State of the painting trade, 2026
What painters earn in every state, where the jobs are, how fast the work is projected to grow, which states license it and what typical painting jobs cost. Every figure comes from a public dataset or a koira.ai cost guide, with the method below and a CSV of the full table.
The short version
- The national median for painters is $23.75 an hour ($49,400 a year). Pay runs from $19.28 in Arkansas to $32.80 in Hawaii.
- California has the most painters on payrolls, 38,430. See painter pay in every state.
- State labor offices project +1.5% more jobs nationally from 2022 to 2032, with about 29,300 openings a year. Idaho leads at +22.2%.
- 8 of the 35 states koira.ai has checked require a state license for painting contractor work, 19 license part of it and 8 leave it to cities and counties. The painting contractor license guide has each state's steps.
- A typical interior painting is about $1,600 nationally in Koira's interior painting cost guide. By state, the Koira estimate runs from $1,306 in Arkansas to $2,092 in Hawaii.
What painters earn
Median hourly wage by state, May 2025, the ten highest paying states. BLS published a median for 51 of the 50 states and DC.
The five lowest: Arkansas $19.28, South Carolina $19.64, Rhode Island $20.00, Tennessee $20.78 and Alabama $21.12.
| Percentile | Hourly |
|---|---|
| 10th | $18.00 |
| 25th | $21.46 |
| Median | $23.75 |
| 75th | $29.65 |
| 90th | $37.89 |
What that wage means for a price
A wage is not a rate. Using the starting numbers of the free labor rate calculator (40 hour weeks, 10 paid days off, 2 unbilled hours a day, 7.65% payroll taxes, $90,000 a year of overhead and a 15% profit), a business paying the national median has to bill about $112.30 an hour to cover it.
| Where | Median wage | Rate to bill |
|---|---|---|
| United States | $23.75 | $112.30 |
| Hawaii, highest median | $32.80 | $128.19 |
| Arkansas, lowest median | $19.28 | $104.45 |
Change any of those numbers in the calculator to see your own rate. The CSV has the rate for every state.
Where the work is
The ten states with the most painters employed, May 2025.
Where the trade is most concentrated
Painters per 1,000 jobs of every kind in the state. A high number means the trade is a bigger share of local work than it is nationally.
Jobs outlook
State labor market offices project painters, construction and maintenance jobs nationally to go from 372,400 in 2022 to 377,900 in 2032, a change of +1.5%, with about 29,300 openings a year from growth, retirements and people leaving the trade.
The BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, on a newer base, projects 3% growth for construction and maintenance painters from 2025 to 2035, about 24,900 openings a year.
The ten states with the fastest projected growth, 2022 to 2032. Projections exist for 50 states.
Slowest: Maine -1.8%, Michigan -1.0% and Illinois 0.0%. The path into the trade, state by state, is in how to become a painter.
Licensing
Does the state require a state license for painting contractor work? Each answer comes from the state's own board or statute.
- State license: 8 states: Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada, Oregon, Utah and Virginia.
- Partly licensed (residential only, above a dollar amount, or a registration): 19. Local only: 8. Not checked yet: 16.
- 15 of the 35 checked states put an insurance or bond rule in the license itself.
What painting jobs cost
National price ranges from Koira's cost guides. Each guide takes the low, average and high figures of two or more published cost guides and shows them.
| Job | Low | Typical | High |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ceiling painting | $160 | $250 | $400 |
| Wallpaper installation | $560 | $780 | $1,000 |
| Deck staining | $550 | $850 | $1,250 |
| Trim and baseboard painting | $850 | $1,250 | $2,750 |
| Interior painting | $980 | $1,600 | $2,200 |
| Kitchen cabinet painting | $2,250 | $3,550 | $5,500 |
| Exterior house painting | $4,050 | $6,050 | $8,100 |
One job, state by state
Koira estimates of a typical interior painting in the ten most expensive states. Only the labor share of the price moves with the state's BLS wage; materials do not.
