# Line Chart

A line chart connects individual data points with a continuous line to reveal how a value changes over time or across an ordered sequence. Line charts excel at portraying trends and changes over a continuous period.

###### Site Earnings

Line chart with 7 data points.

Earnings across all properties for the first week in January 2024

The chart has 1 X axis displaying Date. 
The chart has 1 Y axis displaying Earnings (sum). Data ranges from 28207.850000000002 to 42454.73000000001.

Created with Highcharts 12.4.0

**Date**  **Earnings (sum)**  **Site Earnings**  
Earnings across all properties for the first week in January 2024  
Jan 1     $25K  
Jan 2     $30K  
Jan 3     $35K  
Jan 4     $40K  
Jan 5     $45K  
Jan 6  
Jan 7

Highest Earnings on Jan 2

## Creating an Effective Line Chart

Recommended data types for each axis:

- **X-Axis** Dates or ordered categories
- **Y-Axis** Numerical values

## Description

- **Data points** - individual values plotted at specific positions along the X-axis
- **Line** - connects the data points to show the direction and rate of change
- **X-Axis** - typically represents time or a sequential category
- **Y-Axis** - represents the measured quantity

## When to Use a Line Chart

- **Show trends over time** - see how a metric rises or falls across days, months, or years
- **Highlight rate of change** - the slope of the line makes it easy to spot periods of rapid growth or decline
- **Track a single continuous series** - ideal when you have one variable measured at regular intervals

## When to Avoid a Line Chart

- **Many categories without a natural order** - use a bar chart instead when the X-axis is unordered categorical data
- **Part-to-whole comparisons** - use a pie or stacked bar chart when you want to show proportions
- **Two or more groups** - consider a [grouped line chart](https://instacharts.io/docs/chart-types/grouped-line-chart/) to keep multiple series readable
- **Distribution of values** - a histogram or box plot is more appropriate for showing data spread