, helps identify the few key causes that contribute to the majority of an outcome.
Whether you’re analyzing sales, defects, or other data, a Pareto chart makes it easier to prioritize areas for improvement. In this guide, we’ll walk you through the step-by-step process of creating a Pareto chart in Google Sheets, helping you turn raw data into actionable insights.
Visualizing large sets of data on Google Sheets is complex and time-consuming. It doesn’t have to be like that, as you shall see later.
This blog post will walk you through the incredibly easy and time-saving steps of how to create/make a Pareto Chart in Google Sheets to empower your analysis skills.
A Pareto Chart in Google Sheets is a visual tool that combines bar and line graphs to identify and prioritize the most significant factors contributing to an outcome, based on the 80/20 rule.
It displays individual category frequencies as bars and cumulative percentages as a line, helping users focus on the vital few issues. This chart aids in effective decision-making by highlighting the key areas needing attention.
Start by inputting your data in two columns. One for categories (e.g., types of defects) and another for frequencies or values (e.g., number of occurrences). Ensure the data is correctly entered, as this will form the basis for the chart.
Select your data and sort the values in descending order based on the frequency column. This ensures that the Pareto principle (80/20 rule) is properly reflected in your chart, with the most significant factors listed first.
Next, calculate the cumulative percentage for your data:
Highlight the data and go to Insert > Chart. Choose a Combo Chart that combines a bar chart (for frequencies) and a line chart (for cumulative percentages).
It’s no secret there are dozens of data visualization tools in today’s market.
Some of these tools require you to have uber technical skills, such as programming or coding. Others prioritize the beauty and aesthetic of charts at the expense of critical insights.
The third-party add-on we recommend to our readers is ChartExpo. This is based on a checklist (below) we use to evaluate tools in the market.
ChartExpo scores 100% on all key factors we’ve featured in our checklist.
As we said, you’ve got to avoid scratching the surface of your data with basic charts, such as Bar Graphs. How?
You can achieve this by embracing Pareto Charts in your data visualization strategy. ChartExpo provides you with unlimited access to Pareto, plus more than 50 other charts.
And it gets better.
The cost of accessing these charts is ZERO. Yes, you read that right.
Let’s agree on this. How to Draw a Pareto Chart does not have to be stressful. Yes, it should not be the reason why you never get in-depth, actionable insights from your data.
Let’s take a look at an example (below) to get you started with Pareto Charts.
Imagine you run an e-commerce store. You want to know how your brand performs at the city level by comparing previous and current periods.
Which chart would you use to uncover the 20% of cities driving 80% of the overall brand’s sales?
Yes, you guessed right. This is where a Pareto Diagram comes in. Let’s use the table below for our scenario.
| City | Current Period Sales | Previous Period Sales |
| New York | 540 | 510 |
| Chicago | 550 | 545 |
| San Francisco | 415 | 399 |
| Los Angeles | 572 | 533 |
| Seattle | 193 | 185 |
| Boston | 188 | 163 |
| Phoenix | 497 | 485 |
| Atlanta | 215 | 180 |
| Philadelphia | 489 | 470 |
| Miami | 387 | 267 |
