Box Plot Chart
A box plot compares two or more categories and shows data distribution by quartiles. Each category is divided into 4 groups, containing 25% of the data points. You can also see the lowest, highest and median points per category.
Usage guidelines
When to use
Questions you can answer with this visualization:
- How many are in each category?
- What is the data distribution in each category?
- What are the key values, like median, lowest and highest?
- Is the data symmetrical?
- Is the data skewed?
When not to use
- If you want to show the composition of a category, instead of the distribution of data points, use a stacked bar chart.
- An alternative chart to visualize distribution is the histogram. A boxplot is most useful when comparing groups. If you want to visualize data distribution in a single group, use the histogram instead.
- A boxplot has limitations when visualizing distributions. For example, two different datasets could result in identical boxplots but very different histograms.
Usage recommendations
