- The middle half earn between $21.87 and $34.80 an hour.
- Only 7 states pay painters more at the median.
- New Jersey pays more than 2 of its 3 neighboring states.
- BLS counts about 4,110 painters on payrolls in New Jersey.
- At the state median wage, a painting business needs to bill about $120.62 an hour on the labor rate calculator's starting numbers.
Painter pay in New Jersey, 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 | $18.11 | $37,680 | $18.00 |
| 25th percentile | $21.87 | $45,490 | $21.46 |
| Median | $28.49 | $59,250 | $23.75 |
| 75th percentile | $34.80 | $72,380 | $29.65 |
| 90th percentile | $46.13 | $95,950 | $37.89 |
| Average (mean) | $29.33 | $61,000 | $26.64 |
Pay spreads out a lot in New Jersey. The bottom tenth earn $18.11 an hour or less while the top tenth earn $46.13 or more, a gap of 2.5 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: $18.11 against $18.00 at the bottom tenth, and $46.13 against $37.89 at the top.
The average, $29.33, is close to the median, so pay sits fairly evenly around the middle.
How New Jersey compares with other states
Over a full year, the New Jersey median of $59,250 is $9,850 more than the national $49,400.
In the state ranking, New Jersey sits 8th, between Maine ($28.50) and California ($28.38). The range runs from $19.28 in Arkansas to $32.80 in Hawaii.
Against its neighboring states, New Jersey is in the middle: New York pays more, and Delaware and Pennsylvania pay less.
These are wages as paid, not adjusted for what it costs to live in New Jersey. Rent, home prices and taxes decide how far a higher wage goes.
| Neighboring state | Median hourly | Median yearly | Against New Jersey |
|---|---|---|---|
| New Jersey | $28.49 | $59,250 | |
| Delaware | $28.14 | $58,530 | −$0.35 an hour |
| New York | $28.64 | $59,570 | +$0.15 an hour |
| Pennsylvania | $25.06 | $52,120 | −$3.43 an hour |
How many painters work in New Jersey
About 4,110 painters work on payrolls in New Jersey, 1.8% of the 225,190 nationwide, the 16th largest count among the states.
It is a smaller part of local jobs than in most of the country, at 1.0 per 1,000 jobs, 0.66 times the national share.
What a painting business in New Jersey should charge
Higher wages in New Jersey go straight into the price. Take a painting business in New Jersey paying the state median of $28.49 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 | $28.49 × 2,080 × 1.0765 | $63,793 |
| Break-even rate | ($63,793 + $90,000) ÷ 1,500 | $102.53 |
| Rate with 15% profit | $102.53 ÷ 0.85 | $120.62 |
That is $120.62 per billable hour, 4.2 times the wage, and $8.32 more than the $112.30 the same math gives at the national median wage.
Paying the 75th percentile instead, $34.80 in New Jersey, to hire and keep experienced people raises the rate to $131.70.
A cheaper crew saves less than it seems: at the 25th percentile wage of $21.87, the rate only drops to $109.00.
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 New Jersey
- Licensing. What New Jersey asks for before you can work on your own: Painting contractor license in New Jersey.
- 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.