Hiring a painter for a 14 by 12 foot room, walls and ceiling, costs about $1,150 at US average prices, with a range of $900 to $1,400. Doing it yourself, the same room costs about $200 in paint and supplies. Painting the outside of a house with 1,234 square feet of lap siding runs about $3,450, from $1,800 to $5,100.
How the painting cost is calculated
Painters price by the square foot of paintable area, the walls or siding that actually get paint, not the floor area of the house. The calculator works out that area, the gallons of paint it takes, and then prices materials and labor separately so it can drop the labor when you do the work.
Cost = gallons × price per gallon + paintable sq ft × labor rate + ceilings + trim + prep
The rates come from HomeAdvisor's 2026 painting cost guides (updated June 17, 2026). Interior walls cost $2 to $3 per square foot all-in, and painters say their price is 15% paint and supplies and 85% labor, so the labor rate is 85% of the all-in rate: $1.70 to $2.55 per square foot. Paint is priced from the gallons you actually need, at the price you enter.
Worked example: one room, hired out
| Line | Numbers | Typical |
|---|---|---|
| Paint | (371 + 168) sq ft × 2 coats ÷ 350 sq ft/gal = 4 gal × $35 | $140 |
| Painting walls | 371 sq ft × $2.50 × 85% | $788 |
| Painting the ceiling | 1 × $250 × 85% | $213 |
| Total | $1,141, shown as $1,150 |
The low and high ends use the ends of each range: $1.70 and $2.55 per square foot for the walls, $128 and $298 for the ceiling. The 371 square feet come from the room itself: 2 × (14 + 12) × 8 feet, less one door (21 square feet) and two windows (12 square feet each). Pick your state and the labor and material lines are scaled to local wages and prices.
Interior painting cost per square foot
| Item | HomeAdvisor range | Used here |
|---|---|---|
| Walls, all-in | $2 to $3 per sq ft | 85% as labor, paint priced separately |
| Ceiling | $150 to $350 per ceiling | 85% as labor |
| Trim | $1 to $3 per linear ft | as quoted |
| Paint | $25 to $50 per gallon, designer over $100 | your price |
| Supplies for DIY | $20 to $100 | $60 typical |
Painters charge $20 to $50 an hour where they bill by time. The Bureau of Labor Statistics puts the mean wage of construction painters at $55,420 a year (May 2025), about $27 an hour before the painter's overhead, insurance and travel.
Exterior painting cost
HomeAdvisor gives $1.50 to $4 per square foot of paintable exterior, and a separate range for each siding material. The calculator uses those per-siding rates:
| Siding | All-in per sq ft | Average |
|---|---|---|
| Vinyl or smooth panel | $1.25 to $3 | $2.00 |
| Wood, lap or shingle | $1 to $3 | $2.00 |
| Stucco | $1.50 to $4 | $2.70 |
| Brick | $1.50 to $4.50 | $2.80 |
For the 1,234 square foot example, lap siding at $2 × 85% is $2,098 of labor, 9 gallons of paint at $35 add $315, 200 feet of trim at $3.50 a foot add $700, and power washing adds $320: $3,433, shown as $3,450. A two-story house can cost up to 50% more, according to HomeAdvisor, for the ladders and staging; the calculator adds 0% to 50% to the labor.
Prep work
Prep is where quotes differ most. The calculator offers three levels, priced per square foot of wall from HomeAdvisor's figures:
- Clean and tape: included in the painting rate.
- Caulk and mask: $0.50 to $1 per square foot.
- Patch and scrape (interior) or scrape and strip (exterior): patching $0.50 to $1.50, stripping loose paint $0.50 to $2 per square foot, on top of caulking.
If the house was built before 1978, it may have lead paint. HomeAdvisor puts lead paint removal at $8 to $17 per square foot, and the EPA requires renovation firms working on such homes to be lead-safe certified.
DIY or hire a painter?
Because 85% of a painter's price is labor, painting a room yourself costs roughly a fifth of the hired price: $200 against $1,150 in the example. On the outside the gap is similar, about $380 in paint and supplies against $3,450. What you do not save on is paint: a painter usually pays less per gallon than a homeowner, HomeAdvisor notes, so enter what you will actually pay.
Next steps
- Get exact gallons and the can mix with the paint calculator for rooms, or the exterior paint calculator for siding, gables and trim.
- Walls damaged? The drywall repair cost calculator prices the patching; new walls go through the drywall installation cost calculator.
- Painting as part of a bigger job? The home remodel cost calculator prices the whole project.
Other cost estimators are listed under project costs.