Painter Salary: BLS Median Pay by State
Half of construction and maintenance painters earned more than $49,400 a year and half earned less, per the May 2025 BLS OEWS release. State medians in this guide run from $43,230 to $68,220.
$49,400
Median annual wage
Painters, Construction and Maintenance, May 2025 OEWS
$23.75
Median hourly wage
Official OEWS hourly median
3.8%
Projected growth, 2024–2034
all occupations: 3.1%
225,190
OEWS employment, May 2025
wage and salary workers
Wage figures are medians for Painters, Construction and Maintenance (SOC 47-2141). May 2025 OEWS estimates, released May 15, 2026; reviewed July 2026. The OEWS mean is $55,420 per year ($26.64 per hour), which is a different statistic from the median.
Painters prepare and coat interior and exterior surfaces on buildings and structures. BLS reports them as Painters, Construction and Maintenance, under SOC 47-2141. The May 2025 Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics release put the median annual wage at $49,400, or $23.75 an hour, across 225,190 wage and salary workers. The median is the midpoint of the wage distribution, so half of that group earned more and half earned less; the arithmetic mean was $55,420 a year, a separate statistic that sits above the midpoint. State medians vary from $43,230 in Tennessee to $68,220 in Hawaii among the states listed here. OEWS covers wage and salary workers only, and painting has a substantial self-employed segment whose earnings fall outside the survey, so the figures here describe employed painters rather than the trade as a whole. On employment, BLS projects the occupation to grow from 342,200 in 2024 to 355,200 in 2034, a net increase of 13,000 positions, with an average of 28,100 openings a year. This guide reports those published figures and says where BLS publishes nothing.
Painter wage benchmark lookup
Look up the official BLS median wage for Painters, Construction and Maintenance nationally or in a listed state. This is a published benchmark, not a personalized salary estimate, and it applies no adjustment for experience, employer, or credentials.
Only states with a published OEWS median for this occupation are listed.
Median annual wage, United States (national)
$49,400/year
Median hourly wage: $23.75/hr
Source: May 2025 OEWS estimates, released May 15, 2026; reviewed July 2026. Half of painters, construction and maintenance in this area earned more than this amount and half earned less. OEWS covers wage and salary workers. It excludes self-employed people and owners or partners of unincorporated firms, so it does not measure owner earnings, draws, or business profit.
Painter median wages by state
Across the 21 states listed here, the May 2025 OEWS median for Painters, Construction and Maintenance runs from $43,230 in Tennessee to $68,220 in Hawaii. Both the annual and hourly columns are published medians; neither is derived from the other.
States with the highest median pay
| State | Median annual | Median hourly |
|---|---|---|
| Hawaii | $68,220 | $32.80/hr |
| Illinois | $61,260 | $29.45/hr |
| Alaska | $60,980 | $29.32/hr |
| Washington | $59,650 | $28.68/hr |
| New York | $59,570 | $28.64/hr |
| New Jersey | $59,250 | $28.49/hr |
| California | $59,020 | $28.38/hr |
States with the lowest median pay
| State | Median annual | Median hourly |
|---|---|---|
| Florida | $47,530 | $22.85/hr |
| Virginia | $47,470 | $22.82/hr |
| Texas | $45,460 | $21.86/hr |
| Mississippi | $44,800 | $21.54/hr |
| North Carolina | $44,110 | $21.21/hr |
| Alabama | $43,930 | $21.12/hr |
| Tennessee | $43,230 | $20.78/hr |
Career path and progression
What the work involves at each stage. BLS publishes wages for the occupation as a whole, not by years of experience or license tier, so no pay figures are shown here.
Helper
Handles masking, surface preparation, sanding, patching, and cleanup while learning coating products, application methods, and site protection.
Painter
Completes interior and exterior jobs independently, including trim and cut-in work, substrate repairs, and efficient setup and teardown.
Spray or finish specialist
Operates airless and HVLP equipment for cabinets, trim, and large interiors, and handles higher-specification finishes where surface quality is critical.
Lead, estimator, or contractor
Runs crews and quality control, prices work from plans or walkthroughs, and where a jurisdiction requires a contractor license for painting, holds it.
Specialties and work settings
Painters, Construction and Maintenance is a single BLS occupation, so the published wage data does not break out these specialties. They are described here for career planning only.
Residential repaint
Interior and exterior repainting for homeowners, with heavy emphasis on preparation, color consultation, and protecting occupied spaces.
New construction
Production painting on housing and multi-family projects, sequenced against drywall, trim, and flooring trades.
Commercial and institutional
Offices, retail, schools, and healthcare facilities, often scheduled outside occupancy hours and specified against a coating schedule.
Industrial and protective coatings
Corrosion-control coatings on tanks, structural steel, and infrastructure, involving surface preparation standards, containment, and inspection.
Decorative and specialty finishes
Faux finishes, cabinet refinishing, and custom millwork coatings, where the work is priced on finish quality rather than square footage alone.
Lead-safe renovation
Work on pre-1978 housing and child-occupied facilities, which is governed by the EPA Renovation, Repair and Painting Rule and its containment and cleanup requirements.
