Every lab-grown diamond argument eventually needs the same handful of numbers, so here they are, sourced. Prices: down 76% at retail for a 1 carat stone since early 2020, down 96% at wholesale since 2018, with the first recorded quarterly increase, 1%, in Q2 2026. Demand: 61% of US engagement rings, up 239% since 2020, with specialty-retailer sales still growing 24% a year. Margins: 72% gross at independent jewelers, the strongest product in the store. Falling prices and rising fortunes, in the same product, at the same time.
Prices: the floor is close
The price collapse is the defining fact. A popular 1 carat lab-grown stone lost more than 76% of its retail price between early 2020 and mid 2025, and a 2 carat stone lost 80% (Edahn Golan). Wholesale fell 26% in 2025 alone, but the quarterly rate of decline shrank to 4.7% by year end, the smallest on record, and Q2 2026 brought the first increase ever recorded: 1% on 1 carat wholesale prices. Prices now sit near the production-cost floor. The era of the category halving in price every couple of years appears to be over.
Demand: still compounding
61% of US engagement rings carried a lab-grown center stone in 2025, up 239% since 2020, and 40% of couples say a lab-grown stone is specifically important to them (The Knot). Sales of lab-grown jewelry at US specialty retailers rose 24% in Q2 2026 on higher unit volume (Tenoris, via JCK). Meanwhile loose natural diamond sales declined for a fourth consecutive year in 2025, the worst performing segment of the US market (Tenoris).
The margin paradox, and where the money went
The counterintuitive number: independent jewelers earn a 72% gross margin on lab-grown diamonds, their strongest, even as the stones themselves deflate. Cheap wholesale stones plus retail prices anchored by the natural-diamond memory equals margin, and it is a large part of why independents grew 5.6% in 2025 while selling fewer units. The other place the price collapse went is design: couples redirected stone savings into settings and customization, which is the arithmetic behind 88% of rings being custom and average center stones reaching 1.9 carats. Every figure here, with sources and copy-ready citations, is maintained on the industry statistics page.
Common questions
How much have lab-grown diamond prices fallen?
A popular 1 carat stone lost more than 76% of its retail price between early 2020 and mid 2025; 2 carat stones lost 80% (Edahn Golan). Wholesale prices are down 96% since tracking began in 2018. Q2 2026 saw the first recorded increase: 1% on 1 carat wholesale.
Have lab-grown diamond prices stopped falling?
Close to it. The quarterly decline slowed to 4.7% by late 2025, the smallest on record, and Q2 2026 brought the first increase ever measured (Edahn Golan, via JCK). Prices sit near the production-cost floor.
What share of engagement rings use lab-grown diamonds?
61% of US engagement rings in 2025, up 239% since 2020 (The Knot, 10,474 couples). Specialty-retailer sales of lab-grown jewelry were still growing 24% year on year in Q2 2026.
Are lab-grown diamonds profitable for jewelers?
Unusually so: independent jewelers earn a 72% gross margin on lab-grown stones, the strongest in the store (Tenoris, via JCK). Falling wholesale costs against anchored retail prices produced the margin even as the category deflated.