Diamond Price Calculator

Learn which of the 4C's influences diamond prices the most, who has the best diamond prices, and whether there is an industry-wide diamond pricing formula.

Is there a Diamond Price Formula?

Each retailer sets their own diamond prices, so there is no industry-wide set diamond price formula.  Walk into the fanciest jewelry store and price a GIA-certified round, 1-carat, flawless, colorless, ideal cut diamond, and then walk into Costco, Walmart, or even your local pawn shop and price the exact same diamond.  The price difference is huge.

However, diamonds are commodity items with industry grading standards.  So, even if you shop at a high-end retailer and pay extra, you will still get what everyone else can buy at a discount retailer. 

Who has the Best Diamond Prices?

Interestingly, if you priced one specific type of diamond (like a GIA-certified round, 1-carat, flawless, colorless, ideal cut) across several retailers, and then repeated the process with a slightly different diamond--maybe a different cut or color grade or clarity grade--you'd find the retailer with the best price on one type of diamond isn't necessarily the retailer with the best price on the other diamond. 

This makes sense.  Some retailers focus on a certain segment of the market.  Some focus on high-end, unique shapes or colors diamonds.  Others only carry round cuts.  Some restrict their diamonds by carat size.  Some carry a wide variety of diamonds but sell more round, VS2 clarity stones so they price those stones differently than the rest of their inventory.  Some retailers pick a price once; others change their prices monthly. 

So the best way to find "Who has the best diamond prices?" for your diamond is to use a diamond search engine that will pull the prices of loose diamonds from several retailers for you, so you can see prices side-by-side for one specific type of diamond.

Which of the 4C's Influences Diamond Price Most?

A regression analysis of 6,000 diamonds from one reputable retailer (the experiment withheld the retailer's name so the researcher wouldn't be accused of bias or advertising) resulted in this formula:

Diamond Price = Intercept + (Carat x $4,020) – (Clarity x $122) – (Color x $90) – (Cut x $25)

Carat is by far this retailer’s largest concern. Carat accounts for more than $4,000 per carat. The remaining Cs—clarity, color, and cut—are significantly less important to this retailer’s pricing. Each change in cut varies the price by $25; each color grade accounts for $90; and each clarity grade changes the price by $122. So, if you were debating downgrading the color or clarity by one grade, but were not certain which to drop, you’d see that a step down in clarity saves you $32 more than a step down in color. While price should not be your only consideration, understanding how the 4C's impact price can help you find the diamond you want on a budget you can afford without wondering if a better priced diamond was hiding somewhere you weren't looking.