How to put a legend outside the plot with Pandas?

When creating plots with Pandas, legends can sometimes overlap with the plot area. Using bbox_to_anchor parameter in legend() allows you to position the legend outside the plot boundaries for better visibility.

Basic Example

Here's how to create a DataFrame and place the legend outside the plot ?

import pandas as pd
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

# Set figure size for better display
plt.rcParams["figure.figsize"] = [7.50, 3.50]
plt.rcParams["figure.autolayout"] = True

# Create sample data
data = {'Column 1': [i for i in range(10)],
        'Column 2': [i * i for i in range(10)]}
df = pd.DataFrame(data)

# Create plot with different styles
df.plot(style=['o', 'rx'])

# Place legend outside the plot area
plt.legend(bbox_to_anchor=(1.0, 1.0))
plt.show()

Legend Position Options

You can control the legend position using different bbox_to_anchor values ?

import pandas as pd
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

# Create sample data
data = {'Sales': [100, 150, 120, 180, 200],
        'Profit': [20, 30, 25, 40, 50]}
df = pd.DataFrame(data)

# Create subplots to show different legend positions
fig, axes = plt.subplots(2, 2, figsize=(12, 8))

# Top right outside
df.plot(ax=axes[0,0])
axes[0,0].legend(bbox_to_anchor=(1.05, 1), loc='upper left')
axes[0,0].set_title('Legend: Top Right Outside')

# Bottom right outside  
df.plot(ax=axes[0,1])
axes[0,1].legend(bbox_to_anchor=(1.05, 0), loc='lower left')
axes[0,1].set_title('Legend: Bottom Right Outside')

# Top center outside
df.plot(ax=axes[1,0])
axes[1,0].legend(bbox_to_anchor=(0.5, 1.05), loc='lower center')
axes[1,0].set_title('Legend: Top Center Outside')

# Bottom center outside
df.plot(ax=axes[1,1])
axes[1,1].legend(bbox_to_anchor=(0.5, -0.05), loc='upper center')
axes[1,1].set_title('Legend: Bottom Center Outside')

plt.tight_layout()
plt.show()

Common bbox_to_anchor Values

Advanced Example with Custom Styling

You can also customize the legend appearance when placing it outside ?

import pandas as pd
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

# Create sample data
data = {'Q1': [100, 120, 90, 110],
        'Q2': [110, 130, 95, 115],
        'Q3': [120, 140, 100, 125],
        'Q4': [130, 150, 105, 135]}
df = pd.DataFrame(data, index=['Product A', 'Product B', 'Product C', 'Product D'])

# Create the plot
ax = df.plot(kind='bar', figsize=(10, 6))

# Customize legend outside with styling
plt.legend(bbox_to_anchor=(1.05, 1), 
          loc='upper left',
          frameon=True,
          fancybox=True,
          shadow=True)

plt.title('Quarterly Sales by Product')
plt.ylabel('Sales ($000)')
plt.xticks(rotation=45)
plt.tight_layout()
plt.show()

Key Parameters

Understanding the main parameters for external legend placement:

• bbox_to_anchor: Tuple specifying the bbox location (x, y coordinates)
• loc: Which part of the legend box the anchor point refers to
• frameon: Whether to draw the legend frame
• fancybox: Whether to use rounded corners
• shadow: Whether to add a shadow effect

Conclusion

Use bbox_to_anchor with appropriate coordinates to place legends outside your Pandas plots. Combine with plt.tight_layout() to ensure proper spacing and prevent legend cutoff.