| Dallas | 7 | 5 |
| Houston | 5 | 3 |
| St Louis | 7 | 4 |
| Columbus | 1 | 1 |
| Fresno | 6 | 3 |
| Mesa | 2 | 2 |
| Oakland | 3 | 1 |
| San Antonio | 1 | 2 |
| San Diego | 1 | 1 |
| San Jose | 2 | 3 |
| Austin | 5 | 3 |
| Jacksonville | 3 | 2 |
| Fort Worth | 3 | 3 |
| Charlotte | 2 | 1 |
| Indianapolis | 1 | 2 |
| Denver | 4 | 3 |
| Washington | 5 | 2 |
| El Paso | 7 | 5 |
| Nashville | 5 | 3 |
| Detroit | 3 | 2 |
| Oklahoma City | 2 | 1 |
| Portland | 2 | 3 |
| Las Vegas | 3 | 2 |
| Memphis | 3 | 1 |
| Louisville | 4 | 1 |
| Baltimore | 5 | 3 |
| Milwaukee | 1 | 1 |
| Albuquerque | 2 | 1 |
| Tucson | 1 | 1 |
| Sacramento | 4 | 3 |
| Kansas City | 2 | 1 |
| Colorado Springs | 4 | 3 |
| Omaha | 2 | 1 |
| Raleigh | 4 | 3 |
| Long Beach | 2 | 1 |
| Tulsa | 4 | 3 |
| Tampa | 2 | 1 |
| Arlington | 4 | 3 |
| New Orleans | 2 | 1 |
| Wichita | 4 | 3 |
| Bakersfield | 2 | 1 |
| Aurora | 1 | 2 |
| Anaheim | 3 | 2 |
| Honolulu | 1 | 3 |
| Santa Ana | 3 | 2 |
| Riverside | 1 | 5 |
| Corpus Christi | 3 | 2 |
| Lexington | 1 | 1 |
| Henderson | 3 | 2 |
| Stockton | 1 | 1 |
| Saint Paul | 3 | 2 |
| Pittsburgh | 1 | 2 |
| Lincoln | 3 | 2 |
| Anchorage | 1 | 1 |
| Plano | 3 | 2 |
| Orlando | 1 | 2 |
| Irvine | 3 | 2 |
| Newark | 7 | 3 |
| Durham | 5 | 1 |
| Chula Vista | 2 | 2 |
| Toledo | 5 | 1 |
| Fort Wayne | 2 | 1 |
| Lubbock | 5 | 2 |
| Jersey City | 2 | 2 |
| Scottsdale | 5 | 3 |
| Reno | 2 | 3 |
| Glendale | 5 | 3 |
| Norfolk | 2 | 1 |
| Irving | 5 | 2 |
| Garland | 1 | 2 |
| Hialeah | 4 | 1 |
| Richmond | 1 | 3 |
| Boise | 5 | 2 |
| Tacoma | 1 | 1 |
| Fontana | 5 | 1 |
| Birmingham | 1 | 1 |
| Frisco | 2 | 1 |
| Augusta | 1 | 1 |
| Tempe | 2 | 1 |
| Little Rock | 1 | 1 |
| Overland Park | 2 | 1 |
| Grand Prairie | 1 | 1 |
| Ontario | 2 | 1 |
| Brownsville | 1 | 1 |
| Santa Rosa | 2 | 1 |
| Eugene | 1 | 1 |
| Lancaster | 2 | 1 |
| Palmdale | 1 | 1 |
| Joliet | 2 | 1 |
| Midland | 1 | 1 |
How to draw Pareto Chart does not have to be time-consuming. ChartExpo makes the whole process seamless and easy.
Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, Phoenix, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Miami are the best-performing cities. In other words, they constitute 20% of cities driving 80% of the overall sales revenue.
As we said, how to draw a Pareto Chart in Google Sheets does not have to consume your valuable time.
The first thing to do when creating a Pareto chart is to collect and organize your data. This involves identifying the categories you want to analyze, gathering the relevant data for each category, and then sorting the data in descending order based on frequency or impact.
This step ensures that the most significant categories are highlighted, which is essential for the effectiveness of the Pareto chart.
To manually create a Pareto chart:
Creating a Pareto chart in Google Sheets involves collecting and sorting your data, calculating cumulative percentages, and then using Google Sheets’ built-in chart tools to plot the data as a bar chart with a cumulative line.
While Google Sheets provides basic charting functionality, using a tool like ChartExpo can significantly enhance the process. ChartExpo offers a more user-friendly interface, better customization options, and advanced visualizations, making it easier to create professional-quality Pareto charts quickly and effectively.
Whether you’re working on complex data sets or looking for simplicity, ChartExpo streamlines the entire process.
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