Paint Calculator
Calculate painting costs per sq ft for interior and exterior. Paint coverage, primer, labor rates, and regional pricing included. Free, no signup.
What painting a room costs: worked national example
A 12 × 12 ft room with 8 ft ceilings, painted 2 coats including the ceiling — at national baseline pricing, not adjusted for any region. Enter your own room below for a figure matched to your project and ZIP code.
That room has 384 sq ft of wall and 144 sq ft of ceiling, leaving 468 sq ft to paint after openings. It takes 3 gallons of paint plus 2 gallons of primer, and about 4 hours of painting time.
Scope: Quick mode assumes two doors and two windows — 60 sq ft deducted from the walls — and always includes the ceiling. It prices walls and ceiling only: trim, baseboards, doors and window casings are priced separately in Professional mode, and no wall repair beyond light prep is included. Switch to Professional mode to set your own opening counts, paint grade, wall condition and trim.
Cost to paint a room by size and ceiling height
| Room size | 8 ft ceiling | 9 ft ceiling | 10 ft ceiling |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8 × 10 ft80 sq ft floor | $587 | $706 | $760 |
| 10 × 12 ft120 sq ft floor | $808 | $874 | $1,000 |
| 12 × 12 ft144 sq ft floor | $892 | $1,024 | $1,096 |
| 12 × 16 ft192 sq ft floor | $1,120 | $1,204 | $1,353 |
| 14 × 20 ft280 sq ft floor | $1,461 | $1,598 | $1,700 |
| 20 × 24 ft480 sq ft floor | $2,161 | $2,293 | $2,490 |
For Homeowners: Get a quick cost range with just a few measurements. Perfect for budgeting and comparing contractor quotes.
Quick Mode: Get a fast cost range estimate with DIY shopping list. Perfect for homeowners planning a painting project.
Typical Paint Costs by Finish Type
| Paint Finish | $/gallon, budget to premium | Installed $/sq ft | Best Use |
|---|---|---|---|
| Interior Flat | $19.80 – $49.50 | $2.45 | Ceilings, low-traffic rooms |
| Interior Eggshell | $22.00 – $55.00 | $2.47 | Living rooms, bedrooms, hallways |
| Interior Satin | $23.10 – $57.75 | $2.49 | Hallways, kids’ rooms, wipeable walls |
| Interior Semi-Gloss | $25.30 – $63.25 | $2.71 | Kitchens, bathrooms, trim |
| Exterior (Acrylic Latex) | $28.60 – $71.50 | $3.14 | Siding, fascia, soffits |
Per-gallon prices are the calculator's three quality tiers ($22.00 budget, $35.00 standard, $55.00 premium at eggshell) with each finish's own multiplier applied. Installed $/sq ft is a Professional-mode run of this calculator on a 12 × 12 ft room with 8 ft ceilings — 528 sq ft paintable, two coats, standard-grade paint, primer included, good wall condition, no trim, national baseline pricing. Primer is a flat $30.00 per gallon at one coat's worth of coverage and is already inside those installed figures.
Assumptions & Sources
Assumptions
- Coverage rate: 350 sq ft/gallon for standard paint on smooth surfaces. Textured, porous, or previously unpainted walls reduce effective coverage to 250-300 sq ft/gallon.
- Coat count: 2 coats standard. Color changes (dark to light) or new drywall may require 3 coats or a tinted primer coat.
- Labor rates: $1.50/sq ft national average for professional interior painting, applied to paintable area. Professional mode scales it up for exterior work, walls above 10 ft, and each coat past the first.
- Waste factor: 10% for standard rooms. Cuts, roller loading, tray waste, and touch-ups account for most loss.
- Regional multiplier: ZIP-code-based adjustment using BLS regional wage data and published construction cost indices applied to both materials and labor.
Last updated: August 2026
Pro Tips from the Field
- Primer isn't optional: Going dark-to-light or painting new drywall without primer means 3 coats minimum instead of 2. Primer costs $30.00 a gallon here against $35.00 for standard paint, and on the 12 × 12 ft room above the third coat adds $95 — so the cheaper can is the one you want doing the covering. You also save the half-day of labor that third coat costs.
- Real coverage vs. label claims: The can says 400 sq ft/gallon. On textured walls or porous surfaces? Closer to 300. Always buy one extra gallon — use it for touch-ups or return it.
- Prep is 80% of the job: Rolling takes a couple hours. Taping, caulking, patching, sanding, and priming? That's your whole first day. Budget accordingly.
- Exterior weather windows: 50-85°F, no rain for 24 hours, low humidity. Paint in direct sun and it dries too fast for proper leveling. Early morning or late afternoon on the shaded side is the sweet spot.
- Cut in then back-roll fast: Cut edges with a 2.5" angled brush, then roll within 10 minutes. If cut lines dry before rolling, you get visible lap marks that won't blend out.
Related Calculators
- Drywall Calculator — Estimate drywall sheets, mud, and tape if you're repairing walls before painting.
- Flooring Calculator — Calculate flooring costs if you're renovating the whole room — paint walls before installing floors.
- Insulation Calculator — Figure insulation needs if you're opening up walls for repair before repainting.
How Many Coats, and What Each One Costs
Coats is the last lever on the free calculator that the table above does not carry, and it does not behave the way people expect. Paint is bought in whole gallons, so the cost steps rather than scales: on the 12 x 12 ft room below, going from one coat to two adds a single gallon, while going from two to three adds two.
| Coats | Paint | Primer | Typical installed | Range | DIY materials |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 gal | 2 gal | $857 | $728 – $1,114 | $155 |
| 2 | 3 gal | 2 gal | $892 | $758 – $1,160 | $190 |
| 3 | 5 gal | 2 gal | $987 | $839 – $1,283 | $285 |
One coat is only a real answer when you are repainting the same colour in the same sheen over a sound surface. Two is the default and the right call for almost every job. Three is what a deep colour over white, or white over a deep colour, actually takes — and if you are making that change, tinting the primer to something near the finish colour will usually save you the third coat outright.
Read the square footage carefully: 468 sq ft is 384 sq ft of wall plus 144 sq ft of ceiling, less 60 sq ft the calculator deducts for two doors and two windows. That opening allowance is fixed in the free estimate — the door and window counts are Professional-mode fields — so a room with a wall of glass will come in high here.
Interior Painting Cost by Metro Area
These are the complete regional factors this calculator applies — not a selection. Type the ZIP in the second column into the ZIP field and the calculator prices your own room at that factor. The cost column is the same 12 x 12 ft room used throughout this page, so the rows are comparable to each other and to the national $892.
