Change the Color of Individual ListBox items in C# .NET

You can set the color of individual items in a ListBox using C# in your .NET WinForm by writting your own handler for the listbox's DrawItem event.

Set the ListBox's DrawMode property:

Add a standard ListBox to your .NET WinForm then set it's DrawMode property to OwnerDrawFixed which forces the ListBox's DrawItem event to be fired.

Write the handler for the DrawItem event:

private void lstBox_DrawItem(object sender, _
          System.Windows.Forms.DrawItemEventArgs e)
    {
    //
    // Draw the background of the ListBox control for each item.
    // Create a new Brush and initialize to a Black colored brush
    // by default.
    //
    e.DrawBackground();
    Brush myBrush = Brushes.Black;
    //
    // Determine the color of the brush to draw each item based on 
    // the index of the item to draw.
    //
    switch (e.Index)
    {
        case 0:
            myBrush = Brushes.Red;
            break;
        case 1:
            myBrush = Brushes.Orange;
            break;
        case 2:
            myBrush = Brushes.Purple;
            break;
    }
    //
    // Draw the current item text based on the current 
    // Font and the custom brush settings.
    //
    e.Graphics.DrawString(((ListBox)sender).Items[e.Index].ToString(), 
        e.Font, myBrush,e.Bounds,StringFormat.GenericDefault);
    //
    // If the ListBox has focus, draw a focus rectangle 
    // around the selected item.
    //
    e.DrawFocusRectangle();
    }

In the InitializeComponent section associate your handler to the DrawItem event:

        this.lstBox.DrawItem += 
                new System.Windows.Forms.DrawItemEventHandler(this.lstBox_DrawItem);