What color are the arches in McDonald’s best-known logo?

The arches in McDonald’s best-known logo are golden yellow.

The color is part of the “Golden Arches” identity, a name that originally described the yellow architectural arches on McDonald’s early restaurant buildings. Those structures were designed to be visible to passing motorists, making the restaurant easy to identify from a distance.

When the arches became a graphic logo, their yellow color remained a crucial recognition cue. McDonald’s frequently presents the arches against a red background, but the arches themselves are the golden-yellow element. That distinction matters because people sometimes answer “red” after recalling the classic red-and-yellow restaurant sign.

The arches also carry historical meaning beyond color. Their shape grew from restaurant architecture, then became a trademarked graphic symbol used independently of a building. This combination of color, shape, and roadside visibility helped make the logo recognizable even when no restaurant name appeared beside it.