diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 862eacfc32..c0572988ba 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -2,6 +2,9 @@
 All notable changes to this project will be documented in this file.
 This project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](http://semver.org/).
 
+### Added
+- Add `plotly[express]` extra for easily installing Plotly Express dependencies [#4644](https://github.com/plotly/plotly.py/pull/4644)
+
 ### Removed
 - Drop deprecated `pointcloud` and `heatmapgl` traces from the API
 - Drop `tenacity` dependency [#4831](https://github.com/plotly/plotly.js/pull/4831)
diff --git a/contributing.md b/contributing.md
index 78e1069962..ccdd22ed49 100644
--- a/contributing.md
+++ b/contributing.md
@@ -136,19 +136,17 @@ We will support Python 3.12 and higher versions soon.
 [conda-env]: https://docs.conda.io/projects/conda/en/latest/user-guide/tasks/manage-environments.html#creating-an-environment-with-commands
 [virtualenv]: http://docs.python-guide.org/en/latest/dev/virtualenvs/
 
-### Install requirements - (Non-Windows)
+### Install development requirements (Non-Windows)
 ```bash
-(plotly_dev) $ pip install -r packages/python/plotly/requirements.txt
-(plotly_dev) $ pip install -r packages/python/plotly/optional-requirements.txt
+(plotly_dev) $ pip install -r packages/python/plotly/requires-optional.txt
  ```
-### Install requirements - (Windows + Conda)
+### Install development requirements (Windows + Conda)
 Because Windows requires Visual Studio libraries to compile some of the optional dependencies, follow these steps to
 complete installation and avoid gdal-config errors.
 
 ```bash
-(plotly_dev) $ pip install -r packages/python/plotly/requirements.txt
 (plotly_dev) $ conda install fiona
-(plotly_dev) $ pip install -r packages/python/plotly/optional-requirements.txt
+(plotly_dev) $ pip install -r packages/python/plotly/requires-optional.txt
 ```
 
 ### Editable install of plotly packages
@@ -178,7 +176,7 @@ documentation on _development mode_.
 This repo uses the [Black](https://black.readthedocs.io/en/stable/) code formatter,
 and the [pre-commit](https://pre-commit.com/) library to manage a git commit hook to
 run Black prior to each commit.  Both pre-commit and black are included in the
-`packages/python/plotly/optional-requirements.txt` file, so you should have them
+`packages/python/plotly/requires-optional.txt` file, so you should have them
 installed already if you've been following along.
 
 To enable the Black formatting git hook, run the following from within your virtual
@@ -266,7 +264,7 @@ We take advantage of two tools to run tests:
 
 ### Running Tests with `pytest`
 
-Since our tests cover *all* the functionality, to prevent tons of errors from showing up and having to parse through a messy output, you'll need to install `optional-requirements.txt` as explained above.
+Since our tests cover *all* the functionality, to prevent tons of errors from showing up and having to parse through a messy output, you'll need to install `requires-optional.txt` as explained above.
 
 After you've done that, go ahead and run the test suite!
 
diff --git a/packages/python/plotly/MANIFEST.in b/packages/python/plotly/MANIFEST.in
index a31ec23689..b890876fc2 100644
--- a/packages/python/plotly/MANIFEST.in
+++ b/packages/python/plotly/MANIFEST.in
@@ -2,4 +2,6 @@ include LICENSE.txt
 include README.md
 include versioneer.py
 include plotly/_version.py
+include requires-install.txt
+include requires-express.txt
 include plotly/package_data/widgetbundle.js
diff --git a/packages/python/plotly/optional-requirements.txt b/packages/python/plotly/optional-requirements.txt
deleted file mode 100644
index 42f528d6ca..0000000000
--- a/packages/python/plotly/optional-requirements.txt
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,58 +0,0 @@
-### Optional Dependencies for Additional Plotly Functionality   ###
-###                                                             ###
-### To install, run:                                            ###
-###      $ pip install -r optional-requirements.txt             ###
-###                                                             ###
-###################################################################
-
-## numpy (technically, this is covered by matplotlib's deps) ##
-numpy
-
-## matplotlylib dependencies - moving away from 1.3.1 ##
-# matplotlib==2.2.2
-
-## testing dependencies ##
-coverage==4.3.1
-mock==2.0.0
-pytest==8.1.1
-backports.tempfile==1.0
-xarray
-pytz
-
-## orca dependencies ##
-requests
-psutil
-
-## code formatting
-pre-commit
-black==22.3.0
-
-
-## codegen dependencies ##
-inflect
-
-## template generation ##
-colorcet
-
-## ipython ##
-ipython
-
-## pandas deps for some matplotlib functionality ##
-pandas
-narwhals>=1.13.3
-
-## scipy deps for some FigureFactory functions ##
-scipy
-
-## jupyter ##
-jupyter
-jupyterlab
-ipykernel
-
-## deps for _county_choropleth.py figure factory
-pyshp
-geopandas
-shapely
-
-## image uri conversion
-pillow
diff --git a/packages/python/plotly/plotly/express/__init__.py b/packages/python/plotly/plotly/express/__init__.py
index 33db532cd4..b6cada8ef6 100644
--- a/packages/python/plotly/plotly/express/__init__.py
+++ b/packages/python/plotly/plotly/express/__init__.py
@@ -2,13 +2,24 @@
 `plotly.express` is a terse, consistent, high-level wrapper around `plotly.graph_objects`
 for rapid data exploration and figure generation. Learn more at https://plotly.com/python/plotly-express/
 """
+
 from plotly import optional_imports
 
