A method and apparatus distributes graph data in a distributed computing environment. The method of distributing graph data in a distributed computing environment includes searching graph data for common sub-graphs, generating a partition by merging the common sub-graphs if, as a result of the search, the common sub-graphs are present and generating a partition by arranging the graph data if, as a result of the search, the common sub-graphs are not present, and calculating a processing cost of the graph data and allocating the partition based on the calculated processing cost.