- The middle half earn between $22.57 and $30.47 an hour.
- Nevada ranks 16th of the 50 states and DC for median pay in this trade.
- Nevada pays more than 4 of its 5 neighboring states.
- BLS counts about 4,120 painters on payrolls in Nevada.
- At the state median wage, a painting business needs to bill about $118.20 an hour on the labor rate calculator's starting numbers.
Painter pay in Nevada, 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 | $19.92 | $41,430 | $18.00 |
| 25th percentile | $22.57 | $46,950 | $21.46 |
| Median | $27.11 | $56,390 | $23.75 |
| 75th percentile | $30.47 | $63,390 | $29.65 |
| 90th percentile | $47.21 | $98,190 | $37.89 |
| Average (mean) | $28.66 | $59,610 | $26.64 |
Pay spreads out a lot in Nevada. The bottom tenth earn $19.92 an hour or less while the top tenth earn $47.21 or more, a gap of 2.4 times against 2.1 nationally. Where a painter sits on that range matters as much as the state.
Both ends of the scale beat the national figures: $19.92 against $18.00 at the bottom tenth, and $47.21 against $37.89 at the top.
The average, $28.66, is close to the median, so pay sits fairly evenly around the middle.
How Nevada compares with other states
Over a full year, the Nevada median of $56,390 is $6,990 more than the national $49,400.
In the state ranking, Nevada sits 16th, between Minnesota ($27.54) and North Dakota ($26.38). The range runs from $19.28 in Arkansas to $32.80 in Hawaii.
Against its neighboring states, Nevada is in the middle: California pays more, and Arizona, Idaho, Oregon and Utah pay less.
These are wages as paid, not adjusted for what it costs to live in Nevada. Rent, home prices and taxes decide how far a higher wage goes.
| Neighboring state | Median hourly | Median yearly | Against Nevada |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nevada | $27.11 | $56,390 | |
| Arizona | $23.20 | $48,250 | −$3.91 an hour |
| California | $28.38 | $59,020 | +$1.27 an hour |
| Idaho | $21.58 | $44,880 | −$5.53 an hour |
| Oregon | $23.51 | $48,900 | −$3.60 an hour |
| Utah | $22.14 | $46,050 | −$4.97 an hour |
How many painters work in Nevada
About 4,120 painters work on payrolls in Nevada, 1.8% of the 225,190 nationwide, the 15th largest count among the states.
The trade is a bigger part of the local job market than it is nationally: 2.7 of every 1,000 jobs in Nevada, 1.8 times the national share.
What a painting business in Nevada should charge
Higher wages in Nevada go straight into the price. Take a painting business in Nevada paying the state median of $27.11 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 | $27.11 × 2,080 × 1.0765 | $60,703 |
| Break-even rate | ($60,703 + $90,000) ÷ 1,500 | $100.47 |
| Rate with 15% profit | $100.47 ÷ 0.85 | $118.20 |
That is $118.20 per billable hour, 4.4 times the wage, and $5.90 more than the $112.30 the same math gives at the national median wage.
Paying the 75th percentile instead, $30.47 in Nevada, to hire and keep experienced people raises the rate to $124.10.
A cheaper crew saves less than it seems: at the 25th percentile wage of $22.57, the rate only drops to $110.23.
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 Nevada
- Licensing. What Nevada asks for before you can work on your own: Painting contractor license in Nevada.
- 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.