An industrial painter blasting and coating a water tank in Washington State earns $38–44/hr. A residential repaint painter in Mississippi earns $17.05/hr — and if he is on piece rate, he may effectively earn less. The BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics program (SOC 47-2141, Painters, Construction and Maintenance, May 2025 release with 2026 adjustments) puts the national median at $24.20/hr, or $50,340 a year. The state spread runs from $17.05 (Mississippi) to $34.90 (Hawaii) — a 105% gap — but the bigger spread is inside each state, between the residential repaint market where wage law enforcement is weakest and the industrial coatings market where certifications set the price.
Painter wages by state is the table search engines want answered, and it is below. But if you paint for a living, the sector you paint in moves your wage more than the state you paint in. Read past the table.
National Baseline: $24.20/hr Median, 219,000 Painters
The BLS counts roughly 219,000 construction and maintenance painters. The 2026 wage distribution:
- 10th percentile: $15.30/hr — entry residential, high-turnover repaint crews
- 25th percentile: $18.90/hr — non-union residential and light commercial
- Median: $24.20/hr ($50,340/yr)
- 75th percentile: $30.60/hr — commercial new construction, union finishers
- 90th percentile: $39.80/hr ($82,780/yr) — industrial coatings, bridge work, union scale in top metros
The median rose 3.4% from 2025's $23.40/hr, roughly half a point ahead of CPI. Painters remain one of the lowest-paid skilled trades — $7.24/hr under the electrician median — for a structural reason: the residential repaint segment has the lowest licensing barrier in construction. Most states require no painter license at all. Low barriers mean deep labor supply, and deep labor supply means the bottom half of this trade's wage curve is set by whoever will take the job.
That is also why misclassification hits painters harder than almost any trade. DOL Wage and Hour Division construction enforcement data consistently ranks painting contractors among the top violators for 1099 misclassification and unpaid overtime. If you are handed a brush, a schedule, and someone else's paint, you are an employee — whatever the paperwork says.
Full 50-State Wage Table (SOC 47-2141, 2026)
Median hourly and annual wages, BLS OEWS methodology, sorted highest to lowest:
| Rank | State | Median Hourly | Median Annual |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hawaii | $34.90 | $72,590 |
| 2 | Alaska | $32.60 | $67,810 |
| 3 | Illinois | $31.80 | $66,140 |
| 4 | New York | $31.20 | $64,900 |
| 5 | New Jersey | $30.75 | $63,960 |
| 6 | California | $30.40 | $63,230 |
| 7 | Washington | $29.85 | $62,090 |
| 8 | Massachusetts | $29.40 | $61,150 |
| 9 | Oregon | $28.60 | $59,490 |
| 10 | Minnesota | $28.20 | $58,660 |
| 11 | Connecticut | $27.90 | $58,030 |
| 12 | Rhode Island | $27.30 | $56,780 |
| 13 | Nevada | $26.90 | $55,950 |
| 14 | Pennsylvania | $26.40 | $54,910 |
| 15 | Michigan | $25.95 | $53,980 |
| 16 | Wisconsin | $25.60 | $53,250 |
| 17 | Ohio | $25.20 | $52,420 |
| 18 | Maryland | $25.00 | $52,000 |
| 19 | Colorado | $24.75 | $51,480 |
| 20 | Missouri | $24.60 | $51,170 |
| 21 | Delaware | $24.50 | $50,960 |
| 22 | Indiana | $24.35 | $50,650 |
| 23 | Vermont | $24.30 | $50,540 |
| 24 | New Hampshire | $24.25 | $50,440 |
| 25 | Maine | $24.20 | $50,340 |
| 26 | Iowa | $24.10 | $50,130 |
| 27 | Montana | $23.90 | $49,710 |
| 28 | Wyoming | $23.75 | $49,400 |
| 29 | North Dakota | $23.60 | $49,090 |
| 30 | Virginia | $23.40 | $48,670 |
| 31 | Kentucky | $23.10 | $48,050 |
| 32 | West Virginia | $22.90 | $47,630 |
| 33 | Arizona | $22.70 | $47,220 |
| 34 | Kansas | $22.50 | $46,800 |
| 35 | Utah | $22.40 | $46,590 |
| 36 | Nebraska | $22.20 | $46,180 |
| 37 | South Dakota | $21.95 | $45,660 |
| 38 | Idaho | $21.70 | $45,140 |
| 39 | Louisiana | $21.50 | $44,720 |
| 40 | New Mexico | $21.30 | $44,300 |
| 41 | Tennessee | $21.00 | $43,680 |
| 42 | Oklahoma | $20.70 | $43,060 |
| 43 | North Carolina | $20.45 | $42,540 |
| 44 | Texas | $20.20 | $42,020 |
| 45 | Alabama | $19.80 | $41,180 |
| 46 | Georgia | $19.55 | $40,660 |
| 47 | South Carolina | $19.30 | $40,140 |
| 48 | Florida | $19.10 | $39,730 |
| 49 | Arkansas | $17.90 | $37,230 |
| 50 | Mississippi | $17.05 | $35,460 |
| — | National Median | $24.20 | $50,340 |
Top 10 vs Bottom 10: A $12.85/hr Gap With Three Causes
The Top 10: Union Finishers and High-Cost Metros
Hawaii ($34.90), Alaska ($32.60), Illinois ($31.80), New York ($31.20), and New Jersey ($30.75) lead. Three forces stack in these states. First, IUPAT (International Union of Painters and Allied Trades) density: District Council 14 in Chicago and DC 9 in New York hold commercial new construction at union scale — $42–48/hr base plus $16–20/hr fringe for journeyman finishers. Second, prevailing wage: Illinois' Prevailing Wage Act and New York Labor Law § 220 put every school repaint and courthouse restoration at union-equivalent rates, and painting is a large line item in public building maintenance budgets. Third, cost of living pulls even non-union residential rates up — a Bay Area repaint crew lead cannot be hired under $28/hr because he cannot live there on less.
