Paint Cost Calculator
Painters quote interior work either per room or per square foot of wall, and on a typical house the two approaches land within a few hundred dollars of each other. This calculator prices the job the way a crew bids it — wall area, coats, primer, trim footage and how much patching your walls need — then adjusts labor and materials separately for your state. Run it before collecting bids and a lowball or padded quote will be obvious.
Published Cost data last reviewed Re-checked quarterly
Room count assumes an average 12×12 room; measuring the walls is more accurate.
Every room getting paint — hallways and landings count as one room each.
Wall area = 48 ft around an average room × height. Ignored in wall-area mode.
Better lines cover and scrub cleaner; premium hides dark colors with less effort.
Two coats is standard; dark or bold color changes usually need three.
Adds one sealing coat at 300 sq ft per gallon.
Baseboards plus door and window casings — about 60 linear ft per room.
Spot patching and skim coats — not full drywall replacement (see the drywall calculator).
DIY removes all labor; you supply the rollers, the tape and the weekends.
Costs are adjusted for labor and material rates in your state.
Low
$2,880
Typical
$3,610
High
$4,870
Prices adjusted for National averagelabor & material costs.
| Cost item | Low | High |
|---|---|---|
| Materials | ||
| Wall paint — 11.0 gal, better (premium acrylic) | $390 | $670 |
| Tape, plastic, rollers & caulk | $50 | $90 |
| Trim & door paint | $110 | $180 |
| Labor | ||
| Wall painting labor — 2 coats, prep & cleanup | $1,900 | $3,200 |
| Trim & door labor (caulk, cut-in, brush-out) | $370 | $630 |
| Other costs | ||
| Patching & spot prep (labor + materials) | $60 | $100 |
| Estimated total | $2,880 | $4,870 |
What this estimate assumes
- Range is 80%–135% of the computed typical — the spread between sharp competitive bids and high-cost metros or heavy prep.
- Wall area derived as 5 rooms × 48 linear ft of wall (average 12×12 room) × 8 ft ceilings ≈ 1,920 sq ft.
- Coverage at 350 sq ft per gallon per coat; paint priced at $45/gallon (better (premium acrylic)).
- Labor dollars scale with your state's labor rates; paint and supplies with its material prices (see the regional note under the results).
- Patching dollars are scaled with labor rates; ceilings are not included.
- Professional total includes all labor: prep, cutting in, rolling every coat, trim brush-out and cleanup.
Typical cost ranges
| Project | Low | Typical | High |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1,000 sq ft home (whole home) | $1,820 | $2,270 | $3,070 |
| 1,500 sq ft home (whole home) | $2,710 | $3,380 | $4,570 |
| 2,000 sq ft home (whole home) | $3,600 | $4,500 | $6,070 |
| 2,500 sq ft home (whole home) | $4,490 | $5,610 | $7,570 |
| 3,000 sq ft home (whole home) | $5,380 | $6,720 | $9,070 |
| Project | Low | Typical | High |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10×10 bedroom (per room) | $530 | $660 | $890 |
| 12×12 bedroom (per room) | $620 | $770 | $1,040 |
| 14×14 living room (per room) | $710 | $890 | $1,200 |
| 16×14 great room (per room) | $760 | $950 | $1,280 |
| Project | Low | Typical | High |
|---|---|---|---|
| good (contractor grade) — $25/gal (paint only) | $220 | $270 | $370 |
| better (premium acrylic) — $45/gal (paint only) | $390 | $490 | $670 |
| premium (designer) — $70/gal (paint only) | $610 | $770 | $1,040 |
| Project | Low | Typical | High |
|---|---|---|---|
| DIY (materials only) (your cost) | $570 | $710 | $960 |
| Professional crew (turnkey) | $2,880 | $3,610 | $4,870 |
Frequently asked questions
How much does it cost to paint a 12×12 room?
About $773 professionally with better-quality paint in two coats, including 68 linear ft of baseboard and casings, minor patching and cleanup — inside the $300–$1,000 per-room range HomeGuide published for 2026. Buying just the materials runs about $182.
How many gallons of paint do I need for a whole house?
