{"id":2954361,"date":"2026-01-20T14:33:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-20T22:33:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/?post_type=blog&#038;p=2954361"},"modified":"2026-01-20T14:33:00","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T22:33:00","slug":"how-to-make-a-layers-labels-readable-over-any-background-color","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-pro\/mapping\/how-to-make-a-layers-labels-readable-over-any-background-color","title":{"rendered":"How to make a layer&#8217;s labels readable over any background color"},"author":6971,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_searchwp_excluded":""},"categories":[22941],"tags":[26451,496632,128002,34651,31201],"industry":[],"product":[36561],"class_list":["post-2954361","blog","type-blog","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mapping","tag-cartography","tag-choropleth","tag-labeling","tag-labels","tag-print","product-arcgis-pro"],"acf":{"short_description":"Labeling a choropleth map is hard because the feature labels might not be visible over all the colors. Here's a way to fix that.","flexible_content":[{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Hey, check out the black labels for the black polygon features in this map!<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":{"ID":2954362,"id":2954362,"title":"InvisibleBlackLabels","filename":"InvisibleBlackLabels.jpg","filesize":870680,"url":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/InvisibleBlackLabels.jpg","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-pro\/mapping\/how-to-make-a-layers-labels-readable-over-any-background-color\/invisibleblacklabels","alt":"black labels are impossible to read over black features","author":"6971","description":"","caption":"","name":"invisibleblacklabels","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":2954361,"date":"2026-01-20 21:56:04","modified":"2026-01-20 21:56:21","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1920,"height":1075,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/InvisibleBlackLabels-213x200.jpg","thumbnail-width":213,"thumbnail-height":200,"medium":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/InvisibleBlackLabels.jpg","medium-width":464,"medium-height":261,"medium_large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/InvisibleBlackLabels.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":430,"large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/InvisibleBlackLabels.jpg","large-width":1920,"large-height":1075,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/InvisibleBlackLabels-1536x860.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":860,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/InvisibleBlackLabels.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1075,"card_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/InvisibleBlackLabels-826x462.jpg","card_image-width":826,"card_image-height":462,"wide_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/InvisibleBlackLabels.jpg","wide_image-width":1920,"wide_image-height":1075}},"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/InvisibleBlackLabels.jpg"},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Oh, wait, you can&#8217;t read them. Ok, I&#8217;ll just switch them to white, like this:<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":{"ID":2954363,"id":2954363,"title":"InvisibleWhiteLabels","filename":"InvisibleWhiteLabels.jpg","filesize":847267,"url":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/InvisibleWhiteLabels.jpg","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-pro\/mapping\/how-to-make-a-layers-labels-readable-over-any-background-color\/invisiblewhitelabels","alt":"white labels are impossible to read over white features","author":"6971","description":"","caption":"","name":"invisiblewhitelabels","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":2954361,"date":"2026-01-20 21:57:09","modified":"2026-01-20 21:58:09","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1917,"height":1077,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/InvisibleWhiteLabels-213x200.jpg","thumbnail-width":213,"thumbnail-height":200,"medium":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/InvisibleWhiteLabels.jpg","medium-width":464,"medium-height":261,"medium_large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/InvisibleWhiteLabels.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":431,"large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/InvisibleWhiteLabels.jpg","large-width":1917,"large-height":1077,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/InvisibleWhiteLabels-1536x863.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":863,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/InvisibleWhiteLabels.jpg","2048x2048-width":1917,"2048x2048-height":1077,"card_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/InvisibleWhiteLabels-826x465.jpg","card_image-width":826,"card_image-height":465,"wide_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/InvisibleWhiteLabels.jpg","wide_image-width":1917,"wide_image-height":1077}},"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/InvisibleWhiteLabels.jpg"},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"<p>Foiled again! Now the white features&#8217; labels are invisible. I suppose I could choose a neutral color like gray, but that would still be pretty hard to read over the medium-toned features.<\/p>\n<p>Is there a way to set the visual style of a layer&#8217;s labels so they are legible over any of the symbols&#8217; fill colors?<\/p>\n<p>Absolutely you can. Your new best friend is called a &#8220;Label Class&#8221; and it&#8217;s here to save the day.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":{"ID":2954374,"id":2954374,"title":"LabelClasses","filename":"LabelClasses.jpg","filesize":825322,"url":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/LabelClasses.jpg","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-pro\/mapping\/how-to-make-a-layers-labels-readable-over-any-background-color\/labelclasses","alt":"label classes allow label styling specific to any feature","author":"6971","description":"","caption":"","name":"labelclasses","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":2954361,"date":"2026-01-20 22:14:46","modified":"2026-01-20 22:15:12","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1919,"height":1071,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/LabelClasses-213x200.jpg","thumbnail-width":213,"thumbnail-height":200,"medium":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/LabelClasses.jpg","medium-width":464,"medium-height":259,"medium_large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/LabelClasses.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":429,"large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/LabelClasses.jpg","large-width":1919,"large-height":1071,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/LabelClasses-1536x857.