State Colors of All 50 U.S. States

In 2024, two states replaced their old coat-of-arms-heavy flags with clean, modern designs — and in doing so, fundamentally changed their color identities. These are the most significant state color updates in decades. Many reference sites still list outdated palettes for both states.

Minnesota's redesigned flag, effective May 2024, replaced its 1893 seal-based design with a bold, minimalist composition. The new palette — Cyan representing the state's 10,000 lakes and Dark Blue representing the sky and the North Star — replaced a murky multi-color seal that was nearly impossible to reproduce consistently. The North Star, rendered in white, anchors the design. See the full state colors of Minnesota page for verified HEX and Pantone values.

Utah's new flag, also effective 2024, swapped a century-old state seal design for a striking composition: a white mountain peak, a gold beehive (the state emblem), and a gold star on a deep navy field. The result — Navy Blue, White, and Gold — supersedes the previous 'Black and Gold' association with University of Utah athletics. See the state colors of Utah page for the full breakdown.

Blue and Gold — in various shades — is the most common state color combination in the country, claimed by eight states: Alaska, California, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, New York, Pennsylvania, and South Dakota. The dominance of blue reflects its prevalence on state flags (over 30 use blue as a primary color) and its deep association with patriotism and the U.S. flag.

California made Blue and Gold official in 1951 under Government Code § 424 — with the most explicit statutory rationale of any state: blue for the sky and the Pacific Ocean, gold for the forty-niners of the Gold Rush and the California poppy, the state flower. See the state colors of California for the full designation history. South Dakota's Blue and Gold dates to 1909 (SDCL § 1-6-16) — among the earliest color designations in the country, tied directly to the state seal and original flag design.

Oregon's Navy Blue and Gold (1959, ORS § 186.010) is the most precisely defined of any Blue-and-Gold state — codified in the same statute that governs Oregon's unique two-sided flag. New York's Blue and Gold lacks a standalone statute but was formally established in the Empire State Development brand guidelines in 2015, giving the colors institutional weight without legislative action. The state colors of New York are Blue and Gold in all but formal law.

Beyond Blue and Gold, the most common combination across U.S. states is Red, White, and Blue — used officially or traditionally by Arkansas, Georgia, Iowa, Missouri, Virginia, and Texas. Each of these states mirrors its colors directly through to their state flags. Texas's 1933 designation (Acts 43rd R.S., ch. 87) is the only one that assigns explicit symbolic meaning to each color: blue for loyalty, white for purity, and red for bravery.

Georgia, Virginia, and Tennessee are the three most searched state color questions online — yet none of the three has officially designated its colors by statute. Georgia's Red, White, and Blue flow directly from the 2003 state flag redesign, which was built around the national tricolor after decades of Confederate-symbol controversy. Virginia's tricolor is rooted in the deep-blue flag adopted in 1776 — making the state colors of Virginia among the most historically grounded traditional designations in the country. Tennessee is a different case: despite its Red, White, and Blue flag, the state colors of Tennessee are universally understood as Orange and White — the University of Tennessee's colors, featured on state tourism materials for decades.

Green and White appears in both Oklahoma (official, 1915) and New Hampshire (traditional). Green and Gold is shared by Vermont and Washington. The Scarlet family shows how universities shape state identity independently: Ohio's Scarlet and Gray and Nebraska's Scarlet and Cream arrived at the same dominant hue through separate athletic traditions, without any coordination.

The metallic states stand apart from the rest. Nevada's Silver and Blue (official since 1983, NRS 235.025) and West Virginia's Old Gold and Blue (official since 1895) both reference mineral wealth rather than flags or universities. Montana's Copper, Silver, and Gold take this further — the only state to use copper as a primary color, honoring its identity as 'The Treasure State.'

Several state color designations trace directly to the American Revolution. Delaware's Colonial Blue and Buff — official since 1913 — were chosen because they match the uniform worn by General George Washington and the Continental Army. The buff (a light yellow-tan, approximately #E8D5A3) was the facing color of the Delaware regiment's jackets, making the designation a direct tribute to the state's Revolutionary War soldiers.

New Jersey's Jersey Blue and Buff tell a similar story. George Washington personally specified these colors in 1779 for the uniforms of the New Jersey Continental Line. The colors were officially codified by the state legislature in 1965 under Title 52:9A-1, nearly 200 years after Washington's original order.

North Carolina's Red and Blue (official since 1945 under G.S. § 145-3) are defined as Old Glory Blue (#002868) and Old Glory Red (#BF0A30) — the precise shades of the U.S. flag — emphasizing the state's patriotic heritage and its role in the founding era.

