-(void) tableView:(UITableView *)tableView willDisplayHeaderView:(UIView *)view
  forSection:(NSInteger)section
  {
        if ([view isKindOfClass: [UITableViewHeaderFooterView class]])
        {
             UITableViewHeaderFooterView *castView = (UITableViewHeaderFooterView *) view;
             UIView *content = castView.contentView;
             UIColor *color = [UIColor whiteColor]; // substitute your color here
             content.backgroundColor = color;
             [castView.textLabel setTextColor:[UIColor blackColor]];
        }
 }

以下解决方案适用于Swift 1.2和iOS 8+

override func tableView(tableView: UITableView, willDisplayHeaderView view: UIView, forSection section: Int) {

    // This changes the header background
    view.tintColor = UIColor.blueColor()

    // Gets the header view as a UITableViewHeaderFooterView and changes the text colour
    var headerView: UITableViewHeaderFooterView = view as! UITableViewHeaderFooterView
    headerView.textLabel.textColor = UIColor.redColor()

}

不要忘记从委托中添加这段代码，否则您的视图将被切断或在某些情况下出现在表后面，相对于您的视图/标签的高度。

- (CGFloat)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView heightForHeaderInSection:(NSInteger)section
{
    return 30;
}

我有一个项目使用静态表视图单元格，在iOS 7.x。willDisplayHeaderView不会触发。但是，这个方法是可行的:

- (UIView *)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView viewForHeaderInSection:(NSInteger)section
{
    NSLog(@"%s", __FUNCTION__);
    CGRect headerFrame = CGRectMake(x, y, w, h);    
    UIView *headerView = [[UIView alloc] initWithFrame:headerFrame];  
    headerView.backgroundColor = [UIColor blackColor];

 -(void) tableView:(UITableView *)tableView willDisplayHeaderView:(UIView *)view
  forSection:(NSInteger)section
  {
        if ([view isKindOfClass: [UITableViewHeaderFooterView class]])
        {
             UITableViewHeaderFooterView *castView = (UITableViewHeaderFooterView *) view;
             UIView *content = castView.contentView;
             UIColor *color = [UIColor whiteColor]; // substitute your color here
             content.backgroundColor = color;
             [castView.textLabel setTextColor:[UIColor blackColor]];
        }
 }

设置区域的背景和文本颜色:(感谢William Jockusch和Dj S)

- (void)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView willDisplayHeaderView:(UIView *)view forSection:(NSInteger)section
{
    if ([view isKindOfClass: [UITableViewHeaderFooterView class]]) {
        UITableViewHeaderFooterView* castView = (UITableViewHeaderFooterView*) view;
        castView.contentView.backgroundColor = [UIColor grayColor];
        [castView.textLabel setTextColor:[UIColor grayColor]];
    }
}