How to Show Percentage Change in Excel Graph

Visualizing percentage change in an Excel graph is one of the best ways to tell a clear story about growth, decline, or performance trends over time. This article will guide you through the process, starting with the basic calculation and then diving into several methods for creating clear, professional-looking charts that highlight these changes.

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First Things First: Calculate Percentage Change in Excel

Before you can graph the percentage change, you need a column in your data table that calculates it. The formula is straightforward, but setting it up correctly is the essential first step.

1. Set Up Your Data Table

Let's imagine you have a simple table tracking monthly sales. Your initial setup will look something like this, with a blank column ready for your percentage change calculation.

Your table should have at least two columns: one for the time period (e.g., Month) and one for the value you're tracking (e.g., Sales). We’ll add a third, "MoM % Change," for our calculation.

Example Table:

• Column A: Month (Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr)
• Column B: Sales ($10,000, $12,500, $11,000, $15,000)
• Column C: MoM % Change (This is what we will fill in)

2. Enter the Percentage Change Formula

Percentage change is calculated by taking the new value, subtracting the old value, and then dividing the result by the old value.

The formula in Excel is:

=(New Value - Old Value) / Old Value

In our example table, click into cell C3 (the cell next to February's sales). The first month, January, doesn't have a previous month to compare to, so we leave cell C2 empty.

In cell C3, you will type:

=(B3-B2)/B2

Here's what this formula does:

• B3-B2: Subtracts January's sales (Old Value) from February's sales (New Value).
• /B2: Divides that difference by January's sales to get the percentage change as a decimal.

Press Enter. Excel will likely show a decimal, like 0.25.

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3. Apply the Formula to All Rows

You don't need to type this formula for every row. Simply click on the cell containing your new formula (C3), then find the small green square at the bottom-right corner of the cell. This is the "fill handle."

Click and drag the fill handle down to the bottom of your data (cell C5 in our example). Excel automatically adjusts the formula for each row, comparing each month to the one before it.

4. Format the Column as a Percentage

Right now, your calculated column shows decimals. To make it readable, you need to format it as a percentage.

• Highlight the cells with the decimal values (C3 to C5).
• Navigate to the Home tab on the Excel ribbon.
• In the Number section, click the percentage symbol (%).

Your numbers will instantly convert to percentages (e.g., 0.25 becomes 25%). Now your data is ready to be visualized!

Your completed table should look like this:

Method 1: Create a Combo Chart with a Secondary Axis

The most common and effective way to show both a primary metric (like sales) and its percentage change is with a combo chart. This chart type uses bars or columns for your main data and a line for the percentage change, displayed on a separate axis.

Step 1: Create the Combo Chart

• Highlight your entire data set, including the headers and the new percentage change column (A1 through C5 in our example).
• Go to the Insert tab on the ribbon.
• In the Charts section, click on the icon for "Insert Combo Chart."
• Choose the Clustered Column - Line on Secondary Axis option.

Excel will instantly generate a chart. The sales numbers will be represented by columns (using the primary vertical axis on the left), and the percentage change will be represented by a line (using the secondary vertical axis on the right).

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Step 2: Clean Up and Format Your Chart

The default chart is a great start, but a few tweaks will make it much clearer.

• Update Your Chart Title: Click on the default "Chart Title" and change it to something descriptive, like "Monthly Sales and Month-over-Month Growth."
• Label Your Axes: It's critical that viewers understand what each vertical axis represents.
• Add Data Labels to the Line: To make the percentages perfectly clear, you can add them directly to points on the line.

This combo chart is powerful because it allows you to see the relationship between the actual sales numbers and their rate of change. You can easily spot, for instance, that while April had the highest sales, its percentage growth was only slightly higher than February's, despite the absolute dollar increase being larger.

Method 2: Use Data Labels on a Primary Bar Chart

What if you don't want a second line or a secondary axis? Sometimes, all you want is to see the sales columns with the percentage change displayed neatly on top of or inside them. This requires a small workaround but creates a very clean and simple visual.

Step 1: Create a Basic Column Chart

• Highlight only the Month and Sales data (columns A and B).
• Go to Insert > Charts and select a Clustered Column chart.

This gives you a standard bar chart showing your monthly sales figures.

Step 2: Add and Customize Data Labels

Now, we'll leverage a feature that allows data labels to be pulled from other cells.

• Right-click on any of the columns in your chart and choose Add Data Labels. By default, Excel will add the sales values.
• Right-click on the new labels (the sales figures) and select Format Data Labels. A formatting pane will open on the right side of your screen.
• In the Label Options section, check the box for Value From Cells.
• A small window will prompt you to "Select Data Label Range." Use your mouse to select the range containing your calculated percentage change values (C3:C5 in our example, remembering to skip the first empty cell). Click OK.
• Back in the Format Data Labels pane, you'll see both the original sales value and the new percentage. To tidy this up, uncheck the Value box.

Now, only the percentage change values will be displayed on your sales columns. You can use the "Label Position" options (Center, Inside End, etc.) to place them where they look best. This method gives you a chart that directly answers "What were the sales, and what was the growth percentage for that period?" in one simple graphic object.

Method 3: Visualize Contribution to Change with a Waterfall Chart

Waterfall charts are designed specifically to show how an initial value is affected by a series of positive and negative changes. While it visualizes the absolute change (e.g., +$2,500) rather than the percentage, it's an incredibly powerful tool for telling a story about change over time.

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Step 1: Prepare Your Data for a Waterfall Chart

This chart requires a specific data structure. You need a list of labels and a list of numeric changes (positive or negative). You should also set up rows for your start and end totals.

First, calculate the period-over-period change in absolute numbers:

Step 2: Insert the Waterfall Chart

• Highlight your table (both the labels and the numeric changes).
• Go to Insert > Charts and choose Waterfall.

Excel will generate a chart showing floating bars for each change. Positive values go up, and negative values go down.

Step 3: Set Your Start and End Totals

• Click once on the chart to select it, then click again specifically on the first bar ("Start").
• Right-click on this bar and select Set as Total. The bar will now start from the horizontal axis.
• Do the same for the last bar in your series ("End"). Right-click it and choose Set as Total.

The resulting chart clearly shows your starting point, how each month's ups and downs contributed to the next step, and your final total. It’s an unbeatable visual for explaining the journey from point A to point B.

Final Thoughts

Visualizing percentage change in Excel comes down to choosing the right chart for the story you want to tell. Whether you prefer a comprehensive combo chart, clean data labels on a simple bar chart, or a sequential waterfall chart, calculating the percentage change first is the foundation for creating insightful and compelling reports.

Manually building these reports in spreadsheets works, but it becomes tedious when you constantly have to download new CSVs and update your formulas. At Graphed we automate all this by connecting directly to your live data sources like Google Analytics, Shopify, and Salesforce. Instead of wrestling with formulas, you can simply ask, "show me the week-over-week percentage change in website traffic from organic search as a line chart," and get a real-time, interactive dashboard that updates itself.