Proportional symbology is used to show relative differences in quantities among features. Proportional symbology is similar to graduated symbols symbology in that both methods draw symbols that are sized relative to the magnitude of a feature attribute. But where graduated symbols distribute features into distinct classes, proportional symbols represent quantitative values as a series of unclassed symbols, sized according to each specific value.
Proportional symbols can be applied with either relative or actual sizing. If you are symbolizing counts or other values without a unit, you use relative sizing. If you are symbolizing measurable values with a unit, you use actual sizing. See the sections below for more information on both approaches.
Proportional symbols can be defined for point, line, or polygon feature layers. When applied to point or line symbols, the feature's size is modified directly. When applied to polygon features, a proportionally sized point symbol draws at the center of the polygon. For reference, you can specify a uniform background symbol for the polygons that draw below the points.
Proportional symbols can be based on an attribute field in the dataset, or you can write an Arcade expression on which to generate numeric values to symbolize.
Caution:
When proportional symbology is based on a single field, the symbols are drawn in a sorted order, where the larger features draw first and the smaller features draw above. When the symbology is based on an expression, this sorting does not occur, and some smaller symbols may be obscured by larger ones.
Relative size
When the attribute values represent a count (such as population or number of bushels harvested) rather than a measurable amount, or if the unit is unknown, you can set proportional symbols with relative size. Ensure that the Unit property is set to <Unknown> and choose a template symbol to define the general appearance of the symbols. Specify a minimum symbol size to correspond to the smallest value in the data. (The inherent size of the template symbol is overridden by the size properties of the proportional symbology.) All other symbols are sized proportionally relative to this minimum size. By default, there is no maximum size specified (the Maximum size property is unchecked and the value is set to None.)
Leaving the range open-ended (by not defining a maximum symbol size) allows the range of symbols to be truly relatively sized, but it may result in some excessively large symbols if there is a significant spread in the values. In this case, you can check the Maximum size property and type a symbol size to provide an upper limit to the symbols. In this case, all symbols draw proportionally between these two sizes. You can use the histogram to interactively set the data values that correspond to the minimum and maximum sizes. Values that fall below or beyond this range are drawn with the smallest and largest symbols, respectively.
Dive-in:
There is a tendency for map readers to underestimate the size of proportional circles on maps, especially at the larger end of the size range. To counteract this perception, you can check Appearance compensation (Flannery). Appearance compensation uses an algorithm defined by James Flannery, where larger symbols are scaled up to compensate for this perception. You can use appearance compensation only when you have relatively sized proportional symbols (proportional symbols with no unit specified) and no Maximum size specified. Because Flannery's research applies specifically to the perception of circles, appearance compensation should be used with circular symbols only.
Actual size
If the attribute being symbolized is directly related to an actual value with a known unit of measure, you can use proportional symbols to draw symbols that are sized with these exact sizes. For example, you may have a point layer of individual trees that includes an attribute for tree crown radius, measured in feet, and want to represent each tree with a circle using its real-world crown size.
Set the Unit property to the unit of measure that your data represents. The attribute value is multiplied by this unit to determine the size of each symbol. You must also specify whether this value should correspond to the Area, Radius (one-half of the width in the case of a square), or Height value of the symbol in the Data represents property. Height can be specified only when you are working in a scene.
When you choose Area, the attribute value is multiplied by the square of the Unit value. In the case of line geometry, you choose whether the data represents Width or Distance from center. Then, you can format basic properties of the chosen shape, such as the color and outline. Proportional symbols drawn with actual size are limited to circles or squares only.
Because the symbol size is representative of a measurable unit, the map must be in a projected coordinate system, or the scene must be in a local view mode using a projected coordinate system. For accurate depictions, use an equal-area projection, especially if you are mapping a large geographic extent.
Draw a layer with relative- or actual-sized proportional symbols
The Primary symbology tab 
has two subtabs to establish graduated symbol symbology:
- The Classes tab is where you set the legend count and manage null and excluded values.
- The Histogram tab is where you view and edit the data ranges of the symbology. See Use symbology histograms for more information.
To display quantitative data with proportional symbology, follow these steps:
- Select a feature layer in the Contents pane.
- On the Feature Layer tab, in the Drawing group, click Symbology and click Proportional Symbols.
The Symbology pane appears.
- In the Symbology pane, on the Primary symbology tab , choose the numeric field for the data to be mapped, or write an expression.
