diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/axes/_axes.py b/lib/matplotlib/axes/_axes.py
index de4a99f71d24..2412f815cd42 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/axes/_axes.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/axes/_axes.py
@@ -6466,7 +6466,7 @@ def hist(self, x, bins=None, range=None, density=False, weights=None,
         `~.stairs` to plot the distribution::
 
             counts, bins = np.histogram(x)
-            plt.stairs(bins, counts)
+            plt.stairs(counts, bins)
 
         Alternatively, plot pre-computed bins and counts using ``hist()`` by
         treating each bin as a single point with a weight equal to its count::