Most popular car colors in 2023: Gray wins big, silver loses

iSeeCars’ latest car color study looks at the most popular colors from 2018 and compares them to 2023 to track how car color preferences have shifted over the past five years.

(iSeeCars) -- iSeeCars’ latest car color study looks at the most popular colors from 2018 and compares them to 2023 to track how car color preferences have shifted over the past five years.

Highlights:

• White is the most popular color in 40 states, with black the most popular in the remaining 10 states
• The dominance of grayscale colors continues to rise, moving from 77.2 percent in 2018 to 78.9 percent in 2023.
• Gray is the big winner, up 4 percent in market share since 2018; silver is the big loser, down 3.4 percent
• Gray, white, blue, and orange all gained substantial market share, while silver, red, black, and brown lost ground 
• Cars in uncommon colors like beige and yellow held their value better than mainstream colors

The study confirms that, as in 2018, white, black, gray, and silver remain the most popular car colors for 2023. These four shades, often referred to as the “grayscale” colors, were found on 77.2 percent of 1- to 5-year-old used cars in 2018, and that number had increased to 78.6 percent last year, and moved up again to 78.9 percent in 2023. Within that group, gray made the biggest move, gaining 4 percent since 2018. Silver is the biggest loser, dropping 3.4 percent.

iSeeCars analyzed over 10 million 1- to 5-year-old used cars sold in 2018 and 2023. While the most popular car colors, in broad strokes, roughly stayed the same, some colors have moved up and down in popularity over this period.

“While white, black, gray, and silver remain the dominant colors, it’s interesting to see how far silver has fallen,” said iSeeCars Executive Analyst Karl Brauer. “Silver is now just 2 percentage points above blue, which has displaced red as the fifth most popular color.”

Most Popular Car Colors – iSeeCars Study
Rank 2023	Color	Used Car Share 2023	Rank 2018	Used Car Share 2018
1	White	26.2%	2	23.3%
2	Black	21.8%	1	23.6%
3	Gray	19.2%	3	15.2%
4	Silver	11.7%	4	15.1%
5	Blue	9.7%	6	8.5%
6	Red	8.2%	5	10.6%
7	Green	1.0%	8	0.8%
8	Brown	0.8%	7	1.7%
9	Orange	0.6%	9	0.3%
10	Beige	0.4%	11	0.3%
11	Purple	0.2%	13	0.1%
12	Gold	0.2%	10	0.3%
13	Yellow	0.1%	12	0.2%

At the opposite end of popularity are shades like orange, beige, purple, gold, and yellow, which together make up about 1.5 percent of the market, but they did gain 0.2 percent in total share compared to 2018. 

The color of money: Changes since the pandemic

How does a car’s color impact its price? As iSeeCars has explored in previous research, the most unpopular colors can be the most valuable. Consistent with many other studies tracking used car prices around the pandemic, used car prices spiked from 2018 to 2023 with a 50 percent increase overall due to the pandemic shutdowns and related supply chain issues. But breaking the prices out by individual color reveals dramatic differences in price increases for particular colors.

Change in Average Price By Car Color: 2018 vs. 2023 – iSeeCars Study
Rank	Color	Average Price 2023	Average Price 2018	% Price Change 2018 – 2023
1	Beige	$38,001	$18,690	103.3%
2	Yellow	$49,043	$26,430	85.6%
3	Green	$39,911	$22,796	75.1%
4	Red	$33,622	$21,417	57.0%
5	Blue	$33,320	$21,449	55.3%
6	Gray	$33,011	$21,520	53.4%
Overall Average		$34,130	$22,685	50.4%
7	Gold	$30,315	$20,206	50.0%
8	White	$35,503	$23,980	48.1%
9	Black	$35,491	$24,221	46.5%
10	Brown	$33,012	$22,576	46.2%
11	Silver	$30,786	$21,070	46.1%
12	Orange	$33,623	$24,280	38.5%
13	Purple	$32,180	$24,107	33.5%

Surprisingly, the color that increased the most in price between 2018 and 2023 was beige. This unexpected change can be explained by the massive shift in overall vehicle demand since the pandemic. Quotidian beige isn’t a color that inspires a lot of passion, but instead covers common daily drivers that had relatively lower prices in 2018. Beige also became a featured color on multiple limited-production trucks over the past 5 years, further contributing to its increase in value across the used car market.

