How to make a Pareto chart in Excel
A Pareto chart sorts your categories largest-to-smallest and overlays a cumulative percentage line — so you instantly see the "vital few" causes behind most of the effect. Here's the manual way, and the one-click way.
When to reach for a Pareto chart
Any time "where do we start?" is the real question. It turns a long list into a short priority order.
Support & quality
Which few defect types or ticket reasons cause most of the complaints?
Sales & revenue
Which handful of products, regions or customers drive the bulk of revenue?
Cost & ops
Which expense lines or process delays account for most of the waste?
How to make one in Excel
Excel 2016+ has a built-in Pareto, but the manual combo-chart method works in any version and on grouped data.
Sort your categories
Put each category and its count/value in two columns, then sort the value column Largest to Smallest.
Add a cumulative % column
Running total ÷ grand total. In C2: =SUM($B$2:B2)/SUM($B$2:$B$10), then format as percentage.
Insert a combo chart
Select all three columns → Insert › Combo Chart. Set the value series to Clustered Column and the cumulative % to Line on a secondary axis.
Fix the secondary axis to 0–100%
Double-click the right axis and set Maximum to 1.0 so the line reads as a true percentage.
Read the 80% line
Add a horizontal line at 80%. Every bar to the left of where the green line crosses it is a "vital few" priority.
Shortcut in Excel 2016+: select a single sorted column and use Insert › Statistic Chart › Pareto. It sorts and draws the cumulative line for you — but it won't respect filters or grouped categories, so for real datasets the manual method above stays more reliable.
The faster way — skip the setup
Re-doing the sort, the running total and the secondary axis on every new file gets old. DataHub Pro does it from the raw data.
~8–10 minutes per chart
- Sort, then add a cumulative formula
- Build a combo chart by hand
- Fight the secondary axis scaling
- Redo it all when the data changes
One click, auto-updates
- Upload the file — it sorts and totals for you
- Pareto, cumulative line and 80% marker drawn automatically
- Re-runs instantly on new data
- Export to a report or dashboard
FAQ
Does Excel have a built-in Pareto chart?
Yes — Excel 2016 and later have a Pareto option under Insert › Statistic Chart. It auto-sorts and adds the cumulative line, but only for a single column of values; for grouped or filtered data you usually still build it with a combo chart.
What is the 80/20 rule in a Pareto chart?
The Pareto principle says roughly 80% of effects come from 20% of causes. On the chart you find where the cumulative line crosses about 80% — the bars to its left are the "vital few" worth fixing first.
How do I calculate cumulative percentage?
Sort values largest to smallest, keep a running total down the column, then divide each running total by the grand total. Format as a percentage and plot it as a line on a secondary axis.
Keep exploring
More visual analysis you can run on your own data — no sign-up needed to read.
Get the Pareto without the busywork
Upload an Excel or CSV file and DataHub Pro builds the sorted Pareto, cumulative line and 80% priority cut for you. Free to try, no card.
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