How much do painters make in Virginia in 2026?

The median painter salary in Virginia is $47,470 a year, which works out to about $22.82 an hour based on a standard 2,080-hour work year. That's your baseline — the number half of all painters in the state earn above and half earn below. Where you land on either side of that figure depends heavily on experience, specialty, employer type, and which part of the state you're working in.

Entry-level and lower-wage painters sit at the 25th percentile, earning around $39,300 annually — roughly $18.89 an hour. That bracket covers workers who are newer to the trade, picking up residential repaint work, or employed by smaller operations with less consistent project flow. It's a starting point, not a ceiling.

At the 75th percentile, Virginia painters bring in $56,220 a year, or about $27.03 an hour. Painters at this level typically have several years of experience, may specialize in commercial or industrial coatings, and often work for larger contractors with steady commercial contracts, government work, or federal projects — all of which are significant in Northern Virginia and the Hampton Roads area.

The gap between the 25th and 75th percentile is roughly $16,900 a year. That spread is meaningful. It reflects not just experience but also the type of work: a painter rolling walls in a residential apartment complex earns differently than one applying epoxy floor coatings in a warehouse, spraying industrial equipment, or doing lead paint abatement work that requires additional certifications. Specialty coatings, surface prep skills, and comfort operating spray equipment all push pay toward the higher end of that range.

Geography matters inside Virginia. The Northern Virginia corridor — Fairfax, Arlington, Loudoun — sits in the D.C. metro labor market, where cost of living and commercial construction activity push wages above the statewide median. Painters working federal projects, government facilities, or large commercial developments in that region are more likely to fall in the upper percentile range. Richmond has a solid mix of commercial, industrial, and residential work. Virginia Beach and the Hampton Roads region benefit from a large military and government construction presence. In contrast, rural areas in Southwest and Southside Virginia tend to land closer to or below the statewide median, with residential and light commercial work making up the bulk of available jobs.

Overtime is a real factor in a painter's annual take-home pay. Commercial projects with tight deadlines — retail buildouts, school renovations during summer break, healthcare facilities — regularly run painters 45 to 50 hours a week during peak periods. Even at a base rate of $22.82 an hour, adding 8 to 10 hours of overtime weekly for several months can meaningfully lift annual earnings above the stated median.

Painters in Virginia don't need a state-issued license to work as a journeyman painter, but the contractor they work for must be licensed through the Virginia Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation (DPOR). For individual painters, the path to higher pay typically runs through demonstrated skill, specialty certifications, and time on the tools. Lead abatement certification through EPA's RRP rule, OSHA 10 or OSHA 30, and manufacturer-specific spray equipment training are all credentials that employers pay more to have on their crew.

Apprenticeship programs in Virginia offer a structured route into the trade, combining on-the-job hours with classroom instruction in surface preparation, coating selection, color theory, and safety compliance. Completing a formal apprenticeship typically puts a painter in a stronger position to move up to foreman or estimating roles, where pay climbs above the 75th percentile figures shown here.

Some workers may be covered by a collective bargaining agreement — check with your local for current rates.

The figures on this page come from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey, May 2025. BLS collects data from employers, which means self-employed painters and cash-pay workers are likely underrepresented. The actual earnings floor and ceiling in the field are probably wider than what the percentile bands show here.