diff --git a/qiskit/visualization/counts_visualization.py b/qiskit/visualization/counts_visualization.py
index 546a027b5b79..6d93ff6bfac0 100644
--- a/qiskit/visualization/counts_visualization.py
+++ b/qiskit/visualization/counts_visualization.py
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ def _is_deprecated_data_format(data) -> bool:
 
 def plot_histogram(
     data,
-    figsize=(7, 5),
+    figsize=None,
     color=None,
     number_to_keep=None,
     sort="asc",
@@ -296,7 +296,7 @@ def _plotting_core(
 
     # Set bar colors
     if color is None:
-        color = ["#648fff", "#dc267f", "#785ef0", "#ffb000", "#fe6100"]
+        color = plt.rcParams["axes.prop_cycle"].by_key()["color"]
     elif isinstance(color, str):
         color = [color]
 
@@ -350,7 +350,7 @@ def _plotting_core(
                 label = None
         bar_center = (width / 2) * (length - 1)
         ax.set_xticks(all_inds[item] + bar_center)
-        ax.set_xticklabels(labels_dict.keys(), fontsize=14, rotation=70)
+        ax.set_xticklabels(labels_dict.keys(), rotation=70, ha="right", rotation_mode="anchor")
         # attach some text labels
         if bar_labels:
             for rect in rects:
@@ -391,8 +391,6 @@ def _plotting_core(
         ax.invert_xaxis()
 
     ax.yaxis.set_major_locator(MaxNLocator(5))
-    for tick in ax.yaxis.get_major_ticks():
-        tick.label1.set_fontsize(14)
     plt.grid(which="major", axis="y", zorder=0, linestyle="--")
     if title:
         plt.title(title)
@@ -404,7 +402,6 @@ def _plotting_core(
             ncol=1,
             borderaxespad=0,
             frameon=True,
-            fontsize=12,
         )
     if fig:
         matplotlib_close_if_inline(fig)
diff --git a/releasenotes/notes/histogram-style-03807965c3cc2e8a.yaml b/releasenotes/notes/histogram-style-03807965c3cc2e8a.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..5904885c430b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/releasenotes/notes/histogram-style-03807965c3cc2e8a.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+---
+upgrade:
+  - |
+    Removes the hard-coding of style options for :func:`~.plot_histogram`.  This allows
+    Matplotlib style files to be faithfully applied to the figures.  Users looking to go
+    beyond the defaults set by Matplotlib can make their own style files, or pass a
+    Matplotlib ``Axes`` object to ``plot_histogram`` and post-apply any customizations.
diff --git a/test/visual/mpl/graph/references/histogram.png b/test/visual/mpl/graph/references/histogram.png
index 1d11b0d110ce..3fa51ec644ed 100644
Binary files a/test/visual/mpl/graph/references/histogram.png and b/test/visual/mpl/graph/references/histogram.png differ
diff --git a/test/visual/mpl/graph/references/histogram_2_sets_with_rest.png b/test/visual/mpl/graph/references/histogram_2_sets_with_rest.png
index ab02566c1561..fe11f5811931 100644
Binary files a/test/visual/mpl/graph/references/histogram_2_sets_with_rest.png and b/test/visual/mpl/graph/references/histogram_2_sets_with_rest.png differ
diff --git a/test/visual/mpl/graph/references/histogram_color.png b/test/visual/mpl/graph/references/histogram_color.png
index 48890f468c7f..34f7d449616a 100644
Binary files a/test/visual/mpl/graph/references/histogram_color.png and b/test/visual/mpl/graph/references/histogram_color.png differ
diff --git a/test/visual/mpl/graph/references/histogram_desc_value_sort.png b/test/visual/mpl/graph/references/histogram_desc_value_sort.png
index 4a963ff40212..b119ae2deed4 100644
Binary files a/test/visual/mpl/graph/references/histogram_desc_value_sort.png and b/test/visual/mpl/graph/references/histogram_desc_value_sort.png differ
diff --git a/test/visual/mpl/graph/references/histogram_hamming.png b/test/visual/mpl/graph/references/histogram_hamming.png
index 12ed9e6418e2..95bfe0ab1049 100644
Binary files a/test/visual/mpl/graph/references/histogram_hamming.png and b/test/visual/mpl/graph/references/histogram_hamming.png differ
diff --git a/test/visual/mpl/graph/references/histogram_legend.png b/test/visual/mpl/graph/references/histogram_legend.png
index daa61cdeeb43..77fbe9c5dc0f 100644
Binary files a/test/visual/mpl/graph/references/histogram_legend.png and b/test/visual/mpl/graph/references/histogram_legend.png differ
diff --git a/test/visual/mpl/graph/references/histogram_multiple_colors.png b/test/visual/mpl/graph/references/histogram_multiple_colors.png
index c1ecd9aef02e..7edbfc07bab5 100644
Binary files a/test/visual/mpl/graph/references/histogram_multiple_colors.png and b/test/visual/mpl/graph/references/histogram_multiple_colors.png differ
diff --git a/test/visual/mpl/graph/references/histogram_title.png b/test/visual/mpl/graph/references/histogram_title.png
index cf72f4181c12..c4c6859c8f2e 100644
Binary files a/test/visual/mpl/graph/references/histogram_title.png and b/test/visual/mpl/graph/references/histogram_title.png differ
diff --git a/test/visual/mpl/graph/references/histogram_value_sort.png b/test/visual/mpl/graph/references/histogram_value_sort.png
index df5328ef884c..e44d08e0d9f9 100644
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diff --git a/test/visual/mpl/graph/references/histogram_with_rest.png b/test/visual/mpl/graph/references/histogram_with_rest.png
index baecf1b96bd4..69633c1e4fdb 100644
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