Paint Calculator
Calculate painting costs per sq ft for interior and exterior. Paint coverage, primer, labor rates, and regional pricing included. Free, no signup.
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 | Material $/gallon | Installed $/sq ft | Best Use |
|---|---|---|---|
| Interior Flat | $20 – $50 | $2.00 – $4.50 | Ceilings, low-traffic rooms |
| Interior Eggshell / Satin | $25 – $58 | $2.50 – $5.00 | Living rooms, bedrooms, hallways |
| Interior Semi-Gloss | $28 – $65 | $3.00 – $6.00 | Kitchens, bathrooms, trim |
| Exterior (Acrylic Latex) | $35 – $75 | $3.50 – $7.00 | Siding, fascia, soffits |
| Primer (Interior/Exterior) | $22 – $45 | $1.00 – $2.50 | New drywall, color changes, stain blocking |
Installed costs include 2 coats of paint plus primer on prepared surfaces. Premium brands (Benjamin Moore, Sherwin-Williams) at the higher end.
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. Exterior, high walls, and detailed trim add 20-50% to labor.
- 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: July 2026
Pro Tips from the Field
- Primer isn't optional: Going dark-to-light or painting new drywall without primer means 3 coats minimum. That $30 gallon of primer saves you $100+ in extra paint and another half-day of labor.
- 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 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 budget / $35 standard / $55 premium) and finish (flat ×0.90 up to semi-gloss ×1.15; exterior ×1.30). Labor starts at $1.50 per paintable sq ft, scaled by finish, wall height above 10 ft (×1.25), and +30% per additional coat. 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: July 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 | 0.90 (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 | 1.30 materials, 1.30 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 can add hundreds 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. |
| 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 about 350 square feet per coat (premium paints reach 400). For a 12x12 room with 8-foot ceilings, the calculator finds roughly 324 sq ft of paintable wall after deducting two doors and two windows, adds 10% waste, and lands at 2 gallons needed — 3 to buy — for two coats. Including the ceiling pushes it to about 3 gallons needed. Textured or porous surfaces cut real coverage 15-20%, which is exactly what the waste factor absorbs.
At the calculator’s national-average rates, professionally painting a 12x12 room with 8-foot ceilings — two coats, walls and ceiling, good wall condition — runs about $950-$1,300: roughly $200 in paint, primer, and supplies plus labor at $1.50 per paintable sq ft scaled 1.3x for the second coat. Walls-only drops it to about $700-$900. High-cost metros (1.32-1.70x multipliers) and heavy prep can push a single room past $1,500.
Primer is included by default in this estimate at $30 per gallon, one coat’s worth of coverage. 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 the calculator and the line item disappears.
The calculator applies a 1.30x multiplier to both materials and labor for exterior work. A $35 gallon of standard interior paint becomes about $45 in exterior grade, and the base $1.50/sq ft labor rate becomes about $1.95, before regional adjustment. 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, optionally 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. Every line item is shown in the results, so you can check the math against any contractor quote.
Materials for a typical 12x12 room — 3 gallons of standard paint, 2 of primer, and supplies — come to roughly $200 at national-average pricing. Labor is the other $700-$1,100 of a professional job, so DIY saves 75-85% 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 a first-timer should budget a full weekend for one room done properly.
Paint Calculator by State
Get paint cost estimates with state-specific regional pricing: