How Much It Costs to Paint a Room (2024 Price Guide)

According to our recent expert painter survey, the average cost to paint a room is $624 in 2024. This includes the total cost of labor, paint, and materials to hire a professional painter to paint walls in a room across the United States.

If you add painting ceilings and baseboards, your average total room painting cost will range from $731 to $923. This includes painting window trim and door casings in the room being painted.

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The most important factors that affect the price range to paint a room are:

Size or Total Square Footage of a Room
Ceiling Height
Amount of Prep Work Needed
Local Painter Labor Rates
Coats of Paint Needed
Quality of Interior Paint Used

Please note that at least 2 coats of interior paint are needed to paint most rooms, whether or not you’re changing paint colors drastically.

Likewise, higher ceilings increase the surface area or total wall space of any room in your home’s interior. For that reason, higher ceilings make painting a room 10% to 40% more expensive.

Not to mention, most room painting jobs require a few hours of preparation work or drywall repairs. This includes patching holes, sanding, caulking, priming, moving furniture, and covering surfaces like floors with plastic or painter’s tape.

Keep reading to learn why you likely WON’T save money if you offer to cover the cost of paint materials when hiring a professional painting service.

But first, let’s find out how much it costs to paint a small, medium, or large room.

How Much It Costs To Paint Room By Size or Sqft

As mentioned above, the size of the room you are painting is the number one factor in determining the overall cost you’ll pay to paint interior walls.

Accordingly, smaller rooms cost are cheaper to paint. These include rooms that average under 150 square feet like guest bedrooms, powder rooms, walk-in closets, offices, mudrooms, or laundry rooms.

The cost to paint a small 12x12 room like a bedroom or bathroom is $468 on average.

bedroom professional painter charge price

Next, medium-sized rooms are more expensive to paint because they require more labor and materials. As a reference, medium-sized rooms range from 154 to 266 sqft in total or 12x18 on average.

The cost to paint a medium-sized room like a dining room, kitchen, hallway, or primary bedroom ranges from $524 to $672 on average.

Finally, larger rooms above 224 sqft in total with 9-foot or higher ceilings cost the most to paint on average. Larger rooms include stairway foyers, living rooms, family rooms, and finished basements.

The cost to paint large rooms like living rooms or a family room is $724 on average.

How NOT To Save Money When House Painting

As a homeowner, you can save money by offering to do the prep work yourself or move the furniture before the painters arrive.

However, offering to buy the paint will not save you much money when working with a professional painting contractor.

‍This is because you’ll be paying full price per gallon versus the discounted contractor price that they get.

Plus, you might end up delaying the project if you buy the wrong type of paint or purchase too little.

Regardless of how accurate you think your paint material estimates are, there are always unforeseen issues that arise and require an extra gallon.

Trust us, your painter will hate you if their crews burn valuable labor hours waiting around while you buy more paint. Especially when you consider the average cost of a three-person paint crew is $198 per hour for a painting company.

The same goes for most home improvement projects including flooring, roofing, and larger house remodeling jobs.

Learn more about how much the average painter charges per hour in our recent post.

Average Room Painting Labor Costs

Room painting labor costs alone range from $312 to $436 for 1 to 2 days of labor.

More experienced painters cost more per day but are faster and produce higher-quality work.

Regardless of room size, seasoned professional painters are more likely to finish in 1 day. Learn more about the average amount that painters cost per day.

By and large, local labor rates to hire painters for a room repainting project are largely affected by the cost of living in your city.

Not to mention, small painting companies need to charge more per room if the cost of doing business in your city or state is high because of unnecessary licensing requirements.

For example, it is significantly costlier to run a painting business in the state of California. That’s why painters charge twice as much to paint a room in the Golden State versus national averages.

Price of Paint Gallons

Next, the price of two gallons of paint will cost you $96 to $148, depending on the quality of the paint you buy.

High-quality paint gives you better coverage and a crisper, long-lasting finish because it is thicker and contains more solids.

When paint covers better, you reduce the number of coats needed for your interior paint job.