| Metro area | ZIP to enter | Factor | Typical installed | Per sq ft painted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| San Francisco Bay Area, CA | 94102 | 1.70× | $1,516 | $3.24 |
| New York City, NY | 10001 | 1.68× | $1,499 | $3.20 |
| Seattle, WA | 98101 | 1.55× | $1,383 | $2.96 |
| Boston, MA | 02108 | 1.52× | $1,356 | $2.90 |
| Los Angeles, CA | 90001 | 1.45× | $1,293 | $2.76 |
| Hartford, CT | 06101 | 1.40× | $1,249 | $2.67 |
| San Diego, CA | 92101 | 1.38× | $1,231 | $2.63 |
| Chicago, IL | 60601 | 1.32× | $1,177 | $2.51 |
| Philadelphia, PA | 19019 | 1.28× | $1,142 | $2.44 |
| Portland, OR | 97201 | 1.22× | $1,088 | $2.32 |
| Denver, CO | 80201 | 1.18× | $1,053 | $2.25 |
| Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN | 55401 | 1.14× | $1,017 | $2.17 |
| Miami, FL | 33101 | 1.12× | $999 | $2.13 |
| Las Vegas, NV | 89101 | 1.08× | $963 | $2.06 |
| Richmond, VA | 23173 | 1.08× | $963 | $2.06 |
| Austin, TX | 78701 | 1.05× | $937 | $2.00 |
| Detroit, MI | 48201 | 1.05× | $937 | $2.00 |
| Milwaukee, WI | 53201 | 1.04× | $928 | $1.98 |
| Salt Lake City, UT | 84101 | 1.03× | $919 | $1.96 |
| Atlanta, GA | 30301 | 1.02× | $910 | $1.94 |
| Phoenix, AZ | 85001 | 0.99× | $883 | $1.89 |
| Dallas-Fort Worth, TX | 75201 | 0.98× | $874 | $1.87 |
| Raleigh-Durham, NC | 27513 | 0.96× | $856 | $1.83 |
| Houston, TX | 77001 | 0.95× | $847 | $1.81 |
| Kansas City, MO | 64101 | 0.95× | $847 | $1.81 |
| Nashville, TN | 37201 | 0.93× | $830 | $1.77 |
| Columbus, OH | 43001 | 0.92× | $821 | $1.75 |
| Indianapolis, IN | 46201 | 0.90× | $803 | $1.72 |
Paint costs roughly the same everywhere; painters do not. Interior painting is close to pure labor once the material is on the truck, which is why the spread across this table is wider than it is for a material-heavy trade. If your ZIP is not in the list the calculator prices at the national baseline rather than guessing.
How This Estimate Is Calculated
The painting calculator runs the same takeoff a professional painting estimator does. Every step below is exactly what the engine computes from your inputs:
- Wall area: (2 × length × height) + (2 × width × height), plus the ceiling (length × width) if included.
- Openings: doors are deducted at 20 sq ft each and windows at 10 sq ft each to get true paintable area.
- Waste factor: 10% is added for cut-in, roller loading, tray waste, and touch-ups (adjustable in Professional Mode).
- Gallons: (paintable area × coats) ÷ coverage. Standard paint covers 350 sq ft per gallon; premium covers 400. The result is rounded up to whole gallons, and primer is added at one coat's worth when selected.
- Costs: paint is priced per gallon by quality tier ($22.00 budget / $35.00 standard / $55.00 premium) and finish (flat ×0.9 up to semi-gloss ×1.15; exterior ×1.3). Quick mode bills labor at a flat $1.50 per paintable sq ft. Professional mode starts from the same $1.50 and scales it by finish, by ×1.25 for walls above 10 ft, and by +30% for each coat past the first — $1.95 per sq ft at two coats. Prep, trim ($3.50 per linear ft), and your regional multiplier finish the number.
Data Sources
- Labor benchmarks: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025 estimates — Painters, Construction & Maintenance (SOC 47-2141). The calculator's $1.50/sq ft base labor rate is a national-average productivity figure benchmarked against that wage series.
- Material unit prices: 2025–2026 national retail averages for major brands across budget, standard, and premium tiers. Last reviewed: August 2026.
- Regional adjustments: construction cost indices built from BLS wage data and published industry surveys, covering 24 states and 28 metro areas against a 1.00 national baseline.
What Changes a Painting Estimate: Waste, Finish, and Region
Two identical rooms can produce very different painting bids. These are the exact adjustments the calculator applies, and the ones worth checking in any contractor quote.
