For years, the classic American home has been white with black shutters and a bright red door, well documented by national sales among major paint manufacturers. And though shades of white are still the top sellers in all parts of the country, there is evidence of exterior color creep, especially in certain regions.

“There’s definitely more color happening,” said Linda Trent, director of color marketing and design for Sherwin-Williams, the country’s biggest paint maker. She said consumers are using deeper, more vibrant colors in more adventurous combinations.

Trent said there have always been regional differences in paint choices: a conservative palette of traditional black, white and beige in the South and Midwest; earthy shades of brown and green in the Pacific Northwest. Atlanta tends to be more experimental than Boston, and San Diego has sand-colored houses crowned by red-tile roofs.

The trend toward stronger exterior colors, Trent said, is coming from the Sun Belt. The dusty Southwest palette favored in the ’80s has gotten livelier. Latin and Caribbean influences have made Miami brights even more so.

“Bright yellows and ochres, reds and oranges have been added to coral, peach and paler yellows,” she said..

That heightened appetite for color is spreading north and west, Trent said: The front door of a slate blue house in Charlotte might be grass green instead of a more conventional terra cotta. A house in New England might still be gray, but the door, once typically black, might now be vivid cranberry.

There are signs that one of the most color-conservative regions, the Midwest, is getting braver, too.

“Outside of Chicago, I was struck by how people decorated their garage doors,” said Melissa Birdsong, the chief trend tracker for Lowe’s Home Improvement Warehouses. “The doors were a prime area for contrasting trim and painting squares within squares.”

Even whites are fanning out.

“Bright whites are changing to ivory and cream,” Birdsong said. “And neutrals are getting to be what we call ‘hue-tinged.’ Taupes are leaning toward greens and grays toward blue.”