To use an expression, click Set an expression
to open the Expression Builder dialog box. Write an expression and click Verify 
to validate it. Note that although an expression is valid, it may not return a valid numeric value. You can filter 
the Expression Builder dialog box to show only numeric fields to help prevent this. - To normalize the data, choose a field from the Normalization menu, or choose percentage of total to divide the data value to create ratios, or choose log to symbolize on the logarithm of each value.
- Decide whether to symbolize the data with actual or relative proportional symbols. Refer to the sections above for more information. Optionally, set the minimum and maximum sizes of the symbol representing your data.
- To symbolize with relative-sized proportional symbols, choose Unknown for the Unit value. Set the Minimum size value of the symbol representing the data. Optionally, check the Maximum size property to specify an upper bound to the range of symbol sizes. Adjust the Template and the Background symbols as necessary. The background symbol is available only when working with polygon symbology.
- To symbolize with actual-sized proportional symbols, choose a Unit value to represent the data. Set the Data represents control to Area, Radius (1/2 width), Height (3D only), Width (lines only), or Distance from Center (lines only). Adjust the symbol form, symbol fill, and background symbol as needed.
Modify proportional symbology
From the Primary symbology tab , on the Classes tab, you can do the following:
- Click the Template symbol to open the Format Symbol pane to modify the symbol or choose a different symbol. The template symbol defines the appearance of the symbols that are proportionally sized for each feature. The appearance includes things like the shape, dash pattern, or profile of a symbol. The size of the template symbol is ignored because it is the minimum (and maximum size, when used) properties of the proportional symbol symbology that sets the size of each symbol.
- For point and line layers, the template symbol is a point or a line symbol, respectively. In the case of polygon layers, the template symbol is a point symbol that is sized proportionally for each polygon feature. Additionally, a background polygon symbol is defined to draw the polygon features themselves. Click the Background symbol to change it.
- In the case of polygon layers, use the Draw proportional symbols above all layers check box to control where the proportional point symbols fall in the draw order of the map.
- When checked, the proportional point symbols draw above all layers in the map, including annotation layers, regardless of the layer draw order specified in the Contents pane. Only labels draw above the proportional symbols when this option is checked.
- When this option is unchecked, this layer respects the drawing order specified by the arrangement of layers in the Contents pane, with the proportional point symbols drawing with their corresponding polygon background proportional symbols in the layer. This choice ensures that annotation layers in the map are not obscured by proportional symbols.
Note:
This option does not apply when the layer is in the 3D Layers category of a scene. In this case, the point symbols always honor the layer draw order.
- If the source data has changed or been updated, click More, and click Refresh values to update the range of values.
- To show null values, click More, and click Show null values. On the Classes tab, expand Null values to specify the symbol and the legend label and legend description. If the attribute field used to define the proportionally sized symbols includes null values, no symbol draws for those features unless you explicitly choose to draw them with a dedicated symbol.
From the Advanced symbology options tab 
, you can do the following:
- By default, the sample size used to calculate statistics and class ranges is set to 10,000 records. To change the maximum sample size, expand Sample size and modify the Maximum sample size value. Limiting the sample size improves performance but may inadvertently omit important outliers in the dataset. Generally, the larger the dataset, the larger the sample size you should use.
- To set up masking per feature, expand Feature level masking.
- To exclude data values from the symbology scheme and optionally define an alternate symbol for excluded values, expand Data exclusion to define the query. To stop showing excluded values, on the Primary symbology tab , click More, and uncheck Show excluded values.
Vary proportional symbology by transparency, rotation, or color
In addition to specifying the magnitude of features with proportional symbology, you can also symbolize additional attributes by varying the transparency, rotation, and color of the symbols. While all of these treatments can be applied simultaneously, be aware that too many visual variations make the layer very difficult to interpret. It is advisable to apply secondary symbology sparingly.
Learn more about symbolization concepts
- In the Symbology pane, click the Vary symbology by attribute tab
. - Expand Transparency, Rotation, or Color.
Share a layer with proportional symbols
When you share a layer with proportional symbols to ArcGIS Online or ArcGIS Enterprise as a web feature layer or a web scene layer, the layer draws with unclassed graduated-size symbology and may appear differently than the layer in ArcGIS AllSource.
If there is a Unit type specified, it is not honored in the resulting web map layer, but it is honored in a web scene layer. In a web scene, the units can represent height and width. A Maximum size value set to None is not honored, either. A maximum value is applied and all symbols are sized within this range.
A layer with proportional symbols can only be shared as a web tile layer if the Maximum size value is unchecked and not defined. The web tile layer appears identical to the layer in ArcGIS AllSource.