- The middle half earn between $23.53 and $31.32 an hour.
- Only 3 states pay painters more at the median.
- Washington pays more than both neighboring states.
- BLS counts about 9,510 painters on payrolls in Washington.
- At the state median wage, a painting business needs to bill about $120.96 an hour on the labor rate calculator's starting numbers.
Painter pay in Washington, 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 | $21.85 | $45,450 | $18.00 |
| 25th percentile | $23.53 | $48,940 | $21.46 |
| Median | $28.68 | $59,650 | $23.75 |
| 75th percentile | $31.32 | $65,140 | $29.65 |
| 90th percentile | $38.62 | $80,330 | $37.89 |
| Average (mean) | $29.28 | $60,910 | $26.64 |
Pay is bunched up in Washington. The top tenth earn $38.62 an hour or more, about 1.8 times the $21.85 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.
Both ends of the scale beat the national figures: $21.85 against $18.00 at the bottom tenth, and $38.62 against $37.89 at the top.
The average, $29.28, is close to the median, so pay sits fairly evenly around the middle.
How Washington compares with other states
Over a full year, the Washington median of $59,650 is $10,250 more than the national $49,400.
In the state ranking, Washington sits 4th, between Alaska ($29.32) and New York ($28.64). The range runs from $19.28 in Arkansas to $32.80 in Hawaii.
Washington pays painters more than any of its neighboring states, Idaho and Oregon. 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 Washington. Rent, home prices and taxes decide how far a higher wage goes.
How many painters work in Washington
BLS estimates 9,510 painters on payrolls in Washington, 4.2% of the 225,190 nationwide. Only 4 states have more.
The trade is a bigger part of the local job market than it is nationally: 2.7 of every 1,000 jobs in Washington, 1.9 times the national share.
What a painting business in Washington should charge
Higher wages in Washington go straight into the price. Take a painting business in Washington paying the state median of $28.68 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 | $28.68 × 2,080 × 1.0765 | $64,218 |
| Break-even rate | ($64,218 + $90,000) ÷ 1,500 | $102.81 |
| Rate with 15% profit | $102.81 ÷ 0.85 | $120.96 |
That is $120.96 per billable hour, 4.2 times the wage, and $8.66 more than the $112.30 the same math gives at the national median wage.
Paying the 75th percentile instead, $31.32 in Washington, to hire and keep experienced people raises the rate to $125.59.
A cheaper crew saves less than it seems: at the 25th percentile wage of $23.53, the rate only drops to $111.91.
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 Washington
- Licensing. What Washington asks for before you can work on your own: Painting contractor license in Washington.
- 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.