- The middle half earn between $24.12 and $30.35 an hour.
- Only 6 states pay painters more at the median.
- Maine pays more than its only neighbor, New Hampshire.
- BLS counts about 2,120 painters on payrolls in Maine.
- At the state median wage, a painting business needs to bill about $120.64 an hour on the labor rate calculator's starting numbers.
Painter pay in Maine, bottom to top
These are BLS figures for painters in construction and maintenance: house painters, commercial painters and maintenance crews. Artists and auto painters are counted elsewhere.
| Pay level | Hourly | Yearly | National hourly |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10th percentile | $22.75 | $47,320 | $18.00 |
| 25th percentile | $24.12 | $50,170 | $21.46 |
| Median | $28.50 | $59,270 | $23.75 |
| 75th percentile | $30.35 | $63,120 | $29.65 |
| 90th percentile | $36.31 | $75,530 | $37.89 |
| Average (mean) | $28.96 | $60,230 | $26.64 |
Pay is bunched up in Maine. The top tenth earn $36.31 an hour or more, about 1.6 times the $22.75 at the bottom tenth. Nationally that gap is 2.1 times, so the step from the bottom of the scale to the top is shorter here than in most places.
The floor is higher than nationally ($22.75 against $18.00) but the ceiling is lower ($36.31 against $37.89), which squeezes pay toward the middle.
The average, $28.96, is close to the median, so pay sits fairly evenly around the middle.
How Maine compares with other states
Over a full year, the Maine median of $59,270 is $9,870 more than the national $49,400.
In the state ranking, Maine sits 7th, between the District of Columbia ($28.61) and New Jersey ($28.49). The range runs from $19.28 in Arkansas to $32.80 in Hawaii.
Maine pays painters more than any of its neighboring states (New Hampshire). Someone working near the border can earn more by taking work on this side of it.
These are wages as paid, not adjusted for what it costs to live in Maine. Rent, home prices and taxes decide how far a higher wage goes.
| Neighboring state | Median hourly | Median yearly | Against Maine |
|---|---|---|---|
| Maine | $28.50 | $59,270 | |
| New Hampshire | $23.88 | $49,670 | −$4.62 an hour |
How many painters work in Maine
About 2,120 painters work on payrolls in Maine, 0.9% of the 225,190 nationwide, the 28th largest count among the states.
The trade is a bigger part of the local job market than it is nationally: 3.3 of every 1,000 jobs in Maine, 2.3 times the national share.
What a painting business in Maine should charge
Higher wages in Maine go straight into the price. Take a painting business in Maine paying the state median of $28.50 and run it through the labor rate calculator with its starting numbers (40-hour weeks, 10 paid days off, 2 unbilled hours a day, 7.65% payroll taxes, $90,000 a year of overhead and 15% profit).
| Step | Math | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Paid hours | 40 × 52 | 2,080 |
| Hours at work | 2,080 − 10 days × 8 | 2,000 |
| Billable hours | 2,000 × 6 ÷ 8 | 1,500 |
| Labor cost | $28.50 × 2,080 × 1.0765 | $63,815 |
| Break-even rate | ($63,815 + $90,000) ÷ 1,500 | $102.54 |
| Rate with 15% profit | $102.54 ÷ 0.85 | $120.64 |
That is $120.64 per billable hour, 4.2 times the wage, and $8.34 more than the $112.30 the same math gives at the national median wage.
Paying the 75th percentile instead, $30.35 in Maine, to hire and keep experienced people raises the rate to $123.89.
A cheaper crew saves less than it seems: at the 25th percentile wage of $24.12, the rate only drops to $112.95.
Overhead, at $60 of every billed hour, and the unbilled hours move this rate more than a raise does. A dollar more in wages adds about $1.76 to the rate.
Run it with your own numbers in the labor rate calculator. It is free and shows every step.
Working as a painter in Maine
- Running the business. Quotes, invoices, booking and your website in one place: how painting companies run on Koira.
- Getting found. The free Koira report checks how your business shows up in search and on maps against shops near you.
Where these numbers come from
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025.
The figures are the BLS state estimates for SOC 47-2141, painters, construction and maintenance, across all industries, read straight from the May 2025 state data file. They cover wage and salary workers, not the self-employed. Where BLS did not publish a figure, this page leaves it out.
All states in one table: painter salary by state.