All materials weather and deteriorate over time, but concrete is one of the best at holding up over a lengthy period. It may get stains and blemishes, but people accept these as part of the material. Every so often, pressure washing spiffs it up some. Overall, if not abused (with salt or something) it holds up better than asphalt.

I live in Florida. My mom has a property down here in a snowbird park where the huge majority of people paint their driveway. Most do it as some way to add a decorative detail. Some do it because it makes the driveway easier to clean. Some do faux effects of various sorts, which for the most part look terrible. The plain, painted driveways look better. If the driveway surface is prepared properly (mainly clean and not too new) the paint sticks and holds up very well, though it fades from the hot sun over time. We (cuz I have to do it) and the neighbors have to repaint the drive about every 5 years. But it is easy with a roller. The hardest part is getting around to pressure washing it first. Some paint does pull off but it is only where idiot people turn the car wheel while the car is parked, before they start moving (for god knows what reason ...??) So it ends up being just where the front tires are parked. Usually, it ends up exposing a better adhered under-layer of paint, so it it not too bad. If you paint, I would definitely recommend a darker color to minimize sun glare. One next door neighbor has very light grey drive. I can't even walk on it with sunglasses with my eyes open, it is so bright in the summer. It might as well be a mirror.

That’s all very helpful, thank you!

At our last house we used stain for concrete on our driveway. After the first winter the end of the driveway looked awefull due to the salt from the roads being transferred onto the driveway. Paint will not hold up to winter on a driveway for very long. I heard that acid stain on a driveway lasts longer.

A painted concrete driveway on Long Island sounds like an absolute disaster. Cars, ice melt, salt air, snow shovels, I wouldn't do it. What's "crazy expensive" to you? Down here, the extra for liquid color added to the truck at the plant works out to a few bucks more a square foot. Is the difference that much bigger up there, or are you going for a color that's not in the fancy booklet the concrete yard hands out?

$22k difference...$40k for colored concrete, $18k for plain concrete. 2300sf area.

also - they haven’t given me a booklet with colors. I’ve asked, and they said there is one color that is standard concrete color. Anything else is $40k. They don’t have any other standard colors.

Well that’s just crazy. Obviously they don’t know how/don’t want to do colored concrete. Ask somebody else.

So let's back up a step - when you say "dye the concrete" we may be talking about two different things. If you're talking about staining the concrete, that can get pricey. It is more labor and time intensive than a regular concrete install as it involves additional trips after the slab is poured. Is it worth 2x regular concrete? Depends how good they are. What I was referring to was colored concrete, where they add a liquid pigment at the plant. The slab is poured and finished just like a regular natural concrete slab. Can you clarify?