- The middle half earn between $22.37 and $28.50 an hour.
- Maryland ranks 27th of the 50 states and DC for median pay in this trade.
- Maryland pays more than 2 of its 5 neighboring states.
- BLS counts about 3,750 painters on payrolls in Maryland.
- At the state median wage, a painting business needs to bill about $112.07 an hour on the labor rate calculator's starting numbers.
Painter pay in Maryland, 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 | $19.50 | $40,560 | $18.00 |
| 25th percentile | $22.37 | $46,520 | $21.46 |
| Median | $23.62 | $49,120 | $23.75 |
| 75th percentile | $28.50 | $59,290 | $29.65 |
| 90th percentile | $37.52 | $78,050 | $37.89 |
| Average (mean) | $26.76 | $55,650 | $26.64 |
Pay is bunched up in Maryland. The top tenth earn $37.52 an hour or more, about 1.9 times the $19.50 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 ($19.50 against $18.00) but the ceiling is lower ($37.52 against $37.89), which squeezes pay toward the middle.
The average wage, $26.76, sits 13% above the median. A smaller group of higher earners pulls the average up, so the median is the better guide to what a typical painter makes.
How Maryland compares with other states
Over a full year the gap to the national median is small: $49,120 in Maryland against $49,400 nationally, $280 less.
In the state ranking, Maryland sits 27th, between Ohio ($23.77) and Oregon ($23.51). The range runs from $19.28 in Arkansas to $32.80 in Hawaii.
Against its neighboring states, Maryland is in the middle: Delaware, the District of Columbia and Pennsylvania pay more, and Virginia and West Virginia pay less.
| Neighboring state | Median hourly | Median yearly | Against Maryland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Maryland | $23.62 | $49,120 | |
| Delaware | $28.14 | $58,530 | +$4.52 an hour |
| District of Columbia | $28.61 | $59,520 | +$4.99 an hour |
| Pennsylvania | $25.06 | $52,120 | +$1.44 an hour |
| Virginia | $22.82 | $47,470 | −$0.80 an hour |
| West Virginia | $21.26 | $44,230 | −$2.36 an hour |
How many painters work in Maryland
About 3,750 painters work on payrolls in Maryland, 1.7% of the 225,190 nationwide, the 20th largest count among the states.
That is 1.4 of every 1,000 jobs in Maryland, close to the trade's share of jobs nationally.
What a painting business in Maryland should charge
Say you run a painting business in Maryland and pay the state median of $23.62 an hour. Here is the labor rate calculator's math on 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 | $23.62 × 2,080 × 1.0765 | $52,888 |
| Break-even rate | ($52,888 + $90,000) ÷ 1,500 | $95.26 |
| Rate with 15% profit | $95.26 ÷ 0.85 | $112.07 |
That is $112.07 per billable hour, 4.7 times the wage, and almost the same as the $112.30 the same math gives at the national median wage.
Paying the 75th percentile instead, $28.50 in Maryland, to hire and keep experienced people raises the rate to $120.64.
A cheaper crew saves less than it seems: at the 25th percentile wage of $22.37, the rate only drops to $109.87.
At this wage, overhead is most of the price: $60 of every billed hour goes to it before anyone is paid. Spreading the same overhead over more billable hours, with a second person or less drive time, brings the rate down fastest.
Run it with your own numbers in the labor rate calculator. It is free and shows every step.
Working as a painter in Maryland
- Licensing. What Maryland asks for before you can work on your own: Painting contractor license in Maryland.
- 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.