Navigate
Home Compendium
Exercises
Tidyverse packages
dplyr ggplot2 tidyr stringr lubridate purrr forcats readr broom Tidyverse R for Data Science
Deep dives
dplyr Joins dplyr Window Functions dplyr group_by ggplot2 Themes ggplot2 Facets ggplot2 Color Scales ggplot2 Bar Charts ggplot2 Heatmaps tidyr Pivot tidyr Nest/Unnest Regex
Wrangling & EDA
Data Wrangling Data Cleaning EDA Data Visualization data.table dbplyr / SQL Web Scraping API Calls
Statistics
Hypothesis Testing Linear Regression Logistic Regression Correlation Probability Distributions
Machine Learning
Machine Learning tidymodels Random Forest XGBoost Clustering PCA Cross-Validation
Time Series
Time Series ARIMA
By Industry
Finance Marketing Analytics Healthcare Biostatistics Genomics Sports Analytics A/B Testing
Reporting & Apps
Shiny R Markdown
Levels
R for Beginners R Interview Questions
R r‑statistics.co

ggplot2 geom_pointrange() in R: Point With Range Bar

The geom_pointrange() function in ggplot2 draws a central POINT with a vertical RANGE bar from ymin to ymax. It is a cleaner-looking alternative to geom_errorbar() for showing point estimates with uncertainty.

By Selva Prabhakaran  ·  Published May 12, 2026  ·  Last updated May 12, 2026
⚡ Quick Answer
ggplot(df, aes(x, y, ymin = lo, ymax = hi)) + geom_pointrange()
geom_pointrange(size = 1)               # larger point + thicker bar
geom_pointrange(fatten = 2)              # control point size relative to bar
geom_errorbar()                          # bar with whiskers (different style)

Need explanation? Read on for examples and pitfalls.

📊 Is geom_pointrange() the right tool?
STARTpoint + range (clean look)geom_pointrange()bar with whiskersgeom_errorbar()multiple groups (forest plot)geom_pointrange + facetscontinuous bandgeom_ribbon()line onlygeom_linerange()

What geom_pointrange() does in one sentence

geom_pointrange() draws a point at (x, y) with a vertical line from ymin to ymax showing the range. It combines geom_point() and geom_linerange() into one geom.

Syntax

geom_pointrange(mapping = NULL, data = NULL, fatten = 4, size = 0.5, ...). Requires aes(x, y, ymin, ymax).

Run live
Run live, no install needed. Every R block on this page runs in your browser. Click Run, edit the code, re-run instantly. No setup.
RForest-plot-style summary
library(ggplot2) library(dplyr) library(broom) mtcars |> group_by(cyl) |> summarise(mean_mpg = mean(mpg), lo = mean_mpg - sd(mpg), hi = mean_mpg + sd(mpg)) |> ggplot(aes(factor(cyl), mean_mpg, ymin = lo, ymax = hi)) + geom_pointrange()

  

  





Tip
Use geom_pointrange for "forest plots" (one row per group with point estimate + CI). It is the cleanest visual for that use case.



Five common patterns



1. Per-group summary




  

    
RMean +/- SD per cyl

    
df |>
  group_by(cyl) |>
  summarise(m = mean(mpg), sd = sd(mpg)) |>
  ggplot(aes(factor(cyl), m, ymin = m - sd, ymax = m + sd)) +
  geom_pointrange()

    

      
      
    

    

  

  





2. Forest plot




  

    
RCoefficients with CI

    
coefs |>
  ggplot(aes(estimate, term, xmin = lwr, xmax = upr)) +
  geom_pointrangeh()  # use ggstance for horizontal

    

      
      
    

    

  

  





For horizontal pointrange, use ggstance::geom_pointrangeh.



