How much do painters make in Tennessee in 2026?

The median painter salary in Tennessee is $43,230 a year, which works out to about $20.78 an hour based on a standard 2,080-hour work year. That's the midpoint — half of painters in the state earn more, half earn less. If you're just starting out or working lower-volume residential jobs, the 25th percentile sits at $37,350 annually ($17.96/hr). Experienced painters doing commercial or industrial work tend to land at the 75th percentile, which is $47,900 a year ($23.03/hr). Source: BLS OEWS May 2025.

That $10,550 spread between the bottom and top quartiles tells you something important: what you paint, where you paint it, and how long you've been doing it all move the needle significantly. A fresh hire rolling walls on a residential crew in a smaller Tennessee market isn't in the same pay bracket as a journeyman applying industrial coatings on a commercial project in Nashville or Memphis.

Geography inside the state matters more than many workers expect. The Nashville-Davidson–Murfreesboro–Franklin metro pulls in a large share of commercial construction and renovation work, which generally carries higher wage rates than rural residential counties. Painters working in Shelby County (Memphis) and the Knoxville metro also tend to see stronger demand driven by commercial development. If you're sitting in a smaller market and feel like your pay has plateaued, relocating to or picking up work in one of these metros is one of the fastest ways to move your earnings up the percentile ladder without adding years of experience.

Specialization is the other major lever. General residential repaint work — rolling walls and cutting trim between tenants — pays at the lower end of the scale. Industrial coatings, epoxy floor systems, high-performance protective coatings on bridges or tanks, and lead-based paint abatement all require additional training and certification but command significantly better rates. OSHA 40-hour HAZWOPER certification and EPA RRP (Renovator, Repair, and Painting) lead certification can open doors to work that pays above the 75th percentile.

Overtime and seasonality also affect annual earnings in a real way. Tennessee's climate allows for more exterior work months than northern states, but late fall and winter still slow exterior residential jobs. Painters who line up commercial interior contracts or industrial maintenance work during those slower months can protect their annual earnings and sometimes push well past the $47,900 mark through overtime hours during the busier spring and summer seasons.

Apprenticeship programs give newer painters a structured path to higher pay. A first-year apprentice will typically earn less than the 25th percentile figure, but wages step up as they complete training hours and classroom requirements. By the end of a four-year program, graduates are well-positioned to earn at or above the median. Some workers may be covered by a collective bargaining agreement — check with your local for current rates.

It's also worth knowing what the BLS OEWS data captures and what it doesn't. These figures come from employer surveys and represent wages for wage-and-salary workers — people on a payroll. Self-employed painters running their own businesses are not included. If you're an independent painting contractor, your actual take-home will depend heavily on your overhead, job mix, and how efficiently you bid work, not just your hourly billing rate. The BLS numbers are a solid benchmark for understanding the employed labor market, but they don't tell the full story for owner-operators.

For most Tennessee painters, moving from the 25th to the 75th percentile — a jump of roughly $10,550 a year, or about $5.07 more per hour — comes down to three things: building years of field experience, specializing in higher-skill coating applications, and concentrating work in metro markets where commercial project volume keeps demand steady.