Divide wall area by 350 sq ft per gallon per coat — after deducting about 20 sq ft per door and 15 per window, the deduction crews apply when estimating off gross wall measurements. Five average rooms (≈ 1920 sq ft of wall) at two coats need 11 gallons; buy 12 so touch-ups come from the same dye lot, and check every can's tint ticket matches before the first wall is cut in.
When is primer worth the extra cost?
Prime over new drywall joint compound, smoke or water stains, glossy surfaces, or a dark-to-light color change. On the five-room job above, one priming coat adds roughly $128 in material — most crews fold the extra hour or two of labor into the quote.
How long does a professional interior paint job take?
A two-person crew preps and paints about 400–600 sq ft of wall per day, so five rooms at two coats plus trim typically takes 3–5 working days. The daily rhythm is set by cure time, not brush speed: prep and patch first, cut in by hand, roll, and most acrylic latex is ready to recoat in about four hours — which is how two coats can land on the same walls in one day. Angi pegs painter labor at $20–$50 per hour; whole homes are more often quoted per square foot.
Is DIY painting actually worth it?
On the five-room job you'd keep about $2,894, because labor and prep are roughly 80% of a paint budget. Budget 4–6 of your own days for moving furniture, taping, cutting in and cleanup — and expect the crew's cut lines and texture to look better.
What is not included in this estimate?
Ceilings (add $1–$2 per sq ft of ceiling area if you want them painted, per HomeGuide's pricing guide), moving heavy furniture, popcorn-texture removal, specialty smoke- or mold-blocking primers, and drywall repair beyond spot patching.
Does interior painting need a permit?
No — repaints almost never require a building permit anywhere in the US. The one legal wrinkle is pre-1978 homes: paid painters must be EPA RRP certified for lead-safe work practices, and proper lead containment (no dry-sanding, sealed rooms) is part of why older homes quote higher.
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Open calculatorHow this estimate is calculated
These notes are written for this tool alone: where its base prices come from, how the low–high window is derived, and what the figure deliberately leaves out.
- Two sizing modes feed one cost model: room count (an average 12×12 room is 48 linear ft of wall, scaled by ceiling height) or your measured wall square footage.
- Base rates are 2025–2026 national data: $1–$3 per sq ft of wall and $300–$1,000 per room (HomeGuide, Dec 2025 / Feb 2026), $965–$3,089 whole-home interiors and $20–$50 painter-hours (Angi, 2026), ~$50/hr and $990–$1,320 for a fully prepped room (Fixr).
- Paint is priced at $25/$45/$70 per gallon for good/better/premium at 350 sq ft coverage per coat; primer at $20 per gallon, 300 sq ft per coat.
- Labor is modeled at $0.95 per sq ft of wall on a two-coat baseline, setup-weighted (70% fixed + 30% per coat), plus $1.55 per linear ft of trim; patching adds $0.04–$0.22 per sq ft by severity.
- Every estimate shows low/typical/high at 80% / 100% / 135% of the computed typical — the spread between competitive bids and high-cost metros or heavy prep.
- Labor lines scale with your state's labor multiplier and material lines with its materials multiplier; patching scales with labor.
- Excludes ceilings ($1–$2 per sq ft if added), furniture handling beyond normal prep, specialty primers, and pre-1978 lead-safe (RRP) abatement.
Sources
Every cost constant above traces to the publishers listed here — the editorial gate requires at least two independent sources per calculator, each with the month we accessed it. FixTally is not affiliated with any of them.
- Angi — How Much Does It Cost to Paint the Interior of a House? ($965–$3,089 whole home; $20–$50/hr painter rates) — accessed 2026-09
- HomeGuide — How Much Does It Cost to Paint a Room? ($300–$1,000 per room; $1,300–$6,300 whole-home interior, 2026) — accessed 2026-09
- HomeGuide — How Much to Charge for Painting (interior $1–$3/sq ft; ceilings $1–$2/sq ft; trim $1–$4/linear ft) — accessed 2026-09
Maintained by the FixTally Editorial Team — each quarter we re-check the cited prices, re-run every calculator’s math, and refresh the review dates shown on these pages.
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