⏱ Quick start

Here is a quick start code snippet to demo how the stackplot() function of matplotlib works.

Note that here each groups are provided in its own vector of values. The basic stacked area blog post explains how to use the function from any type of data format.

The most basic stacked area chart one can make with python and matplotlib

# library
import numpy as np
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

# Create data
x=range(1,6)
y1=[1,4,6,8,9]
y2=[2,2,7,10,12]
y3=[2,8,5,10,6]

# Basic stacked area chart.
plt.stackplot(x,y1, y2, y3, labels=['A','B','C'])
plt.legend(loc='upper left')

Stacked Area chart with Matplotlib

Matplotlib is the most common way to build a stacked area chart with Python. The examples below start by explaining to basics of the stackplot() function. The also describe the most common type of customization like changing colors, controling group order and more.

Most basic stacked area chart

Apply seaborn style on the matplotlib stacked area chart

Control area colors

Add a border between areas

Reduce opacity of the areas

Customize pattern inside the areas

Area chart and small multiple

Custom colormap in a stacked area chart

Change order of the lines

Smooth the chart to create a streamchart

Percent Stacked Area chart with Matplotlib

A variation of the stacked area graph is the percent stacked area graph where the value of every groups are normalized at each time stamp. It allows to study the percentage of each group in the whole more efficiently.

Fortunately, the pandas library has a divide() function that allows to apply this normalization easily.

Basic percent stacked area chart

Stacked Area chart with Pandas

Pandas is mainly useful to normalize your dataset and build a stacked area chart. Surprisingly, it also provides a plot.area()that can be handy to build a stacked area chart.

Stacked area chart with Pandas

Best python stacked area chart examples

The web is full of astonishing charts made by awesome bloggers, (often using R). The Python graph gallery tries to display (or translate from R) some of the best creations and explain how their source code works. If you want to display your work here, please drop me a word or even better, submit a Pull Request!

A clean stacked area chart with smoothing, inline labels, caption, color palette and more

Learn how to mimick The Economist's style with a figure combining both a line and an area chart

Not a stacked area but a line chart. But shows how to add labels at the end of each group with matplotlib. Definitely better than using a legend!

Plotly line chart with many customization

Stacked area chart with inline labels and arrows

Multiple stacked area charts on a map