// PAINTER · SOC 47-2141
Painter wages in the United States
The median painter is paid $23.75 an hour nationally. Here is the full spread behind that number, and what it means for what you should charge.
// THE NUMBERS
What BLS reports
US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025, national, all industries. Occupation 47-2141, Painters, Construction and Maintenance.
The band is the 25th to 75th percentile: a quarter of people in this occupation are paid below $21.46, a quarter above $29.65, and the $8.19 between them is the range most of the trade sits in.
// WAGE TO CHARGE-OUT
Why $23.75 is not your rate
Working the median wage up to something you could quote. Every line is arithmetic off a published figure, and the overhead model is the same one the calculator uses, so the two cannot drift apart.
- Median hourly wage $23.75 BLS May 2025
- Plus employer FICA at 7.65% $25.57 Social Security and Medicare, published by the IRS
- Plus overhead $30.81 22% of wage, spread across vehicle, insurance, tools, software and other
- Plus non-billable hours, then margin Your number Depends on how much of your week actually bills. That is the part only you can supply.
Where that overhead goes, on a 2,080-hour year
- Vehicle$3,700
- Insurance$2,000
- Tools$2,200
- Admin and software$1,400
- Other$1,600
These splits are starting assumptions, not published statistics. They exist so the arithmetic has a beginning; replace every one with your own figure in the calculator.
// BY STATE
Where you work changes the number
The national median is a midpoint, not a market. A painter median runs from $19.28 in Arkansas to $32.80 in Hawaii, a difference of $13.52 an hour on the same job title. Median hourly wage, USD, May 2025.
All 51 rows are the BLS median hourly wage for SOC 47-2141 in that state, May 2025, retrieved 2026-08-27. Still a wage, not a charge-out rate.
// OTHER TRADES
Compare with the rest
Source for every figure: US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025. Retrieved 2026-08-26. Download the full table as CSV.
// READY WHEN YOU ARE
Know your number. Now get found.
Pricing right only pays off if the right people are calling. That is the part we build.
Get a quote