Most Popular Car Colors Today?

We take a deep dive look at the most popular car colors nationally, by state, and by metro area.

Have you ever wondered what the most popular car colors are? Perhaps, not surprisingly the answer is white and black. Americans and for that matter, all automobile driving denizens of the world seem to prefer their vehicles polarizingly monochromatic in color. How do we know this? In a recent consumer study that examined nearly 276 million vehicles registered and insured in the United States (as of 2019), white narrowly edged out black as the nation’s most popular color by less than one percentage point.

Intriguingly, grayscale-colored cars (white, black, gray, and silver) account for an impressive 77.1 percent of all vehicles on the road today. White is the most popular car color for car buyers, accounting for around 23.9 percent of all vehicles. Black cars rank second at 23.2 percent, followed by gray in third and silver in fourth.

The most popular non-grayscale cars are red in fifth and blue in sixth. The remaining colors include brown, green, beige, orange, gold, yellow, and purple. Combined, these colors account for only 3.5 percent of cars on the road today.

Car color also plays a role in a new vehicle’s eventual resale value. Less popular car colors tend to depreciate less because they are more scarce in the used car marketplace, while grayscale colors depreciate close to average, purely based on availability.

We also examined the most popular car colors by each state, and only two colors are represented. Echoing national trends, white narrowly edged black as the preferred vehicle color in 27 states, while black was the top color in 23 states. Due to the overwhelming popularity of white, black, gray, and silver cars, we also wanted to be able to determine what the most popular color outside of the grayscale spectrum was and the answer was that red was the most popular color in 38 states, with blue being the most popular in 12.

Most Popular Car Colors by State
Top Color Top Non-Grayscale Color
State Color % Share Color % Share
Alaska White 19.90% Blue 12.20%
Alabama White 25.40% Red 10.70%
Arkansas White 27.80% Red 13.40%
Arizona White 27.20% Red 10.10%
California White 27.70% Blue 7.50%
Colorado White 23.30% Red 9.70%
Connecticut Black 24.10% Blue 10.70%
Delaware Black 25.10% Blue 10.60%
Florida White 25.00% Red 10.30%
Georgia Black 24.30% Red 9.60%
Hawaii White 28.20% Blue 8.10%
Iowa Black 23.80% Red 13.70%
Idaho White 26.60% Red 11.70%
Illinois Black 26.10% Red 10.70%
Indiana Black 24.50% Red 13.20%
Kansas White 24.20% Red 12.00%
Kentucky Black 23.80% Red 12.00%
Louisiana White 26.50% Red 8.80%
Massachusetts Black 24.80% Blue 9.70%
Maryland Black 24.90% Blue 10.40%
Maine Black 23.80% Red 11.70%
Michigan Black 26.60% Red 12.30%
Minnesota Black 25.90% Red 11.80%
Missouri Black 24.00% Red 12.20%
Mississippi White 28.00% Red 9.60%
Montana White 24.70% Red 13.10%
North Carolina White 23.80% Red 10.10%
North Dakota Black 24.30% Red 13.90%
Nebraska White 24.40% Red 13.90%
New Hampshire Black 23.40% Blue 11.40%
New Jersey Black 25.70% Blue 9.00%
New Mexico White 26.20% Red 11.10%
Nevada White 26.20% Red 8.90%
New York Black 25.80% Red 9.80%
Ohio Black 24.50% Red 12.40%
Oklahoma White 25.00% Red 12.90%
Oregon White 24.50% Red 9.50%
Pennsylvania Black 22.50% Red 11.40%
Rhode Island Black 23.20% Blue 9.70%
South Carolina White 24.30% Red 10.20%
South Dakota White 23.20% Red 14.10%
Tennessee White 23.40% Red 10.50%
Texas White 25.30% Red 10.30%
Utah White 26.70% Red 9.60%
Virginia Black 23.00% Blue 10.40%
Vermont Black 22.10% Red 13.00%
Washington White 24.00% Blue 9.60%
Wisconsin Black 26.10% Red 13.20%
West Virginia White 23.30% Red 14.50%
Wyoming White 25.40% Red 13.50%

We’ve looked at the national and state average, what about America’s major metropolitan areas? Not surprisingly, in the 50 most populated metro areas in the United States, white and black are still the most dominant two colors with white cars taking the lead in 28 metro areas, and black being the most popular in 22. Similar to state data, red is the most popular non-gray color in most metro areas with 41. Blue cars are the most popular in nine.

