In Excel: in Microsoft 365 Excel desktop on Windows or Mac, select geographic region names and their values, then Insert ▸ Charts ▸ Maps ▸ Filled Map. Creating or updating the map requires an internet connection.
On this page7
Put geographic names and values in adjacent columns with headers.
Select the table and choose Insert ▸ Charts ▸ Maps ▸ Filled Map while online.
If a location is ambiguous, add its country or province in a separate column.
Check recognized regions, labels and the legend against the source table.
What this does
A filled map shades geographic regions by a value or category. It needs recognizable regions, not arbitrary X/Y coordinates. Latitude, longitude and street-address plotting require another mapping workflow. Before you run it on a workbook other people depend on, try it on a copy or a few rows first. Undo only reaches back through the current session, so a quick trial run is the cheapest way to see exactly what will change before the file is saved and shared. Treat “zip code map chart in excel” as a small repeatable workflow rather than a one-off click you hope to remember next time. Use a small test block before the live file, so any surprise in the affected chart shows up while it is still harmless. When this is a ribbon command, the selection matters more than the button: confirm the range, apply the command, then spot-check the output before saving. That turns a visual that makes the number obvious at a glance into a method you can reuse, explain, and defend when the workbook leaves your screen.
A worked example
Enter Country and Orders as headers in A1:B1, then Canada/100, United States/80 and Mexico/60 in rows 2:4. Select A1:B4 and insert a Filled Map. Check that the three countries are recognized and that the legend represents the Orders values before presenting the chart. Use regional shading when the geographic pattern is part of the comparison. If this is something you do often, add the command to the Quick Access Toolbar (right-click it on the ribbon and choose Add to Quick Access Toolbar) or learn its shortcut, so next time it is one click instead of a hunt through the menus.
In Google Sheets
This is a command rather than a formula, so there is no syntax to carry over. Google Sheets arranges its commands in menus across the top instead of a ribbon, names some of them differently and does not have every Excel command — look for the equivalent in the Sheets menus or its help before assuming the steps match. The aim was to get you unstuck fast and leave you a little more capable than a copy-paste would. The answer is at the top and the detail above shows why it holds — so the next time a colleague asks, you can answer without reaching for search. Here is the takeaway for “zip code map chart in excel”: follow the steps at the top, check the result on the sheet itself, and keep undo in mind while you experiment. Done once deliberately, it becomes something you do from memory in Excel rather than something you search for again.
Common mistakes
- Expecting a Filled Map to plot street addresses or latitude/longitude points.
- Putting multiple geography levels into one cell instead of separate columns.
- Presenting the map without checking ambiguously named regions.
Frequently asked questions
Can a Filled Map show postal codes?
Postal codes are supported geographic regions. Add a separate country column where a code is ambiguous and verify the recognized area.
Can I create a map offline?
Creating or updating map data needs an online connection. An existing map can be viewed offline.
Does this plot coordinates?
No. Filled Map displays geographic regions; it does not plot latitude/longitude points or street addresses.
Other ways people ask this
This is also commonly searched as “chart map excel”, “excel map chart cities” and “using a zip code map in excel”. They describe the identical operation, so you are in the right place no matter how you phrased it.
Why do people search for this in so many different ways?
Because the same task has many names. “chart map excel”, “excel map chart cities”, “using a zip code map in excel” all point at the one operation explained on this page, which is why they all lead here.