Guides

How to Create a Gauge Chart in Power BI

By Ravindra Bagale, Power BI & Data Analytics trainer

Real example first: Zomato monthly sales target

Suppose we are at Zomato. The Pune team has a sales target of ₹10,00,000 for October. Till today they have done ₹7,50,000. The manager does not want a big table. She wants one look: "Are we close to the target?"

A gauge chart answers this. It looks like a car speedometer. The filled arc shows how much is done. A thin line shows the target.

What is a gauge chart in Power BI?

A gauge is a half-circle dial. It shows one number against a range. It has these parts:

1. Value: the number now (₹7,50,000).
2. Minimum: where the dial starts (0).
3. Maximum: where the dial ends (₹12,00,000).
4. Target: the goal line (₹10,00,000).

Use a gauge for progress toward one goal: sales target, delivery time goal, customer rating goal. Do not use it to compare many cities. A bar chart is better for that.

Worked example 1 (simplest): value only

Steps:

1. Load the Zomato Orders table with an Amount column.
2. Create a measure: Total Sales = SUM ( Orders[Amount] ).
3. Click the Gauge icon.
4. Drag Total Sales into Value.

Output: the dial fills exactly half, and the maximum shows ₹15,00,000. Why? With no maximum set, Power BI uses double the value as the maximum. That is confusing, so next we fix the range.

Worked example 2: add min, max and target

Create two simple measures:

Sales Target = 1000000
Sales Max = 1200000

Steps:

1. Drag Sales Target into Target value.
2. Drag Sales Max into Maximum value.
3. Leave Minimum value empty. It starts at 0.

Output: the arc fills to 7.5 L out of 12 L. A thin line marks 10 L. The manager can see the team is 2.5 L short.

Worked example 3: target from a table, per city

Real targets are different for each city. Suppose a Targets table:

Sales Target = SUM ( Targets[Target] )
Sales Max = [Sales Target] * 1.2

Connect Targets[City] and Orders[City] to a shared City table, then add a City slicer.

Output: click Pune, and the gauge shows 7.5 L against 10 L. Click Mumbai, and the target line and the range move to Mumbai's numbers.

Worked example 4: show percent of target

Target % = DIVIDE ( [Total Sales], [Sales Target] )

Set the measure format to Percentage. Put Target % in a Card next to the gauge, or in the gauge Tooltips.

Output: Pune shows 75%. DIVIDE also avoids an error if the target is blank.

Worked example 5: color by status

Steps:

1. Create a measure for color:

Gauge Color =
SWITCH (
    TRUE (),
    [Target %] >= 1, "#2E7D32",
    [Target %] >= 0.7, "#F9A825",
    "#C62828"
)

2. Select the gauge, open Format, then Colors.
3. Next to Fill color, click the fx button.
4. Choose Format style: Field value and pick Gauge Color.

Output: Pune at 75% shows yellow. Below 70% it turns red. At or above 100% it turns green.

Common mistakes

1. No maximum set, so the dial range keeps changing with each filter.
2. A Target bigger than the Maximum, so the target line goes off the dial.
3. Putting a text column in Value. Gauge needs a number or a measure.
4. Using many gauges to compare cities. Use a bar chart instead.