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Colors · value from the xkcd color survey (2010)

Dusty green color: hex code #76A973, RGB and palettes

Dusty green is #76A973 (RGB 118, 169, 115), the value people most often called dusty green in the xkcd color survey: a muted, leafy mid-tone green. Black text reaches 7.69:1 on it; white falls short at 2.72:1.

By Paul Gunder. Every value is computed from published standards; see how ColorPlum works.

Updated

ColorPlum swatchDusty greenmedium, moderately saturated green
HEX
#76A973
RGB
rgb(118, 169, 115)
HSL
hsl(117, 24%, 56%)

Best text on it: black at 7.69:1

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Every code for Dusty green

  • HEX#76A973
  • RGBrgb(118, 169, 115)
  • HSLhsl(117, 24%, 56%)
  • HSV117°, 32%, 66%
  • CMYK30%, 0%, 32%, 34%
  • Lablab(64.6% -25.8 22.3)
  • OKLCHoklch(68.4% 0.095 143.1)
  • Decimal7776627

Tints, shades and tones

From white to black in 10% steps, with Dusty green in the middle. Tap a code to copy it.

  1. 90%#F1F6F1
  2. 80%#E4EEE3
  3. 70%#D6E5D5
  4. 60%#C8DDC7
  5. 50%#BBD4B9
  6. 40%#ADCBAB
  7. 30%#9FC39D
  8. 20%#91BA8F
  9. 10%#84B281
  10. Base#76A973
  11. 10%#6A9868
  12. 20%#5E875C
  13. 30%#537651
  14. 40%#476545
  15. 50%#3B553A
  16. 60%#2F442E
  17. 70%#233323
  18. 80%#182217
  19. 90%#0C110C

Tones (mixed with gray)

  1. 10%#77A574
  2. 20%#78A176
  3. 30%#799D77
  4. 40%#7A9978
  5. 50%#7B957A
  6. 60%#7C907B
  7. 70%#7D8C7C
  8. 80%#7E887D
  9. 90%#7F847F

Matching colors

Complementary
Analogous
Triadic
Split complementary
Tetradic (square)
Monochromatic
  • #345132
  • #52814F
  • #76A973
  • #A4C6A2
  • #D3E3D2

Dusty green in 3D color space

OKLab, the space ColorPlum does its math in: lightness runs up the pole, hue goes around it and saturation grows outward. The faint shell is every color a screen can show (saturation is drawn wider than lightness so hues separate). Drag to turn it.

Dusty green with its complement, its triad and its tint and shade
  • Dusty green
  • Triad #7376A9
  • Triad #A97376
  • Complement
  • 50% tint
  • 50% shade

Dusty green in use

New collectionAutumn edit

Card body text stays dark for reading; dusty green carries the header and the button.

Shop nowTag

Headline in Dusty green

A paragraph with a link in dark text, because this color is too light for text on white; use it for fills instead.

How it looks with color-vision deficiency

A simulation (Machado and colleagues, 2009) of how the color and its complement read without one type of cone.

  • Typical color vision#76A973
  • Protanopia (no red cones)#ACA070
  • Deuteranopia (no green cones)#A49B76
  • Tritanopia (no blue cones)#71A69B

Contrast and readability

PairingRatioWCAG 2.2
as text on white2.72:1AA AA large AAA
as text on black7.69:1AA AA large AAA
white text on it2.72:1AA AA large AAA
black text on it7.69:1AA AA large AAA
on your background2.38:1AA AA large AAA

Export

:root {
  --dusty-green: #76a973;
  --dusty-green-rgb: 118 169 115;
  --dusty-green-on: #000000;
}
On this page

"Dusty" in a color name usually means a muted color, one that looks as if a little gray or dust has settled on it. Dusty green is a calm, mid-tone green, and there is no dusty green in the CSS color list. The value here comes from the xkcd survey instead, where volunteers named swatches on their screens. The shade they most often called "dusty green" is #76A973.

What the codes mean

In RGB, dusty green is 118, 169, 115, so green leads and red and blue are close together, which keeps the color from looking sharp. In HSL it is hue 117°, 24% saturation and 56% lightness. Low saturation is the whole point: the same hue at full strength would be a bright grass green. The CMYK estimate is 30%, 0%, 32%, 34%.

Survey neighbors include "tea" (#65AB7C, 1.9 away), "dull green" (#74A662) and "greyish green" (#82A67D). The closest CSS color is mediumseagreen (#3CB371), but at 5.5 away it is clearly more vivid, and darkseagreen (#8FBC8F) is 6.8 away and lighter. So there is no good named CSS stand-in; use the hex code. A more saturated relative is mint.

Using dusty green well

  • Text on it: black measures 7.69:1. A very dark green such as the 70% shade, #233323, reaches 4.90:1. White text on it fails at 2.72:1.
  • As text: dusty green on white is also 2.72:1, so it will not work for links or small labels. The 40% shade, #476545, on white reads at 6.53:1 and is the better choice for text.
  • Tints: the 80% and 90% tints (#E4EEE3 and #F1F6F1) make restful panel backgrounds.
  • Pairings: the complement is a dusty violet, #A673A9. Cream, terracotta and warm wood all sit well beside it.

Worked example

Say you are building a slide deck for a garden club's annual meeting. Use a full-bleed dusty green for the section-title slides with large black titles at 7.69:1, and a cream background for content slides. For the chart lines and data labels on cream, don't use the main color: the darker 40% shade, #476545, is far easier to read on a light page. Projectors wash out pale colors, so test the deck on the actual screen if you can. The extra darkness of black on the title slides also makes the text hold up in a bright room.

Dusty green versus sage

Sage is the more common word in decorating and wedding work, and it covers a gray-green range that includes this color. No standard defines it, so if you are matching a sage you saw somewhere, compare the hex codes. Dusty green is a good starting point, and the cottagecore palettes show it with neighbors.

Sources

  1. xkcd, Color survey results: the 954 most common color names (Randall Munroe, 2010; checked 2026-11-10) xkcd.com
  2. W3C, CSS Color Module Level 4: named colors and color conversions (checked 2026-11-10) w3.org
  3. W3C, Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2: contrast minimum (checked 2026-11-10) w3.org