A Step-by-Step Guide to Creating Excel Maps

This step-by-step guide will walk you through the process of creating Excel maps from start to finish. You’ll get sample data, add it to Excel, and create an effective map.

With a few simple steps, you’ll be able to create a stunning choropleth map in Microsoft Excel. So let’s get started!

READ MORE: What is a Choropleth Map?

Preparing the Data

Before you can start, it’s important to prepare your data so that it’s optimized for mapping. There are a few things you will want to consider before importing the data.

First, you have to know that Excel can already recognize data if it exists as countries, states, counties, etc. As long as you have a column with a geography data type, you can plot it out in Excel. But keep in mind limitations may apply to what you can actually plot out in Excel.

In our example, we are using countries and GDP as two separate columns. You can scroll down to the bottom of this page to check out our sample data (click here to scroll down). If you want to follow along, simply highlight the table. Then, copy and paste it into Excel to import the data into your spreadsheet.

Creating a Choropleth Map

Now that you have the sample data in Excel, you can start creating your first map in Excel. First, you want to highlight both the country and GDP columns.

Once you’ve highlighted the data, select the “Insert” tab and click the “Filled map” button. This will create a choropleth map using the data that you’ve selected.

If you followed the steps correctly up to this point, the map should look similar to the choropleth map below.

Customizing the Map

Now that you’ve created a choropleth map, it’s time to make it your own! There are a few things you can do to customize your map. All options are available in the “Chart Design” tab.

Color palette – If you don’t like the default color palette, you can easily change it with the “Change Colors” option. After selecting this option, there are a few different color palettes that are available for you to customize.
Quick layouts – This option is to quickly change the look and feel of the map. For instance, you can move the legend to appear on the right or left. Alternatively, you can include labels for your maps. But in our case, they’re difficult to see because the values are too long.
Chart styles – If you’re looking to alter the background and style of your map, you can do it by using the “chart styles” functionality. In the map below, we changed the background to show a dark gray color and the color palette to blue.

Microsoft Excel Map Layout — Customizing a map in Microsoft Excel

Summary: Excel Maps

Excel maps are a simple and effective way to visualize data for a geographic area. In this type of visual, the areas of a map are represented by different shades. Each shade represents a value, in our case, it’s GDP by country.

Making Excel maps is easier than you might think. With a few basic steps, you learned how to create a map in Excel that depicts GDP by country. The results are effective and provide a visual to the map reader.

If you’re looking for more information, check out Microsoft’s guide on how to create a map chart in Excel. This page also provides a sample worksheet that you can download with map chart examples.

Sample Data

Do you want to copy the map that we made in Excel? Use this sample data to build your very own choropleth map in Excel.

