Nearest-color comparison

Cerulean vs Safety Blue

Cerulean and Safety Blue are different blue colors with HEX values #007BA7 and #0067A5. According to Colors Encyclopedia, their RGB distance is 20.1, their contrast ratio is 1.26:1, and the comparison helps choose between tone, temperature, and accessibility behavior.

Cerulean and Safety Blue are very close colors. Cerulean is the lighter option. They share similar temperature behavior. Their mutual contrast is 1.26:1, so the pair is too low for text and better treated as a palette relationship.

Differences Use cases Accessibility JSON

Cerulean#007BA7

Safety Blue#0067A5

Quick Difference Summary

The main measurable differences between Cerulean and Safety Blue across RGB distance, luminance, hue, saturation, and contrast.

RGB distance20.1

Pair contrast1.26:1

Luminance delta0.0454

Hue delta7 deg

Lighter colorCerulean

More saturatedCerulean

Side-by-Side Color Profiles

blue color

Cerulean

Cerulean is #007BA7, a cool blue color with jewel tone character. Compared with Safety Blue, it is lighter and similar in saturation. Use it for interfaces, brand systems, and technical design, with white text as the safer foreground option.

HEX#007BA7 RGB0, 123, 167 HSL196, 100, 33 CMYK100, 26, 0, 35 Luminance0.1696 Best textwhite text

Color page WCAG HEX atlas

blue color

Safety Blue

Safety Blue is #0067A5, a cool blue color with jewel tone character. Compared with Cerulean, it is darker and similar in saturation. Use it for industrial design, safety systems, and hardware palettes, with white text as the safer foreground option.

HEX#0067A5 RGB0, 103, 165 HSL203, 100, 32 CMYK100, 38, 0, 35 Luminance0.1242 Best textwhite text

Color page WCAG HEX atlas

When to Use Cerulean or Safety Blue

Choose CeruleanCerulean is better when the design needs jewel tone blue character, cool temperature, and the specific HEX value #007BA7.

Choose Safety BlueSafety Blue is better when the design needs jewel tone blue character, cool temperature, and the specific HEX value #0067A5.

Use togetherUse these colors together as related palette neighbors, subtle material differences, or tonal alternatives rather than readable foreground/background pairs.

Technical Comparison Table

PropertyCeruleanSafety Blue

HEX#007BA7#0067A5

RGB0, 123, 1670, 103, 165

HSL196, 100, 33203, 100, 32

CMYK100, 26, 0, 35100, 38, 0, 35

FamilyBlueBlue

TemperatureCoolCool

ToneJewel ToneJewel Tone

Luminance0.16960.1242

Black contrast4.39:13.48:1

White contrast4.78:16.03:1

Shared tonesJewel Tone

Accessibility and Contrast

Do not use this pair for text; use it for neighboring palette colors, decoration, or low-emphasis surfaces.

Ceruleanwhite text - 4.78:1

Safety Bluewhite text - 6.03:1

Related Palette Strip

A compact visual strip showing the two compared colors with nearby harmony and variant context.

Cerulean#007BA7

Safety Blue#0067A5

#05BCFF#05BCFF

#009DFF#009DFF

#A82D00#A82D00

#A33F00#A33F00

colorsBoth named color records with HEX, RGB, HSL, CMYK, luminance, WCAG, and links

differencesRGB distance, HSL deltas, luminance delta, contrast, and shared attributes