The Bottom 10: The Repaint Economy
Mississippi ($17.05), Arkansas ($17.90), Florida ($19.10), South Carolina ($19.30), and Georgia ($19.55) anchor the bottom. These are right-to-work states where IUPAT density is under 4% and the market is dominated by residential repaint — the segment with no license requirement, heavy cash payment, and the industry's highest 1099 misclassification rate. Florida deserves its own sentence: the state has one of the country's largest painting workforces and one of its lowest medians, because the year-round repaint volume attracts a permanently oversupplied labor pool.
Cost-of-Living Honesty
Adjusted by BEA regional price parities, the gap narrows but does not close. Mississippi's $35,460 behaves like roughly $40,300 in real purchasing power; Hawaii's $72,590 deflates to roughly $39,500. At the extremes, COL nearly equalizes painters — which is not true for electricians or ironworkers, whose top-state premiums survive adjustment. The middle of the table is where real wages diverge: Illinois, Ohio, and Missouri painters keep most of their nominal advantage because Midwest housing costs sit below the national index. An Illinois painter at $31.80/hr with Peoria housing costs has the best real wage in the trade.
The Industrial Premium: $8–15/hr Above Residential
The same person with the same sprayer earns wildly different money by sector. Median-range figures for 2026:
- Residential repaint: $17–22/hr
- Residential new construction: $19–24/hr, heavily piece-rate
- Commercial new construction: $24–31/hr
- Industrial coatings / tank / bridge: $32–44/hr plus certifications
Why Industrial Pays
Industrial coatings work is a different occupation wearing the same SOC code. SSPC/AMPP certifications (C3/C5 for deleading, coating application specialist), respirator fit and medical surveillance under OSHA 29 CFR 1926.62 (lead in construction), confined-space entry for tank interiors, and containment rigging on bridge work all narrow the labor pool to a fraction of the trade. Bridge painters on Davis-Bacon-covered work in the Northeast bill out at $50–60/hr base plus fringe. The premium is a danger and compliance premium: cadmium, hexavalent chromium, silica from surface prep, and 100-foot exposures over water. If your employer takes the premium but skips the medical monitoring, that is an OSHA complaint, not a perk.
The Certification Ladder Is Short and Cheap
This is the highest-ROI upgrade path in the trade. An AMPP CAS certification costs $1,200–2,000 and 2–3 weeks; it moves a $22/hr commercial painter to $30–34/hr industrial work in one season. Compare that with the 4-year ladders in the electrical trade. Painters are underpaid at the median partly because so few make this climb — IUPAT locals report industrial coating classes run at half capacity while repaint crews churn 40% annually.
Piece-Rate Reality: The Wage That Isn't a Wage
A large share of residential painting — most new-construction production painting in the South and Southwest — pays by the unit: per house, per room, per square foot. Typical 2026 production rates: $0.55–0.85/sq ft walls-and-ceilings new construction, $180–280 per standard bedroom repaint.
Run the honest math. A fast two-man crew turning a 2,600 sq ft production house interior at $0.65/sq ft grosses $1,690, split $845 each, over roughly 38–44 crew-hours each — $19–22/hr when everything goes right. When the drywall crew runs late, when the builder calls back touch-ups unpaid, when you drive 90 minutes between subdivisions, the effective rate drops under $15/hr. Piece rate transfers schedule risk from the contractor to the painter.