Licenses and credentials in this trade
Painting is regulated mainly at the contractor level, and requirements differ by state and often by city or county. The one federal requirement below applies to work that disturbs lead-based paint. BLS does not publish a wage premium for any credential.
| Credential | Full name | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| EPA RRP | EPA Renovation, Repair and Painting Rule certification | Federal rule covering renovation that disturbs lead-based paint in pre-1978 housing and child-occupied facilities. It requires firm certification and certified renovator training, along with specific containment and cleanup practices. |
| Lead abatement | State lead abatement worker or supervisor certification | A separate track from RRP, for work whose purpose is permanently eliminating lead hazards. Administered by state programs, with requirements that differ between them. |
| Contractor license | State or local painting contractor license | Where required, it applies to the business rather than to individual painters, with bonding, insurance, and exam requirements set by the jurisdiction. |
| AMPP coatings | AMPP coating inspector and applicator programs | Voluntary industry programs for protective and marine coatings work, run by the Association for Materials Protection and Performance, the organization formed from NACE and SSPC. |
| OSHA 10 | OSHA 10-Hour Construction Outreach Training | Voluntary safety outreach training on common construction hazards. It is a training course rather than a credential OSHA issues, and general contractors often ask for it before site access. |
Painter pay compared with related occupations
Every row is a single BLS detailed occupation with its own SOC code, May 2025 OEWS medians, and 2024–2034 projected growth. Rows are not adjusted for hours, region, or self-employment.
| Occupation | Median annual | Median hourly | Growth 2024–2034 |
|---|---|---|---|
| PainterThis guidePainters, Construction and Maintenance | $49,400 | $23.75 | 3.8% |
| RooferRoofers | $55,440 | $26.65 | 5.9% |
| CarpenterCarpenters | $60,580 | $29.12 | 4.5% |
| Drywall installerDrywall and Ceiling Tile Installers | $58,930 | $28.33 | 4.2% |
| Construction laborerConstruction Laborers | $47,120 | $22.66 | 7.3% |
| General maintenance workerMaintenance and Repair Workers, General | $49,590 | $23.84 | 3.8% |
| ElectricianElectricians | $63,190 | $30.38 | 9.5% |
Employment projections, 2024–2034
Projection figures come from the BLS National Employment Matrix for Painters, Construction and Maintenance. They use a broader employment concept than the OEWS wage-and-salary count above, so the two employment figures are not interchangeable.
342,200
Employment, 2024
National Employment Matrix base year
355,200
Projected employment, 2034
National Employment Matrix projection
+13,000
Net employment change, 2024–2034
BLS published net change
3.8%
Projected growth, 2024–2034
percent change in employment
28,100
Average annual openings, 2024–2034
includes growth plus separations
3.1%
All occupations, 2024–2034
benchmark growth rate
BLS projects 3.8% employment growth for this occupation from 2024 to 2034, above the 3.1% BLS projects for all occupations.
BLS projects employment of construction and maintenance painters to rise from 342,200 in 2024 to 355,200 in 2034, a net increase of 13,000 positions, with an average of 28,100 openings a year across the decade. Openings run far above the net increase because the projection also counts workers who retire or move into other occupations, and painting has a comparatively high transfer rate. BLS attributes demand to new construction and to the repainting and maintenance of existing buildings. It publishes no breakdown of the projection by specialty, so this guide does not claim that any particular niche is growing faster than the occupation as a whole.
Methodology and sources
- Occupation:
- Painters, Construction and Maintenance (SOC 47-2141)
- Wage source:
- May 2025 OEWS estimates, released May 15, 2026; reviewed July 2026.
- Projection source:
- BLS Employment Projections and National Employment Matrix, 2024–2034, released August 28, 2025.
- Median vs mean:
- The median is the midpoint of the wage distribution. The mean is the arithmetic average and is usually higher. Headline figures on this page are medians.
- Scope:
- OEWS covers wage and salary workers. It excludes self-employed people and owners or partners of unincorporated firms, so it does not measure owner earnings, draws, or business profit.
- Occupation scope:
- Painting has a large self-employed segment. OEWS covers wage and salary workers only, so those earnings are not represented in the wage figures on this page.
- Note:
- All wage figures are the 47-2141 rows of the May 2025 OEWS national and state cross-industry files. All projection figures are the 47-2141 row of the BLS 2024-2034 occupational projections table.
- Note:
- BLS reports several adjacent finishing occupations separately, including Drywall and Ceiling Tile Installers (47-2081) and Paperhangers, so their wages are not included above.
- Coverage caveat:
- State tables list only the states with a published OEWS median for this occupation. BLS suppresses estimates that do not meet its disclosure or reliability standards, and published employment levels are rounded, so a published net change can differ slightly from the difference between the rounded 2024 and 2034 levels.
- Last reviewed:
- July 2026
Frequently asked questions
Common questions about painters, construction and maintenance pay, answered from the published data.
The May 2025 BLS OEWS median annual wage for construction and maintenance painters was $49,400, or $23.75 an hour. Half of painters covered by the survey earned more and half earned less. The separate arithmetic mean was $55,420 a year.
The published median hourly wage was $23.75 and the mean hourly wage was $26.64. The median is the better answer to what a typical employed painter earns.
Among the states in this guide, the highest May 2025 OEWS annual medians were Hawaii at $68,220, Illinois at $61,260, Alaska at $60,980, Washington at $59,650, and New York at $59,570. These are occupation-wide state medians and not pay for a specific role.
BLS projects 3.8% growth between 2024 and 2034, from 342,200 to 355,200 positions. That is above the 3.1% projected for all occupations. The projection also implies an average of 28,100 openings a year.
Renovation that disturbs lead-based paint in pre-1978 housing and child-occupied facilities is covered by the EPA Renovation, Repair and Painting Rule, which requires firm certification and certified renovator training. Work whose purpose is permanently removing lead hazards falls under separate state abatement certification instead.
Painting is generally regulated at the contractor level, and whether a license is required depends on the state and often on the city or county. Employed painters commonly work under a licensed contractor. Check the authority for the specific jurisdiction.
No. OEWS publishes wage percentiles for the occupation as a whole and does not separate residential repaint, commercial, industrial coatings, or decorative finish work. Any figure broken out that way comes from another source.
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