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":857,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/LabelClasses.jpg","2048x2048-width":1919,"2048x2048-height":1071,"card_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/LabelClasses-826x461.jpg","card_image-width":826,"card_image-height":461,"wide_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/LabelClasses.jpg","wide_image-width":1919,"wide_image-height":1071}},"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/LabelClasses.jpg"},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"<p>Label classes let you create distinct groups of labels so you can style each as needed. There&#8217;s even a shortcut to auto-create a label class for each of your layer&#8217;s symbol classes.<\/p>\n<p>Here&#8217;s how you can work with label classes in ArcGIS Pro and ensure no label gets left behind&#8230;<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"youtube","start_time":"0","end_time":"","youtube_video_url":"<iframe title=\"Make Labels Easy to Read Over All Background Colors\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/n5q_IskXIVE?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>"},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"<p>Thanks for watching, friends! Happy labeling, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@JohnNelsonMaps\/videos\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">John<\/a>.<\/p>\n"}],"authors":[{"ID":6971,"user_firstname":"John","user_lastname":"Nelson","nickname":"John Nelson","user_nicename":"j_nelson","display_name":"John Nelson","user_email":"John_Nelson@esri.com","user_url":"http:\/\/www.adventuresinmapping.com","user_registered":"2018-03-02 00:19:05","user_description":"I have far too much fun looking for ways to understand and present data visually, hopefully driving product strategy and engaging users. I work in the ArcGIS Living Atlas team at Esri, pushing and pulling data in all sorts of absurd ways and then sharing the process. I also design user experiences for maps and apps.\r\nWhen I'm not doing those things, I'm chasing around toddlers and wrangling chickens, and generally getting into other ad-hoc adventures. Life is good.\r\nYou might also like these Styles for ArcGIS Pro: esriurl.com\/nelsonstyles","user_avatar":"<img data-del=\"avatar\" src='https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Profile.jpg' class='avatar pp-user-avatar avatar-96 photo ' height='96' width='96'\/>"}],"related_articles":"","show_article_image":false,"card_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/01\/LabelClasses_Cover.jpg","wide_image":false},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.9 (Yoast SEO v25.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>How to make a layer&#039;s labels readable over any background color<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Create labels that are legible over any background, in ArcGIS Pro\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-pro\/mapping\/how-to-make-a-layers-labels-readable-over-any-background-color\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How to make a layer&#039;s labels readable over any background color\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Create labels that are legible over any background, in ArcGIS Pro\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-pro\/mapping\/how-to-make-a-layers-labels-readable-over-any-background-color\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"ArcGIS Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/esrigis\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ESRI\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":[\"Article\",\"BlogPosting\"],\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-pro\/mapping\/how-to-make-a-layers-labels-readable-over-any-background-color#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-pro\/mapping\/how-to-make-a-layers-labels-readable-over-any-background-color\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"John Nelson\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/#\/schema\/person\/c7b930618049977e8eb11eef6b671468\"},\"headline\":\"How to make a layer&#8217;s labels readable over any background color\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-01-20T22:33:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-pro\/mapping\/how-to-make-a-layers-labels-readable-over-any-background-color\"},\"wordCount\":12,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"cartography\",\"choropleth\",\"labeling\",\"labels\",\"Print\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Mapping\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-pro\/mapping\/how-to-make-a-layers-labels-readable-over-any-background-color#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-pro\/mapping\/how-to-make-a-layers-labels-readable-over-any-background-color\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-pro\/mapping\/how-to-make-a-layers-labels-readable-over-any-background-color\",\"name\":\"How to make a layer's labels readable over any background color\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2026-01-20T22:33:00+00:00\",\"description\":\"Create labels that are legible over any background, in ArcGIS Pro\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-pro\/mapping\/how-to-make-a-layers-labels-readable-over-any-background-color#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-pro\/mapping\/how-to-make-a-layers-labels-readable-over-any-background-color\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-pro\/mapping\/how-to-make-a-layers-labels-readable-over-any-background-color#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"How to make a layer&#8217;s labels readable over any background color\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/\",\"name\":\"ArcGIS Blog\",\"description\":\"Get insider info from Esri product teams\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Esri\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Esri.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Esri.png\",\"width\":400,\"height\":400,\"caption\":\"Esri\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/esrigis\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/ESRI\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/5311\/\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/#\/schema\/person\/c7b930618049977e8eb11eef6b671468\",\"name\":\"John Nelson\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Profile.