Two legal facts every piece-rate painter should hold onto. First, piece rate does not erase minimum wage or overtime: under the FLSA your total weekly pay divided by total hours must clear minimum wage, and hours past 40 must be paid at 1.5× your regular rate computed from the piece earnings. Run your own stub through the overtime calculator — if the check never changes no matter the hours, you are owed money. Second, on any Davis-Bacon-covered project, piece rate is only lawful if the effective hourly meets the wage determination for painters every single week. Contractors converting prevailing-wage jobs to piece rate to duck the WD rate is a recurring DOL enforcement pattern.
For contractors pricing work: a $24/hr painter is not a $24/hr cost. Burden — payroll tax, comp premium (painting comp rates run $9–14 per $100 of payroll), liability, small tools — puts the true cost at $33–38/hr. The labor burden calculator does this arithmetic in two minutes, and it is the difference between a 12% margin and a bid you lose money on. On the estimating side, material quantities are the other half — the paint quantity calculator guide covers coverage rates by surface.
Where Painter Wages Go From Here
BLS projects painter employment roughly flat through 2033, but replacement demand runs 15,000+ openings a year against a workforce that skews older than the construction average. Three forces favor wages: commercial repaint cycles on the 2019–2022 office and warehouse building stock arrive in 2027–2029; industrial coating demand from bridge rehab (42,000+ structurally deficient bridges, most needing containment-and-coat work) is funded through the IIJA back half; and the labor pool's bottom keeps thinning as adjacent trades — roofers at a similar median, framers, drywall — bid for the same entry-level workers. Expect the national median near $25.90–26.40/hr by 2028, with the industrial premium widening, not narrowing.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much do painters make in 2026?
The BLS median is $24.20/hr ($50,340/yr) for SOC 47-2141. State medians run $17.05 (Mississippi) to $34.90 (Hawaii). Sector matters more than state: residential repaint runs $17–22/hr while certified industrial coatings work runs $32–44/hr in the same city.
What state pays painters the most?
Hawaii ($34.90/hr), then Alaska ($32.60), Illinois ($31.80), New York ($31.20), and New Jersey ($30.75). After cost-of-living adjustment, Midwest union states — Illinois especially — deliver the best real wage.
Is piece-rate painting legal?
Yes, but with hard floors. Weekly piece earnings divided by actual hours must meet minimum wage, overtime past 40 hours must be paid at 1.5× the regular rate derived from piece earnings, and on prevailing-wage projects the effective rate must meet the published wage determination. If any floor is broken, file with the DOL Wage and Hour Division — painters recover misclassification and OT back pay regularly.
How do I move from $20/hr residential to $32+/hr industrial?
Get an AMPP (formerly SSPC) coating application certification ($1,200–2,000, 2–3 weeks), a respirator fit test and medical clearance, and OSHA 30. Then target tank, water infrastructure, and bridge contractors — most are chronically short-handed. IUPAT locals with industrial coating programs will often train experienced painters at no cost in exchange for joining.
Do painters get union wages on government jobs?
On federal and federally assisted projects over $2,000, Davis-Bacon requires the published painter rate for the county — usually at or near union scale. Twenty-six states layer their own prevailing-wage laws over state-funded work. Check the wage determination on sam.gov before taking a public job; if your check is short of the WD rate plus fringe, you have a claim.
What does a painting contractor actually pay per painter-hour?
Base wage plus 38–55% burden. A $24.20/hr painter costs $33–38/hr once payroll taxes, workers' comp (painting rates run $9–14 per $100 payroll), and insurance load in. Contractors bidding at wage-only rates are the ones who disappear mid-job.
Your Action Item for This Week
If you paint: compute your true hourly. Take last week's gross pay, divide by every hour worked including drive time between sites. If you are piece-rate and the number is under your state's median in the table above, price the AMPP certification path this week — it is the cheapest 40% raise in construction. If the number is under minimum wage or your overtime never appears, document two weeks of hours and call the DOL Wage and Hour Division at 1-866-487-9243.
If you hire painters: run your crew through the labor burden calculator and check every piece-rate stub against FLSA floors. One misclassified crew on one public job is a debarment risk, and back-wage findings double with liquidated damages.
Sources & Data Cited
- BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), SOC 47-2141, May 2025 release: www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes472141.htm
- OSHA Lead in Construction Standard, 29 CFR 1926.62
- DOL Wage and Hour Division, FLSA piece-rate and overtime guidance: www.dol.gov/agencies/whd
- Davis-Bacon wage determinations: sam.gov/wage-determinations
- Related: Electrician Wages by State 2026 | Roofer Wages by State 2026
