In 2019, a lab-grown center stone in an engagement ring was unusual — about 6% of newly appraised rings. By the first half of 2026, lab-grown stones were the majority. Two separate, real studies, built from two different kinds of data, now agree that lab-grown diamonds have overtaken natural ones in new U.S. engagement rings. Here's what the numbers actually say, where the two studies disagree, and what it means if you're choosing a stone for your own ring.
The Switch, by the Numbers
The clearest read on this comes from BriteCo, an jewelry insurer that built its 2026 Jewelry, Diamond & Watch Price Index from real appraisals — not a survey, but the actual characteristics recorded when a ring gets appraised for insurance. The index covers appraisals from January 2019 through June 2026, across all 50 states and Washington, D.C.
By that measure, lab-grown center stones went from 5.9% of newly appraised engagement rings in 2019, to 47.0% in 2025, to 51.0% in the first half of 2026 — the first time lab-grown has outnumbered natural stones in this data.
Two Real Studies, Two Different Numbers
BriteCo's appraisal data puts 2025 lab-grown share at 47%. The Knot Worldwide's 2026 Real Weddings Study, a survey of 10,474 U.S. couples who married in 2025, puts it higher: 61% of engagement rings featured a lab-grown center stone, which The Knot describes as a 239% increase since 2020.
Both numbers are real and both are named, but they're not measuring quite the same thing. BriteCo's figure comes from appraisal records, which skew toward pieces people chose to formally insure and can lag slightly behind the purchase itself. The Knot's figure is self-reported by newlyweds shortly after their wedding, which captures the purchase directly but relies on couples accurately knowing and reporting their own stone type. Treat the real range as roughly the high-40s to low-60s percent — not a single precise figure — but both studies agree on the same underlying fact: lab-grown is no longer the minority choice.
Why Lab-Grown Got So Much Cheaper, So Fast
The adoption curve tracks a price curve. Per BriteCo's index, the median lab-grown diamond price per carat fell 55% between 2019 and 2025 — from $4,622 to $2,057 — and sat at $2,015 in the first half of 2026. Natural diamonds moved the opposite direction over the same stretch: $6,237 per carat in 2019 to $8,428 in 2025, and $8,703 in the first half of 2026.
Lab-grown diamonds are grown, not mined, and production capacity has scaled up faster than demand — the classic setup for a falling price. Natural diamond prices doing the opposite over the same years is part of why the gap between the two kept widening rather than closing.
What a Ring Actually Costs Now
Cheaper stones and bigger stones showed up together. BriteCo's data shows the median center-stone size roughly doubled, from 1.01 carats in 2019 to 2.0 carats in 2025 — consistent with The Knot's finding of a 1.9-carat average in its 2025 newlywed sample. The Knot also puts the average spend on a lab-grown stone at $4,600, close to BriteCo's $4,557 median lab-grown ring sale price for 2025. Natural diamond rings sold for a median of $12,961 the same year.
- Median price per carat (2025): lab-grown $2,057 vs. natural $8,428 — BriteCo
- Median engagement ring sale price (2025): lab-grown $4,557 vs. natural $12,961 — BriteCo
- Median center-stone size: 1.01ct (2019) → 2.0ct (2025) — BriteCo
- Lab-grown market share in new rings: 5.9% (2019) → 51.0% (Jan–Jun 2026) — BriteCo
Is This a Phase, or a Permanent Shift?
Two more findings from The Knot's study suggest this isn't just couples chasing a discount. 40% of surveyed couples said it was specifically important to them that their stone be lab-grown — not just acceptable, but preferred. And over the same period that lab-grown rings grew in size, natural diamond engagement rings showed no growth in total ring size or center-stone size, per the same study.
Moissanite, a lab-created diamond simulant that is chemically a different mineral from diamond, was the second most popular non-diamond center stone in The Knot's sample at 20%, behind sapphire at 23%. If you're weighing moissanite against a lab-grown diamond specifically, our moissanite vs. diamond guide covers the hardness, sparkle, and price differences in more detail.
The same BriteCo index shows the shift isn't limited to the stone. Yellow gold overtook white gold as the most common engagement ring metal in 2025, at 39% versus 38%, after white gold held 51% of the market back in 2019. Round remained the most chosen stone shape in The Knot's survey at 26%, with oval close behind at 25%. None of that proves couples are rethinking rings from the ground up because of lab-grown diamonds specifically — metal and shape preferences move for their own reasons — but it's a reminder that the stone-origin shift is happening alongside several other changes in what a “typical” engagement ring looks like, not in isolation.
Choosing a Stone for Your Own Ring
If you're deciding between a lab-grown and a natural stone, our lab-grown vs. natural diamonds guide walks through what's physically different between the two beyond price — they're chemically identical, graded on the same scale, and not distinguishable to the naked eye.
For a fuller picture of what couples are spending on rings overall — lab-grown, natural, and otherwise — see our engagement ring cost statistics breakdown.
And if the diamond-vs-simulant decision isn't worth the budget either way, a real colored stone is its own category rather than a diamond substitute — FARUZO's birthstone rings collection pairs an engraved band with a birthstone instead of a center diamond, which is a different kind of ring rather than a cheaper version of the same one.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is a lab-grown diamond a “real” diamond?
Yes, chemically. A lab-grown diamond is pure carbon in the same crystal structure as a natural diamond, graded on the same 4Cs scale by the same gemological labs. The only difference is where it formed — underground over geologic time versus a lab over weeks — which is also why the two aren't distinguishable to the naked eye and require lab equipment to tell apart.
Why are lab-grown diamonds so much cheaper per carat than natural ones?
Mainly supply. Growing diamonds in a lab scales the way most manufacturing does — more production capacity pushes the price down — while natural diamond supply is fixed by what's physically in the ground. BriteCo's data shows that gap widening in both directions at once: lab-grown per-carat prices falling while natural per-carat prices rose, 2019 to 2025.
Will lab-grown diamond prices keep falling?
The trend through the first half of 2026 (per BriteCo) was a continued, if smaller, decline — from $2,057 to $2,015 per carat. Whether that continues depends on production capacity and demand neither this index nor any single source can predict with certainty.
Do lab-grown diamonds hold resale value the way natural diamonds can?
Not based on the price trend here. Because lab-grown supply keeps growing and per-carat prices have fallen 55% since 2019 (BriteCo), a lab-grown stone bought today is generally not expected to resell for what was paid for it — which is also true of natural diamonds at retail, just to a smaller degree.
What's the difference between a lab-grown diamond and moissanite?
A lab-grown diamond is carbon, identical to a natural diamond except for its origin. Moissanite is a different mineral (silicon carbide) that only resembles diamond in appearance — it's harder to tell apart from diamond by eye than most people expect, but a jeweler can distinguish them with standard testing tools.