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Profile.jpg\",\"caption\":\"John Nelson\"},\"description\":\"I have far too much fun looking for ways to understand and present data visually, hopefully driving product strategy and engaging users. I work in the ArcGIS Living Atlas team at Esri, pushing and pulling data in all sorts of absurd ways and then sharing the process. I also design user experiences for maps and apps. When I'm not doing those things, I'm chasing around toddlers and wrangling chickens, and generally getting into other ad-hoc adventures. Life is good. You might also like these Styles for ArcGIS Pro: esriurl.com\/nelsonstyles\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.adventuresinmapping.com\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/johnmnelson\/\",\"www.linkedin.com\/in\/johnmnelson\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/john_m_nelson\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/JohnNelsonMaps\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/author\/j_nelson\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"How to make a layer's labels readable over any background color","description":"Create labels that are legible over any background, in ArcGIS Pro","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-pro\/mapping\/how-to-make-a-layers-labels-readable-over-any-background-color","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"How to make a layer's labels readable over any background color","og_description":"Create labels that are legible over any background, in ArcGIS Pro","og_url":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-pro\/mapping\/how-to-make-a-layers-labels-readable-over-any-background-color","og_site_name":"ArcGIS Blog","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/esrigis\/","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_site":"@ESRI","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":["Article","BlogPosting"],"@id":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-pro\/mapping\/how-to-make-a-layers-labels-readable-over-any-background-color#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-pro\/mapping\/how-to-make-a-layers-labels-readable-over-any-background-color"},"author":{"name":"John Nelson","@id":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/#\/schema\/person\/c7b930618049977e8eb11eef6b671468"},"headline":"How to make a layer&#8217;s labels readable over any background color","datePublished":"2026-01-20T22:33:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-pro\/mapping\/how-to-make-a-layers-labels-readable-over-any-background-color"},"wordCount":12,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/#organization"},"keywords":["cartography","choropleth","labeling","labels","Print"],"articleSection":["Mapping"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-pro\/mapping\/how-to-make-a-layers-labels-readable-over-any-background-color#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-pro\/mapping\/how-to-make-a-layers-labels-readable-over-any-background-color","url":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-pro\/mapping\/how-to-make-a-layers-labels-readable-over-any-background-color","name":"How to make a layer's labels readable over any background color","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2026-01-20T22:33:00+00:00","description":"Create labels that are legible over any background, in ArcGIS Pro","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-pro\/mapping\/how-to-make-a-layers-labels-readable-over-any-background-color#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-pro\/mapping\/how-to-make-a-layers-labels-readable-over-any-background-color"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-pro\/mapping\/how-to-make-a-layers-labels-readable-over-any-background-color#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"How to make a layer&#8217;s labels readable over any background color"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/","name":"ArcGIS Blog","description":"Get insider info from Esri product teams","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/#organization","name":"Esri","url":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Esri.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Esri.png","width":400,"height":400,"caption":"Esri"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/esrigis\/","https:\/\/x.com\/ESRI","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/5311\/"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/#\/schema\/person\/c7b930618049977e8eb11eef6b671468","name":"John Nelson","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Profile.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Profile.jpg","caption":"John Nelson"},"description":"I have far too much fun looking for ways to understand and present data visually, hopefully driving product strategy and engaging users. I work in the ArcGIS Living Atlas team at Esri, pushing and pulling data in all sorts of absurd ways and then sharing the process. I also design user experiences for maps and apps. When I'm not doing those things, I'm chasing around toddlers and wrangling chickens, and generally getting into other ad-hoc adventures. Life is good. You might also like these Styles for ArcGIS Pro: esriurl.com\/nelsonstyles","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.adventuresinmapping.com","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/johnmnelson\/","www.linkedin.com\/in\/johnmnelson","https:\/\/x.com\/john_m_nelson","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/JohnNelsonMaps"],"url":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/author\/j_nelson"}]}},"text_date":"January 20, 2026","author_name":"John Nelson","author_page":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/author\/j_nelson","custom_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Newsroom-Keyart-Wide-1920-x-1080.jpg","primary_product":"ArcGIS Pro","tag_data":[{"term_id":26451,"name":"cartography","slug":"cartography","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":26451,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":558,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":496632,"name":"choropleth","slug":"choropleth","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":496632,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":6,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":128002,"name":"labeling","slug":"labeling","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":128002,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":14,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":34651,"name":"labels","slug":"labels","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":34651,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":21,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":31201,"name":"Print","slug":"print","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":31201,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":28,"filter":"raw"}],"category_data":[{"term_id":22941,"name":"Mapping","slug":"mapping","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":22941,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":2693,"filter":"raw"}],"product_data":[{"term_id":36561,"name":"ArcGIS Pro","slug":"arcgis-pro","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":36561,"taxonomy":"product","description":"","parent":0,"count":2041,"filter":"raw"}],"primary_product_link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/?s=#&products=arcgis-pro","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blog\/2954361","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blog"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/blog"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6971"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2954361"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blog\/2954361\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2954361"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2954361"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2954361"},{"taxonomy":"industry","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/industry?post=2954361"},{"taxonomy":"product","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product?post=2954361"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}