How to add a number of observations per group and use group mean in ggplot2 boxplot?

Is this anything like what you're after? With stat_summary, as requested:

# function for number of observations 
give.n <- function(x){
  return(c(y = median(x)*1.05, label = length(x))) 
  # experiment with the multiplier to find the perfect position
}

# function for mean labels
mean.n <- function(x){
  return(c(y = median(x)*0.97, label = round(mean(x),2))) 
  # experiment with the multiplier to find the perfect position
}

# plot
ggplot(mtcars, aes(factor(cyl), mpg, label=rownames(mtcars))) +
  geom_boxplot(fill = "grey80", colour = "#3366FF") +
  stat_summary(fun.data = give.n, geom = "text", fun.y = median) +
  stat_summary(fun.data = mean.n, geom = "text", fun.y = mean, colour = "red")

Black number is number of observations, red number is mean value. joran's answer shows you how to put the numbers at the top of the boxes enter image description here

hat-tip: https://stackoverflow.com/a/3483657/1036500


I think this is what you're looking for maybe?

myboxplot <- ddply(mtcars,
                    .(cyl),
                    summarise,
                    min = min(mpg),
                    q1 = quantile(mpg,0.25),
                    med = median(mpg),
                    q3 = quantile(mpg,0.75),
                    max= max(mpg),
                    lab = length(cyl))
ggplot(myboxplot, aes(x = factor(cyl))) + 
    geom_boxplot(aes(lower = q1, upper = q3, middle = med, ymin = min, ymax = max), stat = "identity") + 
    geom_text(aes(y = max,label = lab),vjust = 0)

enter image description here

I just realized I mistakenly used the median when you were asking about the mean, but you can obviously use whatever function for the middle aesthetic you please.