Rank	Country	GDP
1	United States	$19,485,394,000,000
2	China	$12,237,700,000,000
3	Japan	$4,872,415,000,000
4	Germany	$3,693,204,000,000
5	India	$2,650,725,000,000
6	United Kingdom	$2,637,866,000,000
7	France	$2,582,501,000,000
8	Brazil	$2,053,595,000,000
9	Italy	$1,943,835,000,000
10	Canada	$1,647,120,000,000
11	Russia	$1,578,417,000,000
12	South Korea	$1,530,751,000,000
13	Australia	$1,323,421,000,000
14	Spain	$1,314,314,000,000
15	Mexico	$1,150,888,000,000
16	Indonesia	$1,015,421,000,000
17	Turkey	$851,549,000,000
18	Netherlands	$830,573,000,000
19	Saudi Arabia	$686,738,000,000
20	Switzerland	$678,965,000,000
21	Argentina	$637,430,000,000
22	Sweden	$535,607,000,000
23	Poland	$526,466,000,000
24	Belgium	$494,764,000,000
25	Thailand	$455,303,000,000
26	Iran	$454,013,000,000
27	Austria	$416,836,000,000
28	Norway	$399,489,000,000
29	United Arab Emirates	$382,575,000,000
30	Nigeria	$375,745,000,000
31	Israel	$353,268,000,000
32	South Africa	$348,872,000,000
33	Hong Kong	$341,449,000,000
34	Ireland	$331,430,000,000
35	Denmark	$329,866,000,000
36	Singapore	$323,907,000,000
37	Malaysia	$314,710,000,000
38	Colombia	$314,458,000,000
39	Philippines	$313,595,000,000
40	Pakistan	$304,952,000,000
41	Chile	$277,076,000,000
42	Finland	$252,302,000,000
43	Bangladesh	$249,724,000,000
44	Egypt	$235,369,000,000
45	Vietnam	$223,780,000,000
46	Portugal	$219,308,000,000
47	Czech Republic (Czechia)	$215,914,000,000
48	Romania	$211,884,000,000
49	Peru	$211,389,000,000
50	New Zealand	$204,139,000,000
51	Greece	$203,086,000,000
52	Iraq	$192,061,000,000
53	Algeria	$167,555,000,000
54	Qatar	$166,929,000,000
55	Kazakhstan	$162,887,000,000
56	Hungary	$139,761,000,000
57	Angola	$122,124,000,000
58	Kuwait	$120,126,000,000
59	Sudan	$117,488,000,000
60	Ukraine	$112,154,000,000
61	Morocco	$109,709,000,000
62	Ecuador	$104,296,000,000
63	Cuba	$96,851,000,000
64	Slovakia	$95,618,000,000
65	Sri Lanka	$87,357,000,000
66	Ethiopia	$80,561,000,000
67	Kenya	$79,263,000,000
68	Dominican Republic	$75,932,000,000
69	Guatemala	$75,620,000,000
70	Oman	$70,784,000,000
71	Myanmar	$67,069,000,000
72	Luxembourg	$62,316,000,000
73	Panama	$62,284,000,000
74	Ghana	$58,997,000,000
75	Bulgaria	$58,221,000,000
76	Costa Rica	$57,286,000,000
77	Uruguay	$56,157,000,000
78	Croatia	$55,213,000,000
79	Belarus	$54,456,000,000
80	Lebanon	$53,577,000,000
81	Tanzania	$53,321,000,000
82	Macao	$50,361,000,000
83	Uzbekistan	$49,677,000,000
84	Slovenia	$48,770,000,000
85	Lithuania	$47,544,000,000
86	Serbia	$41,432,000,000
87	Azerbaijan	$40,748,000,000
88	Jordan	$40,068,000,000
89	Tunisia	$39,952,000,000
90	Paraguay	$39,667,000,000
91	Libya	$38,108,000,000
92	Turkmenistan	$37,926,000,000
93	DR Congo	$37,642,000,000
94	Bolivia	$37,509,000,000
95	Côte d’Ivoire	$37,353,000,000
96	Bahrain	$35,433,000,000
97	Cameroon	$34,923,000,000
98	Yemen	$31,268,000,000
99	Latvia	$30,463,000,000
100	Estonia	$26,612,000,000
101	Uganda	$25,995,000,000
102	Zambia	$25,868,000,000
103	Nepal	$24,880,000,000
104	El Salvador	$24,805,000,000
105	Iceland	$24,488,000,000
106	Honduras	$22,979,000,000
107	Cambodia	$22,158,000,000
108	Trinidad and Tobago	$22,079,000,000
109	Cyprus	$22,054,000,000
110	Zimbabwe	$22,041,000,000
111	Senegal	$21,070,000,000
112	Papua New Guinea	$20,536,000,000
113	Afghanistan	$19,544,000,000
114	Bosnia and Herzegovina	$18,055,000,000
115	Botswana	$17,407,000,000
116	Laos	$16,853,000,000
117	Mali	$15,334,000,000
118	Georgia	$15,081,000,000
119	Gabon	$15,014,000,000
120	Jamaica	$14,781,000,000
121	State of Palestine	$14,498,000,000
122	Nicaragua	$13,814,000,000
123	Mauritius	$13,266,000,000
124	Namibia	$13,254,000,000
125	Albania	$13,039,000,000
126	Mozambique	$12,646,000,000
127	Malta	$12,518,000,000
128	Burkina Faso	$12,323,000,000
129	Equatorial Guinea	$12,294,000,000
130	Bahamas	$12,162,000,000
131	Brunei	$12,128,000,000
132	Armenia	$11,537,000,000
133	Madagascar	$11,500,000,000
134	Mongolia	$11,434,000,000
135	North Macedonia	$11,280,000,000
136	Guinea	$10,473,000,000
137	Chad	$9,871,000,000
138	Benin	$9,247,000,000
139	Rwanda	$9,135,000,000
140	Congo	$8,701,000,000
141	Haiti	$8,408,000,000
142	Moldova	$8,128,000,000
143	Niger	$8,120,000,000
144	Kyrgyzstan	$7,565,000,000
145	Tajikistan	$7,146,000,000
146	Malawi	$6,303,000,000
147	Guam	$5,859,000,000
148	Fiji	$5,061,000,000
149	Mauritania	$5,025,000,000
150	Maldives	$4,866,000,000
151	Montenegro	$4,845,000,000
152	Togo	$4,758,000,000
153	Barbados	$4,674,000,000
154	Eswatini	$4,434,000,000
155	Sierra Leone	$3,775,000,000
156	Guyana	$3,621,000,000
157	Liberia	$3,285,000,000
158	Burundi	$3,172,000,000
159	Andorra	$3,013,000,000
160	Suriname	$2,996,000,000
161	Timor-Leste	$2,955,000,000
162	Aruba	$2,701,000,000
163	Lesotho	$2,578,000,000
164	Bhutan	$2,528,000,000
165	Central African Republic	$1,949,000,000
166	Belize	$1,863,000,000
167	Cabo Verde	$1,773,000,000
168	Saint Lucia	$1,738,000,000
169	San Marino	$1,633,000,000
170	Northern Mariana Islands	$1,593,000,000
171	Antigua and Barbuda	$1,510,000,000
172	Seychelles	$1,498,000,000
173	Gambia	$1,489,000,000
174	Guinea-Bissau	$1,347,000,000
175	Solomon Islands	$1,303,000,000
176	Grenada	$1,127,000,000
177	Comoros	$1,068,000,000
178	Saint Kitts & Nevis	$992,000,000
179	Vanuatu	$863,000,000
180	Samoa	$841,000,000
181	St. Vincent & Grenadines	$785,000,000
182	American Samoa	$634,000,000
183	Dominica	$497,000,000
184	Tonga	$428,000,000
185	Sao Tome & Principe	$393,000,000
186	Micronesia	$336,000,000
187	Palau	$290,000,000
188	Marshall Islands	$204,000,000
189	Kiribati	$186,000,000
190	Tuvalu	$40,000,000