Note: This page describes how dimensions and metrics are handled in reports. It may be helpful to also read abouthow to model your data before or after reading this page.

In Looker Studio, achart displays data from one or more fields. These fields are the dimensions and metrics provided by the data source attached to that chart. How the data appears depends on the type of chart and how you've styled it.

How data appears in your charts

Intable charts, the data appears in rows and columns, such as in this example based on a Google Analytics data source:

Browser	Sessions	Avg. Session Duration	Bounce Rate
Chrome	3,340	00:03:35	22.90%
Safari	209	00:02:33	15.79%
Firefox	202	00:02:20	19.80%
Internet Explorer	64	00:02:21	17.19%
Edge	37	00:05:37	16.22%
...

InCartesian charts, dimensions are typically laid out along the horizontal (X) axis, while metrics values provide the vertical (Y) axis positioning. In a time series, the date range dimension provides the X axis and a breakdown dimension provides the data series.

In apie chart, a dimension defines the number of segments, while a metric determines the size of each segment.

Geo charts use a dimension that contains geographic information (such as a country code, latitude and longitude, or Google Ads Criteria ID) to display your data on a map. The relative values of the metric determine the intensity of color on the chart, as show in this example showing that the majority of website sessions occurred in the United States:

Learn more about the charts you can use in Looker Studio.

Use breakdown dimensions to group data

Many charts allow you to group your data by multiple dimensions. Each dimension you add to the chart groups the data into ever finer levels of detail. The first dimension in the chart is the primary; additional dimensions are calledbreakdowndimensions (because they allow you to breakdown or sub-categorize your data into smaller chunks).

For example, in the following table, the primary dimension isCountry, and the breakdown dimension isYear. The metrics in the table are aggregated first by country, then by year.

Country	Year	Population	Internet Users	Internet %
Iceland	2013	323,764	312,583	96.55%
Iceland	2012	320,716	308,560	96.21%
Bermuda	2013	65,001	61,945	95.30%
Norway	2013	5,079,623	4,828,354	95.05%
Iceland	2011	319,014	302,488	94.82%
...

Making sense of multi-dimensional data in a table can be challenging. Using other visualization types, such as this stacked bar chart, can help make sense of complex data. For example, a stacked column chart can be used to display a comparison of internet users in China, the United States, Japan, India, Brazil, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom, France, and the Republic of Korea by year.

Tip: To see this data story told even better, check out theWorld Population Sample Report.

How metrics are calculated

In Looker Studio, metrics are calculated in two basic ways:

As overview totals

Metrics can be displayed as a summary statistic for the entire column (field) in your dataset using theScorecard chart.

The following example shows simplified data from Google Analytics. Here, theAvg. Time on Site metric is summarized for all users, regardless of any other consideration, such as whether they are new or returning visitors. The calculations for time on site are computed using the time difference between each user's initial session and the exit, with the sum of each session length averaged across three sessions.

In association with one or more dimensions

Metric values can be qualified by selected dimension(s). All the other chart types fall into this category.

In the following example, the bar chart pairs theAvg. Time On Site metric with theUser Type dimension. This visualization lets you analyze this metric throughreturning versesnew users, where the calculations are modified by the requested dimension.

Adding multiple dimensions to a chart refines your view of the data. For example, suppose you use both theUser Type dimension and theLanguage dimension in a table to analyze time on site for your website. In this case, the calculation fornew versusreturning users is the same, but that calculation is aggregated per language. Your table might look like this:

User Type	Language	Avg. Session Duration
Returning Visitor	zh-tw	00:04:54
New Visitor	zh-tw	00:04:02
Returning Visitor	en-us	00:03:51
New Visitor	en-us	00:03:45
Returning Visitor	en-gb	00:03:33
...

Related resources

• Types of charts in Looker Studio