What CSS property is used to change the background color of an element?

The background-color property is specifically designed to set the background color of an HTML element. When this property is used in CSS, it allows you to define the color that will fill the background area of that element, which can be useful for creating visual contrast and enhancing the design of a webpage. By utilizing this property, you can specify colors in various formats, including named colors, hex codes, rgb, and rgba values.

The color property, while important, is used to change the text color of elements, not the background. The border color property relates to the color of an element's border, which is separate from the background. The fill property is typically associated with SVG graphics and is not applicable for standard HTML elements in CSS to change background colors. Therefore, the background-color property is the most direct and apt choice for altering an element's background color.