In 2023, with used cars in short supply, consumers are buying whatever vehicle they can find that fits their needs and budget. That means even beige cars are now desirable, and as a percentage of what they cost 5 years ago, their prices increased the most.

Rare colors like yellow and green increased more than average. “These price bumps aren’t a reflection of color popularity, but of supply and demand,” said Brauer. “Not many people want a yellow car, but far more people want one than exist.”

“With regard to beige, we’ve seen the same story with economy cars,” said Brauer. “Cars that weren’t as desirable before the pandemic have been swept along with the price increases impacting the entire used car market. That means vehicles with relatively low prices in 2018 have, as a percentage of their previous price, gone up the most. This includes previously unremarkable beige cars, which are now much more valuable simply because they are part of today’s massively elevated used car market.”

Car color popularity by body style

The colors white and black dominate the car market, as reflected in their popularity across every major body style. However, the shift for specific body styles over the past 5 years is interesting. In 2018, these two colors were split among the eight body styles, with each one holding the lead in four categories. In 2023, only coupes remain the most popular in black, with convertibles, sedans, and SUVs switching to white as the most popular color. 

Most Popular Colors by Vehicle Type – iSeeCars Study
Body Type	Most Popular Color, 2023	Most Popular Non-grayscale Color, 2023	Most Popular Color, 2018	Most Popular Non-grayscale Color, 2018
Convertible	White	Red	Black	Red
Coupe	Black	Red	Black	Red
Hatchback	White	Blue	White	Red
Minivan	White	Red	White	Red
Pickup	White	Red	White	Red
Sedan	White	Blue	Black	Red
SUV	White	Blue	Black	Red
Wagon	White	Red	White	Blue

“Note the switch from red to blue as the most popular non-grayscale color for hatchbacks, sedans, and SUVs,” said Brauer. “Two of those are high-volume segments, which explains why blue passed red overall as the most popular non-grayscale color.”

What are the most colorful states?

While the world is increasingly filled with non-colorful cars, this lack of color isn’t consistent across states. In the table below states are ranked by their percentage of used cars which are non-grayscale. By this metric, Alaska is the most colorful state and Hawaii is the most drab. It’s interesting to see the two non-contiguous states at opposite ends of the spectrum.

Most Colorful States and Top Colors – iSeeCars Study
Rank	State	% Share of Colorful Cars*	Most Popular Car Color		Most Popular Non-Grayscale Color
			Color	Share	Color	Share
1	Alaska	27.3%	White	22.3%	Blue	13.4%
2	West Virginia	26.9%	White	23.3%	Red	11.5%
3	Vermont	25.8%	Black	20.6%	Blue	12.1%
4	Wisconsin	25.4%	Black	24.6%	Blue	10.9%
5	Maine	25.3%	Black	21.9%	Blue	11.1%
6	Wyoming	25.0%	White	27.5%	Red	10.2%
7	Michigan	24.8%	Black	24.1%	Blue	11.0%
8	North Dakota	24.7%	White	25.5%	Red	11.1%
9	Nebraska	24.5%	White	26.1%	Red	11.3%
10	South Dakota	24.4%	White	25.2%	Red	10.7%
11	Pennsylvania	24.4%	White	23.4%	Blue	11.5%
12	Indiana	24.3%	Black	23.2%	Blue	10.5%
13	Ohio	24.2%	Black	23.2%	Blue	10.8%
14	Delaware	23.7%	White	24.2%	Blue	12.1%
15	Montana	23.4%	White	28.5%	Blue	9.7%
16	New Mexico	23.2%	White	27.2%	Blue	9.5%
17	Minnesota	23.1%	White	24.2%	Blue	10.1%
18	Iowa	23.1%	White	26.3%	Red	10.8%
19	Kansas	22.7%	White	27.0%	Blue	9.9%
20	Virginia	22.6%	White	24.0%	Blue	11.2%
21	New York	22.3%	Black	24.3%	Blue	11.2%
22	Illinois	22.1%	Black	24.6%	Blue	10.2%
23	Missouri	22.1%	White	25.5%	Blue	9.4%
24	Kentucky	22.0%	White	25.9%	Blue	9.3%
25	Colorado	21.9%	White	26.3%	Blue	10.3%
26	Maryland	21.6%	White	23.5%	Blue	11.3%
27	Idaho	21.6%	White	29.2%	Blue	9.2%
28	Washington	21.4%	White	26.9%	Blue	10.2%
29	Connecticut	21.2%	Black	23.8%	Blue	11.6%
30	Arkansas	21.2%	White	28.9%	Red	10.1%
Overall National Average		21.1%	White	26.2%	Blue	9.7%
31	Florida	21.0%	White	27.4%	Blue	9.7%
32	Oregon	20.9%	White	26.5%	Blue	9.8%
33	North Carolina	20.6%	White	26.7%	Blue	9.6%
34	New Hampshire	20.5%	White	31.6%	Blue	10.4%
35	Tennessee	20.5%	White	25.9%	Blue	8.9%
36	Massachusetts	20.5%	Black	24.3%	Blue	10.9%
37	Arizona	20.4%	White	30.2%	Blue	8.9%
38	Rhode Island	20.4%	White	24.5%	Blue	10.5%
39	South Carolina	20.3%	White	26.8%	Blue	9.0%
40	Texas	20.3%	White	27.4%	Blue	8.7%
41	Nevada	20.1%	White	27.9%	Blue	9.2%
42	Georgia	19.4%	White	26.8%	Blue	8.8%
43	Oklahoma	19.3%	White	26.6%	Red	8.6%
44	Alabama	19.0%	White	28.3%	Red	8.0%
45	New Jersey	18.9%	White	25.6%	Blue	10.1%
46	Utah	18.7%	White	30.4%	Blue	8.3%
47	Mississippi	17.6%	White	29.9%	Red	7.4%
48	Louisiana	17.4%	White	29.0%	Blue	7.5%
49	California	16.7%	White	30.5%	Blue	8.3%
50	Hawaii	16.3%	White	28.5%	Blue	8.5%

