Histogram charts

A histogram is similar in appearance to a bar chart, but instead of comparing categories or looking for trends over time, each bar represents how data is distributed in a single category. Each bar represents a continuous range of data or the number of frequencies for a specific data point.

Histograms are useful for showing the distribution of a single scale variable. Data are binned and summarized using a count or percentage statistic. A variation of a histogram is a frequency polygon, which is like a typical histogram except that the area graphic element is used instead of the bar graphic element.

Another variation of the histogram is the population pyramid. Its name is derived from its most common use: summarizing population data. When used with population data, it is split by gender to provide two back-to-back, horizontal histograms of age data. In countries with a young population, the shape of the resulting graph resembles a pyramid.

Creating a histogram chart

  1. In the Chart Builder's Chart Types section, click the Histogram icon.
    Histogram chart icon

    The canvas updates to display a histogram chart template.

  2. Select a scale variable as the X-axis variable.
    Note: The statistic for a histogram is Histogram or Histogram Percent. These statistics bin the data and calculate a count for each bin.

Additional features

X-axis
Lists dataset variables that are available for the chart's x-axis.
Split by
Select a categorical variable that creates a table of charts, with a cell for each category in the Split by variable. Like grouping, split by variables essentially add more dimensions to your chart by displaying information for each variable category.
Show kde curve
When enabled, the kernel density estimate curve displays on the chart.
Show distribution curve
When enabled, the distribution fitting curve displays on the chart.
Distribution
The drop-down list provides to the following distribution options.
Auto fit distribution
This the is default setting.
Beta
Returns the value from a Beta distribution with specified shape parameters.
Exponential
Returns the value from an exponential distribution.
Gamma
Returns the value from the Gamma distribution, with the specified shape and scale parameters.
Log-normal
Returns the value from a log-normal distribution with specified parameters.
Normal
Returns the value from a normal distribution with specified mean and standard deviation.
Triangular
Returns the value from a triangular distribution with specified parameters.
Uniform
Returns the value from the uniform distribution between min and max.
Weibull
Returns the value from a Weibull distribution with specified parameters.
Bin width
The slider controls the size of the interval that is used to split the data into groups.
Primary title
The chart title.
Subtitle
The chart subtitle, which displays directly beneath the chart title.
Footnote
The chart footnote, which displays beneath the chart.