Reading Pie Charts

Pie charts are like the bar graphs in “What’s in a Name?”. They both give a lot of information in a picture form. Pie charts look like a pie. They are a circle with sections marked out.

Pie charts show how the parts of something compare in size with each other, and with the whole thing. The complete circle shows the total amount.

To read a pie chart follow these steps:

1. Read the title and subtitles to learn what the chart is about.
2. Read the labels on each section.
3. Compare sections with one another and with the whole pie.

Look closely at the pie chart on the next page and answer the following questions.

1. What does the pie chart show?
2. What does the white section show?
3. What does the black section show?
4. Would you say very many households in Port Hawkesbury had incomes over $50,000 in 1991?
5. Would you say very many households had incomes under $15,000?

Averages Answer Key

1. $270      2. 155      3. 88      4. $16