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% |
