Cost to paint a room or a house interior, itemized

One 12 × 10 ft room with 8 ft walls takes $135 in paint at today’s store prices, walls and baseboard in two coats, and each day one painter works adds about $506 to the price, overhead and profit included (U.S. median wage). List your rooms, your city and the painter’s time for the whole job, or type a quote to see how many hours of work it pays for.

Your rooms painted at today’s prices

Each figure says where it comes from: the paint at a store’s posted price, the painter’s time at what a painter costs an employer where you live, and the share of the price painting contractors spend on overhead and keep as profit. The time and the overhead share are yours to change.

Filled in as an example: one 12 × 10 ft room with 8 ft walls, a door and two windows, walls and baseboard in two coats, painter’s time not yet typed. Type over any of it with your own rooms and the painter’s figures.

Room 1

Length (ft) Width (ft) Wall height (ft) Doors Windows

Doors count 30 × 80 in and windows 32 × 48 in, as in the calculators. A whole house is its rooms: add each one, hallways and stairwells too.

What to paint Baseboard Where you liveSets the painter’s wage. Who buys the paint Painter’s time (worker-hours)Ask how many people for how many days: two painters for one 8-hour day is 16 worker-hours. Leave it empty and the estimate shows what each day adds. A quote’s total ($), if you have one

Your paint, and the painter’s overhead share

Paint price ($ a gallon)The example: Benjamin Moore ben interior eggshell, 1 gallon, New York Paint & Hardware. One gallon covers (sq ft)On the can or the maker’s data sheet: Benjamin Moore gives 400 to 450 sq ft for ben. Rough or porous walls take more paint. Coats Overhead and profit (% of the price)Painting and wall covering contractors’ average in 2022, from the Census Bureau.

The materials priced here, at today’s prices: $135. Each day one painter works adds about $506.

Your room: 314 sq ft of walls, 2 coats
Part	Cost	Where the figure comes from
Paint: 2 gallons	$110	Benjamin Moore ben interior eggshell, 1 gallon at $54.99, New York Paint & Hardware in New York, NY, Oct 19, 2026. 314 sq ft of walls, 2 coats at 400 sq ft a gallon (Benjamin Moore’s data sheet gives 400 to 450), in whole gallons.
Trim paint: 1 quart	$25	Benjamin Moore ben interior semi-gloss, 1 quart at $24.99, New York Paint & Hardware in New York, NY, Oct 19, 2026. The baseboard: each room’s perimeter less its doors, 42 ft at 3.5 in tall, in two coats.
Labor	Not added	Type the painter’s time above. Each worker-day adds about $506 to the price, overhead and profit included.
Materials at today’s prices	$135	$0.43 a sq ft of wall. Not yet the job’s price: the labor and the painter’s overhead and profit come in when you type the painter’s time. Not counted: primer (new drywall, patches, stains and a light color over a dark one need it), patching, caulk, tape, drop cloths, rollers and brushes, the doors and window frames, sales tax and delivery.

What an hour costs: no paint maker or public body publishes how long a room takes to paint, so the estimate counts the time you type and no other. Painters in the U.S. earn a median $23.75 an hour (BLS, May 2025). Benefits make up 30.5% of what construction employers spend an hour on pay and benefits (all trades, BLS, June 2026), so an hour of a painter at that wage costs an employer about $34, and an 8-hour day about $273.

Got a quote? Type its total above: the estimate shows how many hours of work it pays for.

What moves the price

The state of the walls. Filling holes and cracks, sanding, caulking gaps and priming the patches is work before any paint goes on, and it is not in this estimate.
A big color change. A light color over a dark one takes a primer coat, often tinted toward the new color, and sometimes a third coat: change the coats in the details and see what moves.
Ceilings, trim and doors. A wall-only price does not cover the ceiling, and doors and window frames are often priced on their own: name each one in the quote.
Height and access. Stairwells and tall walls need longer ladders or a plank, and furnished rooms take time to clear and cover.
The paint. A better line costs more a gallon but may cover in fewer coats: the estimate takes your price and the coverage on your can.

Painting the outside

This estimate prices inside walls only. Exterior paint, the outside walls and gables, and the ladders or lifts they need are priced by the painter, and we have no store price for exterior paint yet. The exterior paint calculator measures the walls and gables and counts the paint, and the painting quote worksheet compares the bids.

Before you compare quotes

Ask every painter to price the same rooms, in writing: the surfaces, the coats, the paint by maker, line and sheen, the patching and priming, who moves the furniture and covers the floors, and the cleanup. Then put the quotes side by side in the painting quote worksheet, or keep every price for the project in a budget worksheet.