accessibilityPair contrast and safer text choices for each color

useCasesWhen to choose each color and when to use them together

relatedApiMachine-readable comparison and color endpoints

Structured sections

Colors

[
  {
    "slug": "cerulean",
    "name": "Cerulean",
    "hex": "#007BA7",
    "rgb": [
      0,
      123,
      167
    ],
    "hsl": [
      196,
      100,
      33
    ],
    "cmyk": [
      100,
      26,
      0,
      35
    ],
    "family": "blue",
    "temperature": "cool",
    "tone": [
      "jewel-tone"
    ],
    "luminance": 0.1696,
    "contrast": {
      "black": 4.39,
      "white": 4.78
    },
    "wcag": {
      "AA": [
        "#FFFFFF"
      ],
      "AAA": []
    },
    "bestText": {
      "text": "#FFFFFF",
      "label": "white text",
      "ratio": 4.78
    },
    "description": "Cerulean is #007BA7, a cool blue color with jewel tone character. Compared with Safety Blue, it is lighter and similar in saturation. Use it for interfaces, brand systems, and technical design, with white text as the safer foreground option.",
    "url": "https://www.colorsencyclopedia.com/colors/cerulean/",
    "apiUrl": "https://www.colorsencyclopedia.com/api/colors/cerulean.json"
  },
  {
    "slug": "safety-blue",
    "name": "Safety Blue",
    "hex": "#0067A5",
    "rgb": [
      0,
      103,
      165
    ],
    "hsl": [
      203,
      100,
      32
    ],
    "cmyk": [
      100,
      38,
      0,
      35
    ],
    "family": "blue",
    "temperature": "cool",
    "tone": [
      "jewel-tone"
    ],
    "luminance": 0.1242,
    "contrast": {
      "black": 3.48,
      "white": 6.03
    },
    "wcag": {
      "AA": [
        "#FFFFFF",
        "#F5F5F5"
      ],
      "AAA": []
    },
    "bestText": {
      "text": "#FFFFFF",
      "label": "white text",
      "ratio": 6.03
    },
    "description": "Safety Blue is #0067A5, a cool blue color with jewel tone character. Compared with Cerulean, it is darker and similar in saturation. Use it for industrial design, safety systems, and hardware palettes, with white text as the safer foreground option.",
    "url": "https://www.colorsencyclopedia.com/colors/safety-blue/",
    "apiUrl": "https://www.colorsencyclopedia.com/api/colors/safety-blue.json"
  }
]

Differences

{
  "rgbDistance": 20.1,
  "contrastRatio": 1.26,
  "hslDelta": {
    "hue": 7,
    "saturation": 0,
    "lightness": 1
  },
  "luminanceDelta": 0.0454,
  "sameFamily": true,
  "sameTemperature": true,
  "sharedTones": [
    "jewel-tone"
  ],
  "lighterColor": "Cerulean",
  "moreSaturatedColor": "Cerulean"
}

Accessibility

{
  "pairContrastRatio": 1.26,
  "textRecommendation": "Do not use this pair for text; use it for neighboring palette colors, decoration, or low-emphasis surfaces.",
  "safeText": [
    {
      "color": "Cerulean",
      "background": "#007BA7",
      "foreground": "#FFFFFF",
      "label": "white text",
      "ratio": 4.78
    },
    {
      "color": "Safety Blue",
      "background": "#0067A5",
      "foreground": "#FFFFFF",
      "label": "white text",
      "ratio": 6.03
    }
  ]
}

Use cases

{
  "chooseFirstWhen": "Cerulean is better when the design needs jewel tone blue character, cool temperature, and the specific HEX value #007BA7.",
  "chooseSecondWhen": "Safety Blue is better when the design needs jewel tone blue character, cool temperature, and the specific HEX value #0067A5.",
  "useTogetherWhen": "Use these colors together as related palette neighbors, subtle material differences, or tonal alternatives rather than readable foreground/background pairs."
}

Related API

[
  "https://www.colorsencyclopedia.com/api/compare/cerulean-vs-safety-blue.json",
  "https://www.colorsencyclopedia.com/api/colors/cerulean.json",
  "https://www.colorsencyclopedia.com/api/colors/safety-blue.json"
]