*Colorful Cars excludes black, gray, silver, and white cars.

“Maybe people in Alaska are looking for any excuse to see color during those long winter months, while people in Hawaii are the happiest to tone things down a bit in the tropics,” said Brauer. “I suspect at least some of this is driven by rental cars, with Hawaii likely having one of the highest percentage of rental vehicle fleets, and rental agencies playing it ‘safe’ when ordering car colors.” 

What are the most colorful cities?

iSeeCars also ranked the top 50 metro areas by their percentage share of colorful used cars. The Harrisburg-Lancaster-York metro area in Pennsylvania is the most diverse for car colors, while Los Angeles is the most dominated by grayscale colors. 

Most Colorful Metro Areas and Top Colors – iSeeCars Study
Rank	Metro Area	% Share of Colorful Cars*	Most Popular Car Color		Most Popular Non-Grayscale Color
			Color	Share	Color	Share
1	Harrisburg-Lancaster-York, PA	26.2%	White	23.0%	Blue	12.2%
2	Pittsburgh, PA	25.0%	White	23.4%	Blue	10.6%
3	Indianapolis, IN	24.6%	Black	24.2%	Blue	10.6%
4	Detroit, MI	24.5%	Black	26.1%	Blue	11.0%
5	Cleveland-Akron (Canton), OH	24.3%	Black	23.8%	Blue	10.8%
6	Cincinnati, OH	24.2%	Black	24.5%	Blue	11.0%
7	Milwaukee, WI	24.1%	Black	25.8%	Blue	10.7%
8	Louisville, KY	24.1%	White	24.0%	Red	10.5%
9	Grand Rapids-Kalamazoo, MI	23.8%	Black	24.3%	Blue	10.5%
10	Columbus, OH	23.4%	Black	24.5%	Blue	10.0%
11	Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN	23.2%	Black	25.0%	Blue	9.8%
12	Norfolk-Portsmouth-Newport News,VA	23.2%	White	22.9%	Blue	11.0%
13	Washington, DC (Hagerstown, MD)	22.8%	Black	24.0%	Blue	11.3%
14	Albuquerque-Santa Fe, NM	22.8%	White	26.6%	Blue	9.6%
15	Tampa-St Petersburg (Sarasota), FL	22.6%	White	26.5%	Blue	9.8%
16	St. Louis, MO	22.6%	White	24.5%	Red	9.8%
17	Baltimore, MD	22.5%	Black	23.7%	Blue	11.4%
18	Orlando-Daytona Beach, FL	22.3%	White	25.8%	Blue	9.7%
19	Denver, CO	22.2%	White	25.7%	Blue	10.3%
20	Hartford & New Haven, CT	21.9%	White	24.2%	Blue	11.2%
21	Greenville-Spartanburg, SC	21.9%	White	26.3%	Blue	9.2%
22	Philadelphia, PA	21.8%	Black	24.6%	Blue	10.8%
23	San Antonio, TX	21.7%	White	25.8%	Blue	9.2%
24	Seattle-Tacoma, WA	21.6%	White	26.4%	Blue	10.5%
25	Portland, OR	21.5%	White	25.4%	Blue	9.9%
26	Kansas City, MO	21.5%	White	25.9%	Red	9.5%
27	Jacksonville, FL	21.1%	White	26.1%	Blue	9.4%
Overall National Average		21.1%	White	26.2%	Blue	9.7%
28	Greensboro-Winston Salem, NC	21.1%	White	27.1%	Blue	9.0%
29	Nashville, TN	20.9%	White	25.3%	Blue	8.9%
30	West Palm Beach-Ft. Pierce, FL	20.9%	White	28.3%	Blue	9.6%
31	Chicago, IL	20.8%	Black	25.9%	Blue	9.8%
32	Boston, MA-Manchester, NH	20.7%	White	25.1%	Blue	10.6%
