Change your site’s background color

Your website’s background color affects its overall look and feel. Changing it can help your site better match your brand or personal style. In this guide, you will learn how to change your WordPress site’s background color.

WordPress sites primarily use two different editing tools (either the Site Editor or the Customizer). You will follow different instructions for changing the background color, depending on which tool your site uses.

How to find out which tool you are using:

1. Visit your site’s dashboard.
2. Look at the left menu under Appearance.
3. If you see Editor, use the Site Editor tab below.
4. If you see Customize, use the Customizer tab below.

Choose the tab that matches your site:

Site EditorCustomizer

This feature is available on sites with the WordPress.com Personal, Premium, Business, and Commerce plans. For free sites, upgrade your plan to access this feature.

Block themes on WordPress use the Site Editor to change your site’s background color. To change the background color, follow these steps:

1. Visit your site’s dashboard.
2. Go to Appearance → Editor.
3. Select Styles from the left-side menu.
4. Click the Colors option.
5. Under the Elements section, click the Background option.
6. Select a color or define a gradient using the color picker.
7. Click the “Review change” button at the bottom left to review and save your changes.

Remove the background color

Remove the background color from your site by taking the following steps:

1. Visit your site’s dashboard.
2. Go to Appearance → Editor.
3. Select Styles from the left-side menu.
4. Reset to the theme default color using one of two ways:
   • Click the minus icon next to the background color.
   • Click the Background option, and click the Clear button.

Some classic themes support adding a background color through the Customizer, regardless of your site’s plan. Whether this option is available depends on your theme. If your theme doesn’t include it, consider switching to a block theme for full control over your site’s design.

To change your site’s background color on a classic theme, follow these steps:

1. Visit your site’s dashboard.
2. Navigate to Appearance → Customize.
3. Click the “Colors & Backgrounds” tab.
4. Click the box below the Background header to select a background for your site.

5. To select a background color:
   • Click any of the automatic color suggestions to use it for your site, or
   • Click the “pick your own color” link to open the color picker and use it to set a custom color for your background.

6. Click the “Save Changes” button at the top of the screen to apply your changes to your site.

To reset your colors to the theme’s default, click the Default button next to Background and click the “Save Changes” to save your changes.

The WordPress Agent can help you choose a background color that suits your site’s style. When you open the WordPress Agent in the Site Editor (Appearance → Editor), the WordPress Agent can also change your site’s background color for you. Review the change, then save your changes in the Site Editor. Here are some sample prompts you can copy and use:

• “Suggest a background color for a photography portfolio that complements dark images.”
• “My site uses a blue and white color scheme — what background color would work well?”
• “What background color makes body text the easiest to read?”
• “How do I pick a background color that matches my brand?”

AI agents can change the background color across your whole site, using a color value you choose or a color from your theme’s palette. Here are some things you can ask an agent to do:

• “Change the background color of yourgroovysite.wordpress.com to #FAF7F2.”
• “Set the site background on yourgroovysite.wordpress.com to the lightest color in my theme’s palette.”
• “Give yourgroovysite.wordpress.com a dark background and change the text color to off-white so it stays readable.”