Tailwind CSS v4 default palette
Tailwind yellow-500: #EFB100
In Tailwind CSS v4, yellow-500 is defined as --color-yellow-500: oklch(79.5% 0.184 86.047), which is #EFB100 in hex and rgb(239, 177, 0): a light, vivid amber. In Tailwind v3, yellow-500 was #EAB308.
In OKLCH, yellow-500 has a lightness of 79.5%, chroma 0.184 and hue 86.0°.
This OKLCH value lies outside sRGB. The hex #EFB100 is the sRGB fallback from the CSS Color 4 gamut mapping algorithm; on Display P3 screens browsers show a more saturated color, close to color(display-p3 0.9037 0.7031 0.0745).
In v3, yellow-500 was #EAB308. The v4 value is ΔE OK 2.2 away; v4 is more saturated.
Tailwind yellow has very high lightness through 400, so only the 700 and darker shades are suitable for text on white.
Color codes for yellow-500
| Tailwind v4 token | --color-yellow-500 |
|---|---|
| OKLCH (source value) | oklch(79.5% 0.184 86.047) |
| HEX | #EFB100 |
| RGB | rgb(239, 177, 0) |
| HSL | hsl(44, 100%, 47%) |
| HWB | hwb(44 0% 6%) |
| CMYK (naive, no ICC profile) | cmyk(0%, 26%, 100%, 6%) |
| Decimal | 15,708,416 |
| Display P3 | color(display-p3 0.9037 0.7031 0.0745) |
| Tailwind v3 hex | #EAB308 |
| Utility classes | bg-yellow-500, text-yellow-500, border-yellow-500 |
Tailwind yellow scale
Contrast and accessibility
On yellow-500, black text has a contrast ratio of 10.95:1 and passes AAA at any text size; white text reaches 1.91:1.
WCAG 2.2 contrast ratios (success criteria 1.4.3 and 1.4.6: AA needs 4.5:1 for normal text and 3:1 for large text, AAA needs 7:1 and 4.5:1). APCA Lc is the lightness contrast from the APCA-W3 0.0.98G model proposed for WCAG 3; a higher absolute value is more readable, and Lc 75 is its suggested minimum for body text.
| Pair | Ratio | AA | AA large | AAA | AAA large | APCA Lc |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Black text on yellow-500 | 10.95:1 | Pass | Pass | Pass | Pass | 67.6 |
| White text on yellow-500 | 1.91:1 | Fail | Fail | Fail | Fail | −40.6 |
| Yellow-500 text on white | 1.91:1 | Fail | Fail | Fail | Fail | 36.3 |
| Yellow-500 text on black | 10.95:1 | Pass | Pass | Pass | Pass | −66.2 |
Tints and shades
Each step mixes var(--color-yellow-500) with white (tints) or black (shades) in gamma-encoded sRGB, the same result as color-mix(in srgb, var(--color-yellow-500), white 25%) in CSS.
Tints (mixed with white)
- 5%
#f0b50d - 15%
#f1bd26 - 25%
#f3c540 - 35%
#f5cc59 - 45%
#f6d473 - 55%
#f8dc8c - 65%
#f9e4a6 - 75%
#fbecbf - 85%
#fdf3d9 - 95%
#fefbf2
Shades (mixed with black)
- 5%
#e3a800 - 15%
#cb9600 - 25%
#b38500 - 35%
#9b7300 - 45%
#836100 - 55%
#6c5000 - 65%
#543e00 - 75%
#3c2c00 - 85%
#241b00 - 95%
#0c0900
Color harmonies
Rotating the hue in OKLCH while keeping lightness and chroma, yellow-500's complementary color is #97BAFF (close to lightskyblue), its analogous colors are #FF9C42 and #B7C900, and its triadic partners are #00D7ED and #F78EFB. For text on top, black gives the higher contrast.
| Harmony | Rotation | Color |
|---|---|---|
| Complementary | +180° | #97baff |
| Analogous | −30°, +30° | #ff9c42#b7c900 |
| Triadic | +120°, +240° | #00d7ed#f78efb |
| Split-complementary | +150°, +210° | #49c9ff#c5a8ff |
Computed in OKLCH: the hue is rotated by 180° (complementary), ±30° (analogous), ±120° (triadic) and 180° ±30° (split-complementary) while lightness and chroma stay fixed. Results that fall outside sRGB are brought back with the CSS Color 4 gamut mapping algorithm. Because this uses OKLCH, the values differ from tools that rotate hue in HSL, but every color keeps the same perceived lightness.
Warm or cool?
Tailwind yellow-500 is a warm color: its hue is 44° on the HSL wheel, in the red, orange and yellow range (0° to about 70°, plus reds above 330°) that is conventionally called warm.
Nearest named and Tailwind colors
Distance is ΔE OK, the Euclidean distance in OKLab multiplied by 100. Values under about 2 are hard to tell apart side by side.
Nearest CSS named colors
| Color | HEX | ΔE OK |
|---|---|---|
| orange | #ffa500 | 4.9 |
| goldenrod | #daa520 | 5.7 |
| sandybrown | #f4a460 | 9.1 |
Nearest Tailwind v4 colors
| Color | HEX | ΔE OK |
|---|---|---|
| amber-400 | #ffba00 | 3.4 |
| amber-500 | #fd9a00 | 5.8 |
| yellow-400 | #fcc800 | 6.2 |
Code snippets
<div class="bg-yellow-500 text-black">...</div>
<p class="text-yellow-500 border-yellow-500">...</p>.element {
color: var(--color-yellow-500);
background-color: oklch(79.5% 0.184 86.047);
border-color: #efb100;
outline-color: rgb(239 177 0);
}import SwiftUI
extension Color {
static let yellow500 = Color(red: 0.937, green: 0.694, blue: 0.000)
}import androidx.compose.ui.graphics.Color
val Yellow500 = Color(0xFFEFB100)import 'package:flutter/material.dart';
const yellow500 = Color(0xFFEFB100);<!-- res/values/colors.xml -->
<color name="yellow_500">#EFB100</color>Frequently asked questions
- What is the hex code for Tailwind yellow-500?
- In Tailwind CSS v4, yellow-500 is oklch(79.5% 0.184 86.047), which converts to #EFB100 (rgb(239, 177, 0)) in sRGB after gamut mapping, because the OKLCH value is outside sRGB. In Tailwind v3 the same name was #EAB308.
- What is the difference between yellow-500 in Tailwind v3 and v4?
- v3 used the hex #EAB308; v4 redefined the palette in OKLCH as oklch(79.5% 0.184 86.047). In v3, yellow-500 was #EAB308. The v4 value is ΔE OK 2.2 away; v4 is more saturated.
- How do I use yellow-500 in plain CSS?
- Tailwind v4 defines every palette color as a theme variable, so in CSS you write var(--color-yellow-500). By default Tailwind only emits the variables your project uses; @theme static emits all of them.
- Can you use white text on yellow-500?
- White text on yellow-500 has a contrast ratio of 1.91:1, which fails AA even for large text under WCAG 2.2. Black text reaches 10.95:1 and passes both AA and AAA. In APCA terms that is Lc −40.6 for white and Lc 67.6 for black.
- Which CSS named color is closest to yellow-500?
- The closest is orange (#FFA500) at ΔE OK 4.9, followed by goldenrod and sandybrown.
Last reviewed by Arielton Oberek.