For major color changes, budget for at least 3 to 5 gallons at an average price of $64 per can of paint.

Also, each additional accent wall in a room or extra paint color typically requires another gallon or two.

Additional costs when it comes to painting materials include the sheen of paint being used.

Usually, the more gloss a paint has, the pricier it will be per gallon. Indeed, matte or eggshell sheens cost less per gallon than satin, semi-gloss, or high-gloss paint sheens.

Moreover, high-end paints needed for specialty finishes like painting kitchen cabinets can cost 50% more than your average paint gallon.

Lastly, the cost to paint a room is higher if you require buying an oil-based paint or primer versus normal latex-based paints.

Not only are oil-based paints worse for your health and the environment but they’re more expensive to clean.

You’ll also need special paint supplies like mineral spirits, ventilation fans, and natural bristle paint brushes when using oil-based paint in a room.

What will it cost to paint your house this year? Find out in our exterior painting price guide.

DIY Interior Painting Cost

In comparison, the average cost to DIY paint a room in your home is $412. This total room painting price assumes you already have painting equipment to do the job.

If you need to buy new equipment, the average DIY project cost to paint a room yourself is $736.

No question, equipment like ladders, paint rollers, drop cloths, brushes, and sandpaper is expensive.

However, some equipment can be reused for future interior painting projects if cleaned and maintained properly.

DIY interior painting project costs are also higher because you will likely need a larger amount of paint to properly cover the walls and perform touchups after the final coat.

Unquestionably, painting walls in a room is no easy task for the average homeowner.

But if you enjoy painting the interior of a house and have the right equipment, it can save you hundreds of dollars.

Find out what it costs to paint your kitchen cabinets on average.

Price to Paint a Room FAQs

The following are the most asked questions that our expert painting crews get when talking to homeowners about painting a room.

From small bedrooms to larger great rooms, we cover all the bases when it comes to getting a good price to paint a room in your home.

How many gallons of paint do I need to paint a room?

On average, a gallon of interior paint covers 350-400 square feet. Likewise, a standard room requires at least two coats of paint for proper coverage. In general, you will need 2 to 3 gallons to paint the walls of a standard room.

If you are painting the trim and ceilings in addition to the walls in a room, you will need at least 4 to 6 gallons of paint on average. You’ll likely purchase a gallon or two of flat ceiling paint and an extra gallon or quart for the trim.

As a reference, trim is measured by linear feet. Accordingly, a gallon of paint can cover 650 to 800 linear feet of trim on average. Sometimes you might be able to get away with only buying a quart of trim paint if your room is small enough.

What’s the cost to paint a room per square foot?

According to the expert interior painters at Improovy, it costs $2.75 per square foot to paint a room on average. If you are painting everything in a room like the walls, trim, and ceilings, the cost per sqft goes up to $4.69 on average.

Certainly, things like vaulted ceilings, tons of surface prep work, and local painter labor rates can increase the cost per sq ft to paint a room.

When painting a room or your entire house, it’s always best to get quotes from multiple painting contractors to compare pricing.

How much does a handyman charge to paint a room?

A jack of all trades or handyman is less skilled than your average professional painting artisan. For this reason, handyman room painting rates are less than professional painters.

Generally speaking, hiring a handyman to paint a room costs $466 on average.

However, the job may take longer than expected and you’ll often incur surprise up charges before the handyman finishes.

In addition, the quality of your room painting job will suffer and you’ll be finding touchups for weeks after the handy person is done.

How do I avoid surprise charges during my room painting project?

Always get a written estimate from any painting contractor that you hire to paint a room.

Furthermore, the estimate should detail what kind of prep is being performed, the exact type of paint used, and a workmanship warranty or guarantee.

Make sure to disclose any hidden wall damages or hard to reach areas in a room before you get a painting quote. That way, the painter you hire can include the necessary labor hours or materials in your original budget.

Remember, most painters hate adding surprise costs to a room painting job as much as you do so great communication and clear expectations from the start are key.