What are the steps to create a Bubble Chart in Google Sheets?

A bubble chart is a useful tool for visualizing and comparing data points in a spreadsheet. To create a bubble chart in Google Sheets, follow these steps:

1. Open a new or existing spreadsheet in Google Sheets.
2. Enter your data in the form of a table, with the first column containing the labels or categories and the subsequent columns containing the numerical data.
3. Select the data range by clicking and dragging over the cells.
4. Click on the “Insert” tab at the top of the sheet and select “Chart” from the drop-down menu.
5. In the chart editor, click on the “Chart type” drop-down menu and select “Bubble chart.”
6. Customize the chart by choosing the desired colors, size, and labels for the bubbles.
7. Add a title and axis labels to make the chart more informative.
8. Click on the “Customize” tab to further customize the chart by adding a trendline or adjusting the scale.
9. Once satisfied with the chart, click on “Insert” to add it to your spreadsheet.

Following these steps will allow you to create a visually appealing and informative bubble chart in Google Sheets.

Bubble Chart in Google Sheets (Step-by-Step)


A bubble chart is a type of chart that allows you to visualize three variables in a dataset at once.

The first two variables are used as (x,y) coordinates on a scatterplot and the third variable is used to depict size.

This tutorial provides a step-by-step example of how to create the following bubble chart in Google Sheets:

Bubble chart in Google Sheets example

Step 1: Create the Data

First, let’s create a fake dataset that shows various statistics for 10 different professional basketball teams:

Note that we have to use the following format in order to create a bubble chart in Google Sheets:

  • Column A: Labels
  • Column B: X-axis value
  • Column C: Y-axis value
  • Column D: Color
  • Column E: Size

Step 2: Create the Bubble Chart

Next, highlight each of the columns of data:

Next, click the Insert tab and then click Chart.

How to create a bubble chart in Google Sheets

Google Sheets will insert a histogram by default. To convert this into a bubble chart, simply click Chart type in the Chart editor that appears on the right of the screen. Then scroll down and click Bubble chart.

Bubble chart in Google Sheets

This will automatically produce the following bubble chart:

Step 3: Modify the Bubble Chart

Next, we can modify the appearance of the bubble chart to make it easier to read.

First, double click the vertical axis. In the Chart editor that appears to the right, change the Min and Max axis values to 75 and 115, respectively.

Next, double click the horizontal axis of the chart and change the Min and Max values to 90 and 115, respectively. 

Next, double click the chart again. In the Chart editor, select the Bubble tab and change the Opacity to 20% and the Border Color to black.

Next, click the Chart & axis titles tab and change the text for the title, subtitle, horizontal axis title, and vertical axis title.

Here is what the final bubble chart will look like:

Bubble chart in Google Sheets example

Additional Resources

The following tutorials explain how to create other common visualizations in Google Sheets:

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