Text annotations in ggplot2 with geom_text, geom_label, ggrepel and ggtext

The geom_text and geom_label functions allows adding text or labels, respectively, to plots created with ggplot2. You can add some annotations to some coordinates or label data points.

# install.packages("ggplot2")
library(ggplot2)

# install.packages("maps")
library(maps)

df <- data.frame(x = state.center$x, y = state.center$y,
                 state = state.name)

p <- ggplot(df, aes(x = x, y = y)) + 
       geom_polygon(data = map_data("state"),
                    color = "white",
                    aes(x = long, y = lat,
                        fill = map_data("state")$region,
                        group = group)) +
       guides(fill = FALSE)
p

In this guide we are going to use the following example plot.

ggplot2 map

Adding text with `geom_text`

Use the geom_text function to add texts in ggplot2

Adding text annotations

p + 
  geom_text(aes(x = -115, y = 25,
                label = "Map of the United States"),
            stat = "unique")

Set stat = "unique", otherwise the label will be redrawn for each data point on your data frame.

Customize the size and the color of the text using geom_text

Customizing the annotations

There are several arguments that you can customize, such as the color or the size of the text.

p + 
  geom_text(aes(x = -115, y = 25,
                label = "Map of the United States"),
            stat = "unique",
            size = 5, color = "red")

Label observations in ggplot2

If your data set contains a variable with groups or labels you can pass it to the label argument.

p + 
  geom_text(aes(label = state))

Adding labels with `geom_label`

If you prefer adding labels instead of raw text use geom_label. The function behaves the same as the previous but with a background, making the text easier to read.

Label annotation

p + 
  geom_label(aes(x = -115, y = 25,
                label = "Map of the United States"),
            stat = "unique")

Use the geom_label function to add labels in ggplot2

Customizing the label

p + 
  geom_label(aes(x = -115, y = 25,
                label = "Map of the United States"),
            stat = "unique",
            size = 5, color = "red", fill = "green")

Customize the colors and size of geom_label

Labelling points

p + 
  geom_label(aes(label = state))

Labelling observations in ggplot2 with geom_label

Use ggrepel to avoid overlapping of the texts or labels.

Avoid overlapping with `ggrepel`

The text and the labels are placed on the coordinates you set, but can overlap. The ggrepel package provides geom_text_repel and geom_label_repel functions, which make the labels repel away from each other as much as possible.

geom_text_repel function from ggrepel to avoid overlapping

geom_text_repel

# install.packages("ggrepel")
library(ggrepel)

p + 
  geom_text_repel(aes(label = state))

Use the geom_label_repel function to add labels without overlapping in ggplot2

geom_label_repel

# install.packages("ggrepel")
library(ggrepel)

p + 
  geom_label_repel(aes(label = state))

You can customize the colors, fonts and other arguments the same way as with geom_text or geom_label. See the package examples for more use cases.

Use markdown and HTML with `ggtext`

If you want to fully customize you annotations use the geom_richtext function from ggtext, which allows you to add markdown and HTML formatting to your text annotations.

Add rich text

# install.packages("ggtext")
library(ggtext)

lab <- "*Map* of <span style = 'color:red'>USA</span>"
p + 
  geom_richtext(aes(x = -115, y = 25,
                    label = lab))

geom_richtext function to add rich text, HTML and markdown in ggplot2

Rotate the text

You can even rotate the text, a feature that is not available with default ggplot2.

# install.packages("ggtext")
library(ggtext)

lab <- "*Map* of <span style = 'color:red'>USA</span>"
p + 
  geom_richtext(aes(x = -115, y = 27,
                    label = lab),
                angle = 25)

Rotate labels or texts in ggplot2