diff --git a/doc/release/next_whats_new/hist_color.rst b/doc/release/next_whats_new/hist_color.rst
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..484369655bef
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/release/next_whats_new/hist_color.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+``hist()`` supports a single color for multiple datasets
+--------------------------------------------------------
+
+It is now possible pass a single *color* value to `~.Axes.hist()`. This value
+is applied to all datasets.
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/axes/_axes.py b/lib/matplotlib/axes/_axes.py
index 470e096eb033..85c83d847782 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/axes/_axes.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/axes/_axes.py
@@ -7326,6 +7326,9 @@ def hist(self, x, bins=None, range=None, density=False, weights=None,
             Color or sequence of colors, one per dataset.  Default (``None``)
             uses the standard line color sequence.
 
+            .. versionadded:: 3.10
+               It is now possible to use a single color with multiple datasets.
+
         label : str or list of str, optional
             String, or sequence of strings to match multiple datasets.  Bar
             charts yield multiple patches per dataset, but only the first gets
@@ -7447,6 +7450,8 @@ def hist(self, x, bins=None, range=None, density=False, weights=None,
         if color is None:
             colors = [self._get_lines.get_next_color() for i in range(nx)]
         else:
+            if mcolors.is_color_like(color):
+                color = [color]*nx
             colors = mcolors.to_rgba_array(color)
             if len(colors) != nx:
                 raise ValueError(f"The 'color' keyword argument must have one "
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/tests/test_axes.py b/lib/matplotlib/tests/test_axes.py
index 6e839ef2f189..6493b144cbf9 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/tests/test_axes.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/tests/test_axes.py
@@ -2580,6 +2580,13 @@ def test_hist_zorder(histtype, zorder):
         assert patch.get_zorder() == zorder
 
 
+def test_hist_single_color_multiple_datasets():
+    # Test a single color for multiple datasets
+    # https://github.com/matplotlib/matplotlib/issues/30857
+    data = [[0, 1, 2], [3, 4, 5]]
+    plt.hist(data, color='k')
+
+
 def test_stairs_no_baseline_fill_warns():
     fig, ax = plt.subplots()
     with pytest.warns(UserWarning, match="baseline=None and fill=True"):