| Factor | Value Used | Why It Matters |
|---|---|---|
| Waste factor | 10% (default) | Cut-in, roller loading, tray waste, and touch-ups. Textured or porous walls effectively add more by cutting real coverage to 250–300 sq ft/gallon. |
| Finish multiplier | 0.9 (flat) to 1.15 (semi-gloss) | Sheen costs more per gallon; semi-gloss also adds 10% labor because it shows every lap mark and needs more careful application. |
| Exterior multiplier | 1.3 materials, 1.3 labor | UV/moisture-rated resins cost more, and ladder work plus weather windows slow the crew down. |
| Wall condition prep | $0.05–$0.75 per sq ft | Good walls need only light prep; walls needing patching and sanding add $370 on the 12 × 12 ft room above before a brush is opened. |
| Tall walls | ×1.25 labor above 10 ft | Staging, extension poles, and ladder time cut productivity on stairwells and vaulted rooms. Exactly 10 ft does not trigger it — the walls have to be taller. |
| Regional multiplier — lower-cost states | 0.84–0.88 (IN, TN, OH, NC) | Lower prevailing wages pull installed costs below the national average. |
| Regional multiplier — higher-cost states | 1.32–1.42 (CT, CA, MA, NY) | Higher labor rates push costs above baseline; metros range 0.90 (Indianapolis) to 1.70 (SF Bay Area). |
Painting labor is the majority of any professional job, so location moves the total more than paint quality does. See state-specific painting costs:
Paint Cost FAQ
Construction Cost Estimation FAQs
One gallon of standard paint covers 350 square feet per coat; premium paints reach 400. On a 12x12 room with 8-foot ceilings the calculator finds 384 sq ft of wall, deducts 60 sq ft for two doors and two windows, adds the 144 sq ft ceiling, and lands at 468 sq ft paintable. With 10% waste and 2 coats that is 2.9 gallons needed — 3 to buy — plus 2 gallons of primer. Textured or porous surfaces cut real coverage 15-20%, which is exactly what the waste factor absorbs.
At national baseline pricing, this calculator puts a 12x12 room with 8-foot ceilings — 2 coats, walls and ceiling, good wall condition — at $758 to $1,160, with $892 the typical figure. That is $1.91 per paintable square foot across 468 sq ft: $702 of labor at $1.50 per sq ft and $190 of paint, primer and supplies. One coat instead of two brings it to $857; three coats takes it to $987. Your ZIP code then moves the whole number — the regional factors this calculator applies run from 0.9x (Indianapolis, IN) to 1.7x (San Francisco Bay Area, CA), so the same room runs $803 to $1,516 across the country.
Primer is included by default in this estimate at $30.00 per gallon, one coat's worth of coverage — 2 gallons on the 12x12 room above. You genuinely need it over new drywall, stains, dark-to-light color changes, or when switching oil to latex. On sound, previously painted walls in a similar color, self-priming paint is fine — toggle primer off in Professional mode and the line item disappears.
The calculator applies a 1.3x multiplier to both materials and labor for exterior work. A $35.00 gallon of standard interior eggshell becomes $45.50 in exterior grade, and the $1.50/sq ft base labor rate becomes $1.95 before the per-coat premium and regional adjustment. On the 12x12 reference room that moves the installed cost from $2.47 to $3.14 per square foot. The premium reflects UV- and moisture-rated resins, ladder and staging time, surface prep, and weather windows (50-85°F, no rain for 24 hours).
It computes wall area from your room dimensions — (2 x length x height) + (2 x width x height) — subtracts 20 sq ft per door and 10 sq ft per window, adds the ceiling, then adds 10% waste. Gallons = area x coats / coverage (350-400 sq ft per gallon by quality), rounded up to whole cans. Quick mode assumes two doors and two windows and always paints the ceiling; Professional mode lets you set both. Every line item is shown in the results, so you can check the math against any contractor quote.
Materials for the 12x12 room above — 3 gallons of standard paint, 2 of primer, and supplies — come to $190 at national baseline pricing, against $892 for the professional job. Labor is the other $702, so doing it yourself saves 79% of the total if your walls are in good condition. The trade-off is time: prep (taping, patching, sanding, priming) is most of the work, and the calculator budgets 4 hours of painting on top of it — a first-timer should plan a full weekend for one room done properly.
Paint Calculator by State
Get paint cost estimates with state-specific regional pricing: