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

The property used to change the background color of an element in CSS is background-color. This property allows you to set the color that will be applied to the interior area of an element, distinguishing it visually from the surrounding content. For example, you can use it to enhance the aesthetic appeal of a webpage or to indicate different sections, like headers or footers, with distinct background colors.

The syntax typically looks like this: background-color: blue;, where "blue" can be replaced with any valid CSS color value, such as hex codes, RGB values, or predefined color names. This property effectively influences the presentation and layout of the webpage, playing a vital role in design and user experience.

Other terms like color and border-color serve different purposes; color sets the text color, while border-color modifies the color of the element's border. The bgcolor attribute is an outdated HTML attribute that was used in the past but is not considered a valid CSS property. Thus, background-color is the appropriate and modern choice for achieving the desired effect in styling web elements.