Composition
Stacked Area Chart
Layered areas showing how parts of a whole change over time.
Traffic Sources
Monthly visits by channel — Organic plateaued; Social grew 5x
View data (24 rows)
| Month | Visits | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Jan | 400 | Organic |
| Jan | 180 | Paid |
| Jan | 120 | |
| Jan | 60 | Social |
| Feb | 420 | Organic |
| Feb | 220 | Paid |
| Feb | 140 | |
| Feb | 90 | Social |
| Mar | 460 | Organic |
| Mar | 280 | Paid |
| Mar | 150 | |
| Mar | 130 | Social |
| Apr | 470 | Organic |
| Apr | 320 | Paid |
| Apr | 130 | |
| Apr | 180 | Social |
| May | 480 | Organic |
| May | 360 | Paid |
| May | 110 | |
| May | 240 | Social |
| Jun | 490 | Organic |
| Jun | 410 | Paid |
| Jun | 130 | |
| Jun | 310 | Social |
Use a stacked area chart when…
- Part-to-whole over time
- Showing volume trends by category
- 3-5 categories
Avoid when…
- When individual series comparison matters
- When areas overlap confusingly
Data it needs
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Min Rows | 4 |
| Min Columns | 3 |
| Column Types | datestringnumber |
Visual anatomy
Marks
area
Channels
position-xheightcolor-hue
Axes
x-timey-quantitative
Guiding principles
Consider instead
Common mistakes
Too many layers
Not starting at zero
History
Layered area charts trace to Playfair's shaded line charts (1786) and Minard's flow maps; popularized for web analytics dashboards in the early 2000s.
Accessibility notes
Pair color hue with patterns or distinct luminance values for color-blind readers — viridis-style sequential palettes work well when the layers have a natural order. Provide layer values in tooltip.
Related reading
Got data? Let's see what works.
Drop your CSV. You'll get a Stacked Area Chart plus four alternatives - ranked by which one actually fits your data best.