33	Raleigh-Durham (Fayetteville), NC	20.5%	White	26.2%	Blue	9.4%
34	Charlotte, NC	20.3%	White	26.3%	Blue	9.3%
35	Austin, TX	20.3%	White	26.6%	Blue	8.8%
36	Oklahoma City, OK	20.3%	White	27.5%	Red	9.5%
37	Phoenix, AZ	20.1%	White	29.7%	Blue	8.8%
38	Houston, TX	19.7%	White	26.0%	Blue	8.3%
39	Las Vegas, NV	19.7%	White	28.4%	Blue	8.5%
40	Atlanta, GA	19.5%	White	26.4%	Blue	8.6%
41	Salt Lake City, UT	19.4%	White	28.8%	Blue	8.4%
42	New York, NY	19.2%	Black	25.9%	Blue	10.1%
43	Birmingham, AL	19.1%	White	27.5%	Red	8.1%
44	Miami-Ft. Lauderdale, FL	18.6%	White	28.1%	Blue	8.8%
45	San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose, CA	18.4%	White	29.0%	Blue	9.4%
46	Dallas-Ft. Worth, TX	18.1%	White	27.5%	Red	8.2%
47	Sacramento-Stockton-Modesto, CA	17.6%	White	31.3%	Blue	8.2%
48	Fresno-Visalia, CA	17.6%	White	31.0%	Red	7.8%
49	San Diego, CA	16.9%	White	30.2%	Blue	8.2%
50	Los Angeles, CA	16.1%	White	30.0%	Blue	7.9%

*Colorful Cars excludes black, gray, silver, and white cars.

“There are an awful lot of California cities at the bottom of this list,” said Brauer. “And as a resident of Southern California, I believe it! The preponderance of white, black, gray, and silver cars makes the roadways look like a 1950s TV show. It also means the – very rare – blue, red, green, or orange cars truly stand out when slogging along in stop-and-go traffic.”

Will the trend toward more grayscale cars ever stop? And will red retake the lead from blue as the most popular non-grayscale color? iSeeCars will publish its annual Most Popular Car Color Study again next year to find out.

More from iSeeCars:

• Best and Worst Colors for Resale Value
• 25 Things to Keep in Your Car
• https://www.iseecars.com/articles/buying-used-vs-new-carNew Vs. Used Car Buying

Methodology

iSeeCars analyzed over 10 million 1- to 5-year-old used cars sold between January and August of 2018 and 2023. The color of each car, as well as the location of sale, was tallied to determine the most popular car color nationally, in each state, and in each metro area.

About iSeeCars.com

iSeeCars.com is a data-driven car search and research company that helps shoppers find the best car deals by providing key insights and valuable resources, including the iSeeCars VIN Check report and Best Cars Rankings. iSeeCars has saved users over $402 million so far by applying big data analytics powered by over 25 billion (and growing) data points and using proprietary algorithms to objectively analyze, score and rank millions of new cars and used cars.

This article,  Most Popular Car Colors in 2023: Gray Wins Big, Silver Loses, originally appeared on iSeeCars.com.