Difference Chart

Fill the space between lines to highlight the greater-than and less-than differences over time.

Tutorials and Guides

Examples

Consumer confidence in current economic conditions

For NYT Opinion, Nate Silver compares consumer confidence between two surveys. The University…

Single Parents

In the 1950s, less than 10% of families with children were single-parent. In 2022, among families with children, 31% were single-parent — more than three times as common.

Partisan excess deaths

Excess deaths is the difference between expected deaths based on historical data and…

When There Were More Deaths Than Births in the U.S.

The two counts have been getting closer to each other. The past couple of years accelerated the process.

World Chess Championship in charts

Magnus Carlsen continued to assert his dominance at the World Chess Championship. FiveThirtyEight…

Case rates adjusted for the unvaccinated

Covid-19 cases in the United States were down, but they’re moving up again,…

Slowing and then renewed interest in getting vaccinated

When countries gained access to vaccines, there was an initial burst of vaccinations,…

Hospitalization rates for the unvaccinated

Overall, Covid-19 cases and hospitalizations are down in the United States, but much…

Tracking airfare as a proxy for summer travel plans

Quoctrung Bui and Sarah Kliff for NYT’s The Upshot used difference charts to…

Excess deaths, by race

It’s clear that Covid-19 has affected groups differently across the United States. By…

Cases vs. testing

There have been assertions that increased case counts are all from increased testing.…

The Most Gender-Switched Names in US History

We use some names mostly for boys and some mostly for girls, but then there is a small percentage that, over time, switched from one gender to another. Which names made the biggest switch?

Most Female and Male Occupations Since 1950

The shifting majorities of the sexes in the workplace.