Most Popular Car Colors by Metro Area
DMA Top Color % Share Top Non-Grayscale Color % Share
Albuquerque-Santa Fe, NM White 25.60% Red 10.90%
Atlanta, GA Black 24.80% Red 9.20%
Austin, TX White 25.00% Red 10.00%
Baltimore, MD Black 25.30% Blue 10.80%
Birmingham, AL White 25.40% Red 10.00%
Boston, MA-Manchester, NH Black 24.20% Blue 10.10%
Charlotte, NC Black 23.50% Red 9.40%
Chicago, IL Black 26.50% Red 9.40%
Cincinnati, OH Black 24.40% Red 11.30%
Cleveland-Akron (Canton), OH Black 24.20% Red 11.40%
Columbus, OH Black 24.20% Red 11.90%
Dallas-Ft. Worth, TX White 25.20% Red 9.60%
Denver, CO White 23.10% Red 9.60%
Detroit, MI Black 27.00% Red 11.10%
Fresno-Visalia, CA White 27.20% Red 8.70%
Grand Rapids-Kalamazoo, MI Black 25.10% Red 11.90%
Greensboro-Winston Salem, NC White 24.80% Red 10.40%
Greenville-Spartanburg, SC White 23.90% Red 10.60%
Harrisburg-Lancaster-York, PA Black 21.40% Red 11.60%
Hartford & New Haven, CT Black 23.80% Blue 10.50%
Houston, TX White 24.50% Red 9.50%
Indianapolis, IN Black 24.70% Red 13.00%
Jacksonville, FL White 23.80% Red 10.10%
Kansas City, MO Black 24.40% Red 11.20%
Las Vegas, NV White 26.00% Red 8.80%
Los Angeles, CA White 28.10% Blue 7.10%
Memphis, TN White 23.70% Red 10.40%
Miami-Ft. Lauderdale, FL White 25.60% Red 8.80%
Milwaukee, WI Black 26.70% Red 11.40%
Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN Black 25.80% Red 11.30%
Nashville, TN Black 23.60% Red 10.10%
New York, NY Black 25.90% Blue 9.10%
Norfolk-Portsmouth-Newport News,VA Black 21.70% Red 11.00%
Oklahoma City, OK White 25.10% Red 12.40%
Orlando-Daytona Beach, FL White 23.90% Red 11.30%
Philadelphia, PA Black 24.00% Blue 10.20%
Phoenix, AZ White 26.80% Red 9.80%
Pittsburgh, PA White 21.80% Red 12.10%
Portland, OR White 23.60% Red 9.10%
Raleigh-Durham (Fayetteville), NC White 23.50% Red 10.00%
Sacramento-Stockton-Modesto, CA White 27.10% Red 8.20%
Salt Lake City, UT White 26.30% Red 9.50%
San Antonio, TX White 23.80% Red 11.20%
San Diego, CA White 27.40% Red 7.50%
San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose, CA White 25.00% Blue 8.20%
Seattle-Tacoma, WA White 23.20% Blue 9.70%
St. Louis, MO Black 23.70% Red 12.20%
Tampa-St Petersburg (Sarasota), FL White 24.20% Red 11.30%
Washington, DC (Hagerstown, MD) Black 24.00% Blue 10.20%
West Palm Beach-Ft. Pierce, FL White 25.60% Red 9.50%