[python] Adding value labels on a matplotlib bar chart

I got stuck on something that feels like should be relatively easy. The code I bring below is a sample based on a larger project I'm working on. I saw no reason to post all the details, so please accept the data structures I bring as is.

Basically, I'm creating a bar chart, and I just can figure out how to add value labels on the bars (in the center of the bar, or just above it). Been looking at samples around the web but with no success implementing on my own code. I believe the solution is either with 'text' or 'annotate', but I: a) don't know which one to use (and generally speaking, haven't figured out when to use which). b) can't see to get either to present the value labels. Would appreciate your help, my code below. Thanks in advance!

import numpy as np
import pandas as pd
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
pd.set_option('display.mpl_style', 'default') 
%matplotlib inline

# Bring some raw data.
frequencies = [6, 16, 75, 160, 244, 260, 145, 73, 16, 4, 1]

# In my original code I create a series and run on that, 
# so for consistency I create a series from the list.
freq_series = pd.Series.from_array(frequencies)

x_labels = [108300.0, 110540.0, 112780.0, 115020.0, 117260.0, 119500.0, 
            121740.0, 123980.0, 126220.0, 128460.0, 130700.0]

# Plot the figure.
plt.figure(figsize=(12, 8))
fig = freq_series.plot(kind='bar')
fig.set_title('Amount Frequency')
fig.set_xlabel('Amount ($)')
fig.set_ylabel('Frequency')
fig.set_xticklabels(x_labels)

Firstly freq_series.plot returns an axis not a figure so to make my answer a little more clear I've changed your given code to refer to it as ax rather than fig to be more consistent with other code examples.

You can get the list of the bars produced in the plot from the ax.patches member. Then you can use the technique demonstrated in this matplotlib gallery example to add the labels using the ax.text method.

import numpy as np
import pandas as pd
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

# Bring some raw data.
frequencies = [6, 16, 75, 160, 244, 260, 145, 73, 16, 4, 1]
# In my original code I create a series and run on that, 
# so for consistency I create a series from the list.
freq_series = pd.Series.from_array(frequencies)

x_labels = [108300.0, 110540.0, 112780.0, 115020.0, 117260.0, 119500.0,
            121740.0, 123980.0, 126220.0, 128460.0, 130700.0]

# Plot the figure.
plt.figure(figsize=(12, 8))
ax = freq_series.plot(kind='bar')
ax.set_title('Amount Frequency')
ax.set_xlabel('Amount ($)')
ax.set_ylabel('Frequency')
ax.set_xticklabels(x_labels)

rects = ax.patches

# Make some labels.
labels = ["label%d" % i for i in xrange(len(rects))]

for rect, label in zip(rects, labels):
    height = rect.get_height()
    ax.text(rect.get_x() + rect.get_width() / 2, height + 5, label,
            ha='center', va='bottom')

This produces a labeled plot that looks like:

If you want to just label the data points above the bar, you could use plt.annotate()

My code:

import numpy as np
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

n = [1,2,3,4,5,]
s = [i**2 for i in n]
line = plt.bar(n,s)
plt.xlabel('Number')
plt.ylabel("Square")

for i in range(len(s)):
    plt.annotate(str(s[i]), xy=(n[i],s[i]), ha='center', va='bottom')

plt.show()

By specifying a horizontal and vertical alignment of 'center' and 'bottom' respectively one can get centered annotations.

Based on a feature mentioned in this answer to another question I have found a very generally applicable solution for placing labels on a bar chart.

Other solutions unfortunately do not work in many cases, because the spacing between label and bar is either given in absolute units of the bars or is scaled by the height of the bar. The former only works for a narrow range of values and the latter gives inconsistent spacing within one plot. Neither works well with logarithmic axes.

The solution I propose works independent of scale (i.e. for small and large numbers) and even correctly places labels for negative values and with logarithmic scales because it uses the visual unit points for offsets.

I have added a negative number to showcase the correct placement of labels in such a case.