3. With color and dodge




  

    
RMultiple subgroups

    
df |>
  ggplot(aes(group, mean, ymin = lo, ymax = hi, color = subgroup)) +
  geom_pointrange(position = position_dodge(0.5))

    

      
      
    

    

  

  





4. Custom point size




  

    
RBigger point

    
geom_pointrange(fatten = 8)
#> Point is 8x the line width

    

      
      
    

    

  

  





5. Stat_summary alternative




  

    
RAuto-compute

    
ggplot(mtcars, aes(factor(cyl), mpg)) +
  stat_summary(fun.data = mean_se, geom = "pointrange")

    

      
      
    

    

  

  





Key Insight
geom_pointrange is geom_point + geom_linerange combined. Cleaner visual than geom_errorbar (which adds whisker caps).



geom_pointrange() vs geom_errorbar() vs geom_linerange()







Function
Components






geom_pointrange()
Point + line from ymin to ymax




geom_errorbar()
Vertical line with horizontal whiskers




geom_linerange()
Line only (no point)




geom_crossbar()
Box (median + range)







When to use which:



    


  • pointrange for clean point-estimate summaries.
    • 


  • errorbar for traditional bar-chart-style error.
    • 


  • linerange when overlaid on points.
    • 


  • crossbar for median-style summaries.
    • 





A practical workflow



Use geom_pointrange to compactly summarize estimates with their uncertainty, especially in forest plots.




  

    
RInteractive R

    
broom::tidy(lm(mpg ~ wt + hp + cyl, data = mtcars), conf.int = TRUE) |>
  filter(term != "(Intercept)") |>
  ggplot(aes(estimate, term, xmin = conf.low, xmax = conf.high)) +
  geom_pointrange()

    

      
      
    

    

  

  





Coefficient plot with CIs.



Common pitfalls



Pitfall 1: position_dodge needs same dodge for both point and range. Pass to the geom: geom_pointrange(position = position_dodge(0.5)).



Pitfall 2: forgetting ymin/ymax. Both required; missing errors.



Warning
geom_pointrange() doesn't have horizontal whiskers like geom_errorbar. Some readers expect the whiskered look; pick by visual preference.



Try it yourself





Try it: Plot mean mpg per cyl with +/- 1 standard deviation as point + range. Save to ex_plot.



  

    
RYour turn: pointrange

    
ex_plot <- mtcars |>
  group_by(cyl) |>
  summarise(m = mean(mpg), sd = sd(mpg)) |>
  # your code here

    

      
      
    

    

  

  





Click to reveal solution



  

    
RSolution

    
ex_plot <- mtcars |>
  group_by(cyl) |>
  summarise(m = mean(mpg), sd = sd(mpg)) |>
  ggplot(aes(factor(cyl), m, ymin = m - sd, ymax = m + sd)) +
  geom_pointrange()

    

      
      
    

    

  

  





Explanation: Compute mean and SD per cyl; pointrange shows mean as point with +/- SD as range.










After mastering geom_pointrange, look at:



    


  • geom_errorbar(): bar with whiskers
    • 


  • geom_linerange(): line without point
    • 


  • geom_crossbar(): box-style summary
    • 


  • stat_summary(): compute summary on the fly
    • 


  • mean_se(), mean_cl_normal(): stat data helpers
    • 





FAQ



What does geom_pointrange do in ggplot2?



geom_pointrange() draws a central point with a vertical line from ymin to ymax. Used for point-estimate-with-uncertainty plots.



What is the difference between geom_pointrange and geom_errorbar?



pointrange has a central point + line. errorbar has only the line + horizontal whiskers at ends. Cleaner visual with pointrange.



How do I make horizontal point ranges?



Use ggstance::geom_pointrangeh (different package), or swap aes: aes(y, x, xmin = lo, xmax = hi) with coord_flip.



How do I control point size?



Use fatten: geom_pointrange(fatten = 8). Higher = larger point relative to line width.



Can I dodge multiple groups?



Yes. Pass position = position_dodge(0.5). Same as geom_errorbar.



          

        


        
      


      

        

        
© 2016-2026 Selva Prabhakaran.
          This work is licensed under the Creative Commons License.
        

        

          About ·
          RSS