Many unofficial state colors draw directly from the natural landscape. Maine's Blue and Green reflect the deep blue of the Atlantic Ocean and the dark evergreen forests that cover most of the state. New Hampshire's Green and White evoke the White Mountains and the pine forests that dominate the northern part of the state. Vermont's Green and Gold nod to the Green Mountains (from which the state takes its name, from the French 'Verts Monts') and its agricultural heritage.

Montana's Copper, Silver, and Gold stand apart from the blue-heavy norm — the only state to use copper as a primary color. These metallic hues represent the state's 'Treasure State' nickname and its copper, silver, and gold mining history. Nevada's official Silver and Blue (1983, NRS 235.025) serve a similar purpose: silver honors Nevada's mining industry and its identity as 'The Silver State.' Both nicknames appear in the broader state nicknames list.

New Mexico's Red and Yellow (official since 1999) are the most historically layered. These are the colors of Old Spain, carried to the Southwest by Spanish colonists in the 16th century. They appear on the state's iconic 1925 flag — a red Zia sun symbol on a yellow field — connecting modern New Mexico directly to its pre-statehood colonial heritage.

In many states, the flagship university's colors grew so dominant in public life that they effectively became the state colors by popular recognition — without any legislative vote. Michigan's Maize and Blue is perhaps the clearest example. The University of Michigan adopted these colors in 1867, and 150 years of college football, cultural reach, and institutional prestige have made them inseparable from Michigan's identity at every level.

West Virginia took the unusual step of formally codifying what began as university colors. Old Gold and Blue originated with West Virginia University but were officially adopted by the state legislature in 1895 via Joint Resolution No. 8 — giving a university tradition the force of state law, and making it the only university-originated color combination to become truly official. Nebraska's Scarlet and Cream, Tennessee's Orange and White, Wisconsin's Red and White, and Wyoming's Brown and Gold all remain semi-official: recognized everywhere in practice, but not yet codified in statute.

Illinois and Ohio present the clearest cases of split color identity. Illinois's flag uses blue and white, but Blue and Orange — the University of Illinois colors since 1894 — are so widely recognized as the state colors of Illinois that both palettes coexist without resolution. Ohio's flag and official imagery use Red, White, and Blue, but the Scarlet and Gray of Ohio State University (adopted 1878) dominate in everyday state identity to the point where most Ohioans would name them first. See state colors of Ohio for the full breakdown of both traditions.

South Carolina's Indigo Blue is one of the most precisely defined and historically documented state colors in the nation. When the legislature officially designated Indigo Blue — codified as Pantone 282 C — in 2008, it clarified something important: white is NOT a state color of South Carolina. The shade was confirmed through forensic analysis of surviving 1776 Revolutionary War artifacts — specifically the blue cockades worn by South Carolina's colonial militia. Importantly, the designation is singular: one color only.

Hawaii's 'Eight Island Colors' represent a completely different approach to state color symbolism. Rather than choosing a single statewide palette, Hawaii assigns a distinct color to each of its major islands — for example, yellow for Oahu, red for Hawaii (the Big Island), and green for Kauai. This makes Hawaii the only U.S. state with a collective, multi-color system rooted in island identity rather than a unified flag or seal.

Oklahoma's Green and White carry perhaps the most culturally significant backstory of any state color designation. The colors were proposed in 1915 by the Ohoyohoma Circle — a name derived from the Choctaw language meaning 'women's circle' — to represent the mistletoe plant, which was the original state flower. This makes Oklahoma's colors one of the rare designations with direct roots in Native American tradition and women's civic organizing.

More than 35 states have never formally designated state colors by statute. Colors are simply inferred from the state flag or seal, with no legislative action required or taken. Connecticut uses the colonial blue of its flag; the state colors of Georgia — Red, White, and Blue — mirror the national tricolor on the 2003 state banner; Missouri's tricolor echoes its French colonial heritage carried through the Louisiana Purchase. None of these are legislated. All are widely recognized.

The absence of official designation doesn't mean the state lacks a color identity. The state colors of Florida — Orange, Red, and White — are instantly recognizable, tied to the citrus industry and the state's Sunshine branding. The state colors of Pennsylvania are Blue and Gold, derived from the 1799 flag, and appear consistently across all Commonwealth government materials — despite no formal statute. Colorado's Blue, White, Gold, and Red are so strongly associated with the state flag's clean mountain design that they function as state colors in everything but name.

New York is the most interesting edge case. The state has no standalone color statute, but the Empire State Development agency formally established Blue and Gold in its 2015 brand guidelines — giving the colors institutional recognition without a legislature vote. The state colors of New York are now codified in official branding, if not in law. This hybrid model — brand guidelines as de facto designation — is becoming more common as states recognize the economic value of consistent color identity without going through the legislative process.