The value of the height of each bar is used as a label for it. Other labels can easily be used with Simon's for rect, label in zip(rects, labels) snippet.

import numpy as np
import pandas as pd
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

# Bring some raw data.
frequencies = [6, -16, 75, 160, 244, 260, 145, 73, 16, 4, 1]

# In my original code I create a series and run on that,
# so for consistency I create a series from the list.
freq_series = pd.Series.from_array(frequencies)

x_labels = [108300.0, 110540.0, 112780.0, 115020.0, 117260.0, 119500.0,
            121740.0, 123980.0, 126220.0, 128460.0, 130700.0]

# Plot the figure.
plt.figure(figsize=(12, 8))
ax = freq_series.plot(kind='bar')
ax.set_title('Amount Frequency')
ax.set_xlabel('Amount ($)')
ax.set_ylabel('Frequency')
ax.set_xticklabels(x_labels)


def add_value_labels(ax, spacing=5):
    """Add labels to the end of each bar in a bar chart.

    Arguments:
        ax (matplotlib.axes.Axes): The matplotlib object containing the axes
            of the plot to annotate.
        spacing (int): The distance between the labels and the bars.
    """

    # For each bar: Place a label
    for rect in ax.patches:
        # Get X and Y placement of label from rect.
        y_value = rect.get_height()
        x_value = rect.get_x() + rect.get_width() / 2

        # Number of points between bar and label. Change to your liking.
        space = spacing
        # Vertical alignment for positive values
        va = 'bottom'

        # If value of bar is negative: Place label below bar
        if y_value < 0:
            # Invert space to place label below
            space *= -1
            # Vertically align label at top
            va = 'top'

        # Use Y value as label and format number with one decimal place
        label = "{:.1f}".format(y_value)

        # Create annotation
        ax.annotate(
            label,                      # Use `label` as label
            (x_value, y_value),         # Place label at end of the bar
            xytext=(0, space),          # Vertically shift label by `space`
            textcoords="offset points", # Interpret `xytext` as offset in points
            ha='center',                # Horizontally center label
            va=va)                      # Vertically align label differently for
                                        # positive and negative values.


# Call the function above. All the magic happens there.
add_value_labels(ax)

plt.savefig("image.png")

Edit: I have extracted the relevant functionality in a function, as suggested by barnhillec.

This produces the following output:

And with logarithmic scale (and some adjustment to the input data to showcase logarithmic scaling), this is the result:

If you only want to add Datapoints above the bars, you could easily do it with:

 for i in range(len(frequencies)): # your number of bars
    plt.text(x = x_values[i]-0.25, #takes your x values as horizontal positioning argument 
    y = y_values[i]+1, #takes your y values as vertical positioning argument 
    s = data_labels[i], # the labels you want to add to the data
    size = 9) # font size of datalabels

Building off the above (great!) answer, we can also make a horizontal bar plot with just a few adjustments:

# Bring some raw data.
frequencies = [6, -16, 75, 160, 244, 260, 145, 73, 16, 4, 1]

freq_series = pd.Series(frequencies)

y_labels = [108300.0, 110540.0, 112780.0, 115020.0, 117260.0, 119500.0, 
            121740.0, 123980.0, 126220.0, 128460.0, 130700.0]

# Plot the figure.
plt.figure(figsize=(12, 8))
ax = freq_series.plot(kind='barh')
ax.set_title('Amount Frequency')
ax.set_xlabel('Frequency')
ax.set_ylabel('Amount ($)')
ax.set_yticklabels(y_labels)
ax.set_xlim(-40, 300) # expand xlim to make labels easier to read

rects = ax.patches

# For each bar: Place a label
for rect in rects:
    # Get X and Y placement of label from rect.
    x_value = rect.get_width()
    y_value = rect.get_y() + rect.get_height() / 2

    # Number of points between bar and label. Change to your liking.
    space = 5
    # Vertical alignment for positive values
    ha = 'left'

    # If value of bar is negative: Place label left of bar
    if x_value < 0:
        # Invert space to place label to the left
        space *= -1
        # Horizontally align label at right
        ha = 'right'

    # Use X value as label and format number with one decimal place
    label = "{:.1f}".format(x_value)

    # Create annotation
    plt.annotate(
        label,                      # Use `label` as label
        (x_value, y_value),         # Place label at end of the bar
        xytext=(space, 0),          # Horizontally shift label by `space`
        textcoords="offset points", # Interpret `xytext` as offset in points
        va='center',                # Vertically center label
        ha=ha)                      # Horizontally align label differently for
                                    # positive and negative values.

plt.savefig("image.png")