 np = optional_imports.get_module("numpy")
 if np is None:
     raise ImportError(
         """\
-Plotly express requires numpy to be installed."""
+Plotly Express requires numpy to be installed. You can install numpy using pip with:
+
+$ pip install numpy
+
+Or install Plotly Express and its dependencies directly with:
+
+$ pip install "plotly[express]"
+
+You can also use Plotly Graph Objects to create a large number of charts without installing
+numpy. See examples here: https://plotly.com/python/graph-objects/
+"""
     )
 
 from ._imshow import imshow
diff --git a/packages/python/plotly/requires-express.txt b/packages/python/plotly/requires-express.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..f561197347
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/python/plotly/requires-express.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+### Required dependencies for Plotly Express    ###
+###                                             ###
+### To install, run:                            ###
+###      $ pip install -r requires-express.txt  ###
+###                                             ###
+###################################################
+
+numpy
diff --git a/packages/python/plotly/requirements.txt b/packages/python/plotly/requires-install.txt
similarity index 83%
rename from packages/python/plotly/requirements.txt
rename to packages/python/plotly/requires-install.txt
index ddd5d2bf77..d452bad7d6 100644
--- a/packages/python/plotly/requirements.txt
+++ b/packages/python/plotly/requires-install.txt
@@ -1,9 +1,10 @@
 ### Dependencies for Core Plotly Functionality  ###
 ###                                             ###
 ### To install, run:                            ###
-###      $ pip install -r requirements.txt      ###
+###      $ pip install -r requires-install.txt  ###
 ###                                             ###
 ###################################################
 
 ## dataframe agnostic layer ##
 narwhals>=1.13.3
+packaging
diff --git a/packages/python/plotly/requires-optional.txt b/packages/python/plotly/requires-optional.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..b36d45c31f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/python/plotly/requires-optional.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,59 @@
+### Optional Dependencies for Additional Plotly Functionality   ###
+###                                                             ###
+### This file lists packages which are not strictly required    ###
+### by Plotly.py, but which are needed to use some of the       ###
+### library's functionality. See headings below for more        ###
+### See headings below for more detail.                         ###
+###                                                             ###
+### Packages used in the development process are also listed    ###
+### here.                                                       ###
+###                                                             ###
+### To install, run:                                            ###
+###      $ pip install -r requires-optional.txt                 ###
+###                                                             ###
+###################################################################
+
+## numpy (required by Plotly Express) ##
+numpy
+
+## matplotlylib dependencies ##
+# matplotlib==2.2.2
+
+## testing dependencies ##
+coverage==4.3.1
+mock==2.0.0
+pytest==8.1.1
+xarray
+pytz
+
+## orca dependencies ##
+requests
+psutil
+
+## code formatting ##
+pre-commit
+black==22.3.0
+
+## codegen dependencies ##
+inflect
+
+## template generation ##
+colorcet
+
+## pandas (for some matplotlib functionality) ##
+pandas
+
+## scipy deps (for some Figure Factory functions) ##
+scipy
+
+## jupyter ##
+jupyter
+anywidget
+
+## deps for _county_choropleth.py (Figure Factory) ##
+pyshp
+geopandas
+shapely
+
+## image uri conversion ##
+pillow
diff --git a/packages/python/plotly/setup.py b/packages/python/plotly/setup.py
index 19c663a21b..1b8b6a2159 100644
--- a/packages/python/plotly/setup.py
+++ b/packages/python/plotly/setup.py
@@ -38,6 +38,7 @@
 else:
     skip_npm = False
 
+
 # Load plotly.js version from js/package.json
 def plotly_js_version():
     path = os.path.join(here, "js", "package.json")
@@ -260,7 +261,6 @@ def request_json(url):
 
 
 def get_latest_publish_build_info(repo, branch):
-
     url = (
         r"https://circleci.com/api/v1.1/project/github/"
         r"{repo}/tree/{branch}?limit=100&filter=completed"
@@ -494,6 +494,14 @@ def run(self):
 ]
 
 versioneer_cmds = versioneer.get_cmdclass()
+
+
+def read_req_file(req_type):
+    with open(f"requires-{req_type}.txt", encoding="utf-8") as fp:
+        requires = (line.strip() for line in fp)
+        return [req for req in requires if req and not req.startswith("#")]
+
+
 setup(
     name="plotly",
     version=versioneer.get_version(),
@@ -551,7 +559,10 @@ def run(self):
             "package_data/datasets/*",
         ],
     },
-    install_requires=["narwhals>=1.13.3", "packaging"],
+    install_requires=read_req_file("install"),
+    extras_require={
+        "express": read_req_file("express"),
+    },
     zip_safe=False,
     cmdclass=dict(
         build_py=js_prerelease(versioneer_cmds["build_py"]),