PAINTER
MEDIAN PAY (BLS 2024)
Painters nationwide earn a median of $24.65/hr per the Bureau of Labor Statistics OEWS 2024 survey. 224,410 painters employed across the U.S. See the state-by-state breakdown below — the highest-paying states often run 30%+ over the national median.
$24.65/hr median · $51,267 annualized (40 hr/wk × 52 wk)
Employment-weighted estimate from 50-state BLS OEWS data (the official BLS national row isn't in our dataset yet). State medians below are real BLS figures.
STATE-BY-STATE MEDIAN
BLS · sorted highest first| State | Median /hr | Top 10% /hr | Employed | Detail |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hawaii | $32.51 | $43.17 | 1,630 | VIEW |
| Alaska | $31.54 | $45.48 | 400 | VIEW |
| Illinois | $29.99 | $52.51 | 6,700 | VIEW |
| Minnesota | $29.28 | $44.01 | 3,480 | VIEW |
| New Jersey | $28.99 | $46.34 | 4,230 | VIEW |
| District of Columbia | $28.76 | $39.40 | 420 | VIEW |
| Washington | $28.13 | $38.23 | 8,820 | VIEW |
| California | $27.62 | $43.21 | 37,780 | VIEW |
| North Dakota | $27.59 | $36.62 | 460 | VIEW |
| Maine | $27.06 | $35.41 | 1,950 | VIEW |
| New York | $26.93 | $46.32 | 14,670 | VIEW |
| Massachusetts | $26.86 | $41.11 | 4,830 | VIEW |
| Delaware | $26.81 | $33.20 | 530 | VIEW |
| Ohio | $25.79 | $35.96 | 6,050 | VIEW |
| Connecticut | $25.78 | $37.06 | 2,010 | VIEW |
| Nevada | $25.15 | $36.45 | 3,430 | VIEW |
| Rhode Island | $24.72 | $38.90 | 780 | VIEW |
| Colorado | $24.35 | $31.46 | 3,700 | VIEW |
| Pennsylvania | $24.15 | $35.00 | 6,110 | VIEW |
| Missouri | $24.11 | $37.76 | 4,210 | VIEW |
| Wisconsin | $24.05 | $34.80 | 3,430 | VIEW |
| Indiana | $24.05 | $37.00 | 3,570 | VIEW |
| New Hampshire | $23.85 | $31.18 | 990 | VIEW |
| Vermont | $23.78 | $29.11 | 650 | VIEW |
| Michigan | $23.73 | $33.91 | 4,930 | VIEW |
| Maryland | $23.59 | $39.95 | 3,440 | VIEW |
| Montana | $23.52 | $31.56 | 980 | VIEW |
| Oregon | $23.50 | $33.63 | 4,780 | VIEW |
| Iowa | $23.45 | $31.85 | 1,730 | VIEW |
| Georgia | $22.93 | $29.95 | 3,310 | VIEW |
| Arizona | $22.74 | $31.30 | 6,780 | VIEW |
| South Dakota | $22.40 | $27.88 | 670 | VIEW |
| Idaho | $22.35 | $29.91 | 2,000 | VIEW |
| Florida | $22.14 | $28.54 | 20,910 | VIEW |
| New Mexico | $22.07 | $26.65 | 1,280 | VIEW |
| Utah | $22.07 | $28.74 | 3,350 | VIEW |
| Wyoming | $22.03 | $30.70 | 530 | VIEW |
| Alabama | $21.97 | $27.95 | 1,750 | VIEW |
| Kentucky | $21.94 | $33.46 | 1,450 | VIEW |
| Oklahoma | $21.93 | $31.80 | 1,830 | VIEW |
| Nebraska | $21.64 | $27.42 | 1,580 | VIEW |
| Kansas | $21.58 | $31.90 | 1,680 | VIEW |
| Virginia | $21.48 | $28.25 | 5,300 | VIEW |
| Texas | $21.23 | $26.68 | 18,700 | VIEW |
| North Carolina | $21.10 | $29.24 | 4,340 | VIEW |
| Louisiana | $21.01 | $26.44 | 4,050 | VIEW |
| West Virginia | $20.89 | $31.38 | 800 | VIEW |
| South Carolina | $20.65 | $27.36 | 2,060 | VIEW |
| Mississippi | $19.59 | $27.66 | 810 | VIEW |
| Tennessee | $19.57 | $28.73 | 3,630 | VIEW |
| Arkansas | $18.47 | $27.65 | 910 | VIEW |
TOP-PAYING METROS
DAVIS-BACON PREVAILING WAGES
LOOK UP DIRECTFederal construction work (LNG terminals, military bases, GSA, VA, federal infrastructure) uses Davis-Bacon prevailing wage determinations as a legal wage floor — base + fringe benefits, set per county per construction type. If you're on a federally-funded project paying below the WD, the contractor is out of compliance and you can file a WH-3.
Rates change frequently and are county-specific, so we link direct instead of caching stale numbers. Look up the active Wage Determination for your job at sam.gov/wage-determinations or dol.gov/whd/government-contracts.
Anonymous by default. The next hand reads what you post.
16 other trades. State medians + Davis-Bacon + per diem in one spot.