How to Create a Pareto Chart in Google Sheets

Last Updated on November 3, 2023 by Jake Sheridan

In this tutorial, you will learn how to create a Pareto chart in Google Sheets.

How to Create a Pareto Chart in Google Sheets

A Pareto chart is a form of a graph that includes both bars and a line graph, with bars representing individual values in descending order and a line representing the cumulative total.

The frequency of occurrence is represented by the left vertical axis, but it can also indicate cost or another essential unit of measure. The cumulative proportion of the total number of occurrences, total cost, or a total of the given unit of measure is shown on the right vertical axis.

The cumulative function is concave because the values are in decreasing order.

The Pareto chart’s objective is to emphasize the most relevant element among a (usually huge) set of variables. Pareto charts are useful in quality control for determining which defects to prioritize in order to achieve the largest overall improvement.

It frequently indicates the most common sources of flaws, the most common type of defect, or the most common causes of customer complaints, among other things.

Once you are ready, we can get started by using real-life scenarios to help you understand how to create Pareto charts in Google Sheets.

Creating a Pareto Chart

Before we begin we will need a group of data to be used to create the Pareto chart.

Step 1 – Group your data

Make sure your group of data is displayed in a clean and tidy manner. This will help us to create the Pareto chart easily.

Step 2 – Select data & insert pareto chart

Select the entire data cell, choose Insert, and select Chart.

By default, Google Sheet will use the selected group of data to generate a combo chart. This will automatically insert the combo chart below:

Step 3 – Set values

To create the line for cumulative values, click Series and amend the settings according to the below:

Step 4 – Customize your chart

Now, you can customize the Pareto chart to your preference. We will change the chart title to ‘Defects Priority Chart’ for a better representation of the Pareto chart.

Also, to emphasize the chart title, we will change the text color to black, bold it, and also align it to the center.

Step 5 – 80% of Pareto jokes are funny only 20% of the time

Once you are done editing and customizing the Pareto chart, it will look something like this.

Summary

That’s all there is to it. You are welcome to copy the example spreadsheet below to see how it is done. The most crucial lesson is to enjoy yourself while doing it.

Example Spreadsheet: Make a copy of the example spreadsheet

In this tutorial, I covered how to make categories in google sheets. Want more? Check out all the Google Sheets Tutorials.