Every state
| State | Median hourly | Employed | Jobs 2022 to 2032 | State license | Typical interior painting |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States | $23.75 | 225,190 | +1.5% | 8 states | $1,600 |
| Alabama | $21.12 | 1,570 | +3.8% | Not checked yet | $1,348 |
| Alaska | $29.32 | 440 | +8.0% | Yes | $1,946 |
| Arizona | $23.20 | 5,210 | +11.5% | Yes | $1,567 |
| Arkansas | $19.28 | 890 | +5.4% | Partly | $1,306 |
| California | $28.38 | 38,430 | +12.5% | Yes | $1,861 |
| Colorado | $25.47 | 3,480 | +11.1% | No, local only | $1,635 |
| Connecticut | $28.12 | 2,230 | +13.7% | Partly | $1,860 |
| Delaware | $28.14 | 480 | +6.3% | Partly | $1,596 |
| District of Columbia | $28.61 | 500 | +4.7% | Not checked yet | $1,827 |
| Florida | $22.85 | 22,450 | +13.2% | No, local only | $1,381 |
| Georgia | $23.24 | 2,760 | +9.4% | No, local only | $1,390 |
| Hawaii | $32.80 | 1,900 | Not published | Yes | $2,092 |
| Idaho | $21.58 | 2,040 | +22.2% | Partly | $1,527 |
| Illinois | $29.45 | 6,820 | 0.0% | Not checked yet | $2,052 |
| Indiana | $24.16 | 3,510 | +2.3% | Not checked yet | $1,650 |
| Iowa | $23.90 | 1,770 | +8.8% | Partly | $1,598 |
| Kansas | $21.88 | 1,570 | +3.6% | Not checked yet | $1,502 |
| Kentucky | $23.13 | 1,390 | +1.3% | Not checked yet | $1,462 |
| Louisiana | $22.31 | 4,090 | +5.5% | Partly | $1,393 |
| Maine | $28.50 | 2,120 | -1.8% | No, local only | $1,617 |
| Maryland | $23.62 | 3,750 | +5.6% | Partly | $1,607 |
| Massachusetts | $27.65 | 4,430 | +5.4% | Not checked yet | $1,985 |
| Michigan | $24.35 | 4,920 | -1.0% | Not checked yet | $1,635 |
| Minnesota | $27.54 | 3,810 | +3.9% | Partly | $1,880 |
| Mississippi | $21.54 | 1,060 | +14.1% | Partly | $1,326 |
| Missouri | $27.65 | 3,980 | +3.5% | Not checked yet | $1,647 |
| Montana | $28.03 | 920 | +20.7% | Partly | $1,630 |
| Nebraska | $22.73 | 1,590 | +7.8% | Partly | $1,476 |
| Nevada | $27.11 | 4,120 | +11.4% | Yes | $1,647 |
| New Hampshire | $23.88 | 910 | +6.6% | Not checked yet | $1,612 |
| New Jersey | $28.49 | 4,110 | +3.6% | Partly | $1,899 |
| New Mexico | $22.23 | 1,010 | +10.9% | Not checked yet | $1,393 |
| New York | $28.64 | 13,040 | +3.4% | No, local only | $1,833 |
| North Carolina | $21.21 | 5,220 | +8.8% | Not checked yet | $1,382 |
| North Dakota | $26.38 | 420 | +6.7% | Partly | $1,635 |
| Ohio | $23.77 | 5,600 | +1.9% | No, local only | $1,656 |
| Oklahoma | $21.59 | 1,880 | +3.2% | No, local only | $1,365 |
| Oregon | $23.51 | 5,410 | +17.6% | Yes | $1,741 |
| Pennsylvania | $25.06 | 5,980 | +2.9% | Partly | $1,621 |
| Rhode Island | $20.00 | 1,160 | +8.1% | Partly | $1,675 |
| South Carolina | $19.64 | 2,080 | +2.6% | Partly | $1,385 |
| South Dakota | $23.15 | 670 | +10.5% | Not checked yet | $1,397 |
| Tennessee | $20.78 | 3,040 | +16.0% | Partly | $1,406 |
| Texas | $21.86 | 18,330 | +8.9% | Not checked yet | $1,377 |
| Utah | $22.14 | 3,510 | +21.6% | Yes | $1,549 |
| Vermont | $25.54 | 550 | +6.9% | Partly | $1,604 |
| Virginia | $22.82 | 5,930 | +2.2% | Yes | $1,533 |
| Washington | $28.68 | 9,510 | +14.2% | Partly | $1,943 |
| West Virginia | $21.26 | 720 | +3.9% | No, local only | $1,558 |
| Wisconsin | $24.08 | 3,350 | +10.9% | Not checked yet | $1,688 |
| Wyoming | $22.70 | 480 | +20.5% | Not checked yet | $1,604 |
How this report is made
Pay and employment are cells from the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics files for May 2025 (state file, national file), occupation code 47-2141, all industries. They count people on a payroll; owner-operators are not in them. A cell BLS did not publish reads "Not published" and is empty in the CSV.
The rate to bill is the labor rate calculator's formula with its starting assumptions listed above and only the wage changed: the yearly cost of the worker plus overhead, spread over the billable hours, then a profit margin on top.
Job projections are each state labor market office's long-term projection for 2022 to 2032, published together by Projections Central. A state missing from that file has no figure here. The national outlook line quotes the BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook.
Licensing counts only rows of the painting contractor license guide that an official board or statute page confirmed. States not checked yet are shown that way, never guessed. This is not legal advice.
Job prices come from the koira.ai cost guides. The national band is worked out from the published guides each one lists. State prices are Koira estimates: the labor share of the band is scaled by the state's BLS median wage for the work over the national median, held to 0.7 to 1.4. See the job prices by state report for the same method across trades.
Sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025; BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, Painters, Construction and Maintenance; Projections Central, long-term occupational projections 2022 to 2032 (state labor market offices); Fixr, ceiling painting cost; HomeAdvisor, ceiling painting cost; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 (state and national files); Fixr, wallpaper installation cost; HomeAdvisor, wallpaper installation cost; Fixr, deck staining cost; HomeAdvisor, deck staining cost; Bob Vila, deck staining cost; Fixr, trim and baseboard painting cost; HomeAdvisor, trim and baseboard painting cost; Fixr, interior painting cost; HomeAdvisor, interior painting cost; Fixr, kitchen cabinet painting cost; HomeAdvisor, kitchen cabinet painting cost; Fixr, exterior house painting cost; HomeAdvisor, exterior house painting cost.
Running a painting business? See how painting businesses run on Koira, free on the Office plan.
Data as of: BLS wages and employment, May 2025. Job projections, 2022 to 2032 (Projections Central). License rows checked October 9, 2026. Cost guides checked October 9, 2026. All reports.