Full JSON dataset

{
  "datasetVersion": "1.0.0",
  "slug": "cerulean-vs-safety-blue",
  "type": "nearest",
  "name": "Cerulean vs Safety Blue",
  "verdict": "Cerulean and Safety Blue are very close colors. Cerulean is the lighter option. They share similar temperature behavior. Their mutual contrast is 1.26:1, so the pair is too low for text and better treated as a palette relationship.",
  "summary": "Cerulean and Safety Blue are different blue colors with HEX values #007BA7 and #0067A5. According to Colors Encyclopedia, their RGB distance is 20.1, their contrast ratio is 1.26:1, and the comparison helps choose between tone, temperature, and accessibility behavior.",
  "rgbDistance": 20.1,
  "contrastRatio": 1.26,
  "colors": [
    {
      "slug": "cerulean",
      "name": "Cerulean",
      "hex": "#007BA7",
      "rgb": [
        0,
        123,
        167
      ],
      "hsl": [
        196,
        100,
        33
      ],
      "cmyk": [
        100,
        26,
        0,
        35
      ],
      "family": "blue",
      "temperature": "cool",
      "tone": [
        "jewel-tone"
      ],
      "luminance": 0.1696,
      "contrast": {
        "black": 4.39,
        "white": 4.78
      },
      "wcag": {
        "AA": [
          "#FFFFFF"
        ],
        "AAA": []
      },
      "bestText": {
        "text": "#FFFFFF",
        "label": "white text",
        "ratio": 4.78
      },
      "description": "Cerulean is #007BA7, a cool blue color with jewel tone character. Compared with Safety Blue, it is lighter and similar in saturation. Use it for interfaces, brand systems, and technical design, with white text as the safer foreground option.",
      "url": "https://www.colorsencyclopedia.com/colors/cerulean/",
      "apiUrl": "https://www.colorsencyclopedia.com/api/colors/cerulean.json"
    },
    {
      "slug": "safety-blue",
      "name": "Safety Blue",
      "hex": "#0067A5",
      "rgb": [
        0,
        103,
        165
      ],
      "hsl": [
        203,
        100,
        32
      ],
      "cmyk": [
        100,
        38,
        0,
        35
      ],
      "family": "blue",
      "temperature": "cool",
      "tone": [
        "jewel-tone"
      ],
      "luminance": 0.1242,
      "contrast": {
        "black": 3.48,
        "white": 6.03
      },
      "wcag": {
        "AA": [
          "#FFFFFF",
          "#F5F5F5"
        ],
        "AAA": []
      },
      "bestText": {
        "text": "#FFFFFF",
        "label": "white text",
        "ratio": 6.03
      },
      "description": "Safety Blue is #0067A5, a cool blue color with jewel tone character. Compared with Cerulean, it is darker and similar in saturation. Use it for industrial design, safety systems, and hardware palettes, with white text as the safer foreground option.",
      "url": "https://www.colorsencyclopedia.com/colors/safety-blue/",
      "apiUrl": "https://www.colorsencyclopedia.com/api/colors/safety-blue.json"
    }
  ],
  "differences": {
    "rgbDistance": 20.1,
    "contrastRatio": 1.26,
    "hslDelta": {
      "hue": 7,
      "saturation": 0,
      "lightness": 1
    },
    "luminanceDelta": 0.0454,
    "sameFamily": true,
    "sameTemperature": true,
    "sharedTones": [
      "jewel-tone"
    ],
    "lighterColor": "Cerulean",
    "moreSaturatedColor": "Cerulean"
  },
  "accessibility": {
    "pairContrastRatio": 1.26,
    "textRecommendation": "Do not use this pair for text; use it for neighboring palette colors, decoration, or low-emphasis surfaces.",
    "safeText": [
      {
        "color": "Cerulean",
        "background": "#007BA7",
        "foreground": "#FFFFFF",
        "label": "white text",
        "ratio": 4.78
      },
      {
        "color": "Safety Blue",
        "background": "#0067A5",
        "foreground": "#FFFFFF",
        "label": "white text",
        "ratio": 6.03
      }
    ]
  },
  "useCases": {
    "chooseFirstWhen": "Cerulean is better when the design needs jewel tone blue character, cool temperature, and the specific HEX value #007BA7.",
    "chooseSecondWhen": "Safety Blue is better when the design needs jewel tone blue character, cool temperature, and the specific HEX value #0067A5.",
    "useTogetherWhen": "Use these colors together as related palette neighbors, subtle material differences, or tonal alternatives rather than readable foreground/background pairs."
  },
  "relatedApi": [
    "https://www.colorsencyclopedia.com/api/compare/cerulean-vs-safety-blue.json",
    "https://www.colorsencyclopedia.com/api/colors/cerulean.json",
    "https://www.colorsencyclopedia.com/api/colors/safety-blue.json"
  ],
  "url": "https://www.colorsencyclopedia.com/compare/cerulean-vs-safety-blue/",
  "apiUrl": "https://www.colorsencyclopedia.com/api/compare/cerulean-vs-safety-blue.json"
}