Diamond Prices: How Carat Weight Affects Price The weight of a diamond is given in carats. One carat is equal to 1/142 of an ounce. Many people think of carat weight as the size of a diamond. However, two diamonds of the same weight can look very different in size. If a diamond is cut deep and narrow, it will look much smaller than another diamond of the same weight that is cut shallow and wide. There are two major considerations when looking at the weight of a diamond: 1) Price per carat goes up as the weight goes up, and prices leap at certain critical weights. Each of the following weights (starting with 0.46 carats) have entirely separate price charts, and increase dramatically at each break. Prices increase because larger stones are much more rare than smaller ones. Therefore, two smaller diamonds will not cost as much as one diamond that weighs the same as both together. For instance, two 0.50-carat diamonds as listed below would cost $3,600, while one stone weighing 1.00 carat would cost $6,600. Prices given below are for a Round Brilliant shape, good make, G color, VS2 clarity, from the Rapaport Diamond Report for March 2000. We give just one quality as an example to make this point clearly. Other qualities will vary dramatically in price. Also, these prices are not meant to represent actual selling prices, since we can always help you find prices below these. Example prices for Round / G / VS2: 0.46 - 0.49 Price per carat: $ 2,800 0.50 - 0.69 Price per carat: $ 3,600 0.70 - 0.89 Price per carat: $ 4,700 0.90 - 0.99 Price per carat: $ 5,700 1.00 - 1.49 Price per carat: $ 6,600 1.50 - 1.99 Price per carat: $ 8,400 2.00 - 2.99 Price per carat: $ 10,200 3.00 - 3.99 Price per carat: $ 11,600 4.00 - 4.99 Price per carat: $ 13,000 5.00 - 5.99 Price per carat: $ 16,700 Above 6 carats, diamonds are considered specials, and are individually priced. (Hint: If you want to save money, consider a diamond that is just under the weight/price break. It will look just as large, but cost less. Example: 0.95 carats instead of 1.00) 2) Popular weights are more expensive and harder to find in specific qualities. Each week, prices and availability fluctuate for certain sizes and shapes, with the forces of demand and supply. At the time of this writing and for a couple of years now, diamonds have been harder to find in the 1.25 carat range as well as 0.67 and 2.50, to mention only a few. This scarcity of certain sizes influences prices for those stones because the best possible discounts to dealers are not offered on diamonds that are in limited supply. In other words, a dealer who has stones of these hard-to-find sizes can just sit on them until someone offers to pay his price. We recommend choosing sizes that are in good supply, to avoid unnecessary premiums. If you must go down in size and budget a little to get a better value, apply the rest to your honeymoon or wedding arrangements and enjoy the savings.   We Make It Easy: Discounts for each carat weight category are too difficult to explain here. If you want to learn how to calculate a price for any diamond you want, please see my easy, fast, step-by-step Diamond Pricing Tutorial page. Back to: How to Read a Certificate