In [1]: df = pd.DataFrame({'lev1': [1, 1, 1, 1,2, 2, 2,2], 'lev2': [1, 1, 2, 2, 1, 1, 2, 2], 'lev3': [1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 2], 'values': range(8)}) In [2]: df Out[2]: lev1 lev2 lev3 values 0 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 3 1 2 2 3 4 2 1 1 4 5 2 1 2 5 6 2 2 1 6 7 2 2 2 7 In [3]: df.pivot(index=['lev1', 'lev2'], columns='lev3', values='values') --------------------------------------------------------------------------- ValueError Traceback (most recent call last) <ipython-input-3-2fef29f9fd39> in <module>() ----> 1 df.pivot(index=['lev1', 'lev2'], columns='lev3', values='values') ~/scipy/pandas/pandas/core/frame.py in pivot(self, index, columns, values) 5191 """ 5192 from pandas.core.reshape.reshape import pivot -> 5193 return pivot(self, index=index, columns=columns, values=values) 5194 5195 _shared_docs['pivot_table'] = """ ~/scipy/pandas/pandas/core/reshape/reshape.py in pivot(self, index, columns, values) 406 else: 407 indexed = self._constructor_sliced(self[values].values, --> 408 index=index) 409 return indexed.unstack(columns) 410 ~/scipy/pandas/pandas/core/series.py in __init__(self, data, index, dtype, name, copy, fastpath) 260 'Length of passed values is {val}, ' 261 'index implies {ind}' --> 262 .format(val=len(data), ind=len(index))) 263 except TypeError: 264 pass ValueError: Length of passed values is 8, index implies 2