Based on aggregated contractor data, the cost to paint the exterior of a house ranges from $1,800 to $6,500 in 2026, with most homeowners paying around $4,000 for a single-story home with standard lap siding. Expressed per unit of wall area, exterior painting runs approximately $1.50 to $4.00 per square foot. Labor is the dominant cost — materials account for only $400 to $1,500 of a typical job, while surface prep and application make up the rest.
The biggest price drivers are wall area, siding material, the number of stories, and how much scraping, sanding, and priming the surface needs before paint goes on.
Exterior Painting Cost by House Size
Painters usually estimate from wall area rather than floor area, but home size is a useful proxy. The ranges below assume standard lap siding in sound condition with one to two coats.
| Home Size | Typical Wall Area | Cost Range | Typical Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1,000 sq ft (1 story) | ~1,100 sq ft | $1,800–$3,200 | ~$2,400 |
| 1,500 sq ft (1 story) | ~1,600 sq ft | $2,400–$4,300 | ~$3,300 |
| 2,000 sq ft (2 story) | ~2,600 sq ft | $3,400–$6,000 | ~$4,500 |
| 2,500 sq ft (2 story) | ~3,100 sq ft | $4,000–$6,500 | ~$5,200 |
| 3,000+ sq ft (2–3 story) | ~3,800 sq ft | $5,000–$6,500+ | ~$6,000 |
Homes taller than one story carry a labor premium because painters need staging, extension ladders, or a lift. That access cost is why a two-story home commonly runs 30 to 50 percent more than a single-story home with the same footprint.
Cost by Siding Material
Siding texture and porosity change how much paint the surface absorbs and how long prep takes.
| Siding | Relative Cost | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Vinyl | Lowest | Smooth, low absorption; requires vinyl-safe paint |
| Wood lap / clapboard | Moderate | Absorbs more paint; scraping and priming add labor |
| Fiber cement (Hardie) | Moderate | Paints well; large panels speed application |
| Stucco | Higher | Textured surface needs 15–25 percent more paint |
| Brick | Higher | Porous; often needs masonry primer and two coats |
What Drives the Price
Four factors explain most of the variation within the range above:
- Prep work. Scraping peeling paint, sanding, caulking gaps, and priming bare wood can add 20 to 40 percent to labor. Older homes with failing paint sit at the top of the range.
- Coats. A color change or a light-over-dark job usually needs two coats, increasing both paint and time.
- Trim and detail. Multi-color schemes, shutters, railings, and decorative trim are billed as detailed work and slow the crew down.
- Height and access. Steep grades, tall gables, and limited ladder access raise staging costs.
Where the Money Goes
Prep and application are the job; paint is a line item. The split below is the project record the calculator reads:
| Component | Low | Typical | High |
|---|---|---|---|
| Materials (paint, primer, caulk, masking) | $400 | $800 | $1,500 |
| Labor (washing, scraping, sanding, priming, application, access) | $1,200 | $3,000 | $4,800 |
| Painted total | $1,800 | $4,000 | $6,500 |
Labor is around 79% of a typical exterior repaint — the same share as interior work, for a different reason. Inside, it is cutting in and detail. Outside, it is prep and access: a crew spends more of the week on ladders, staging and surface preparation than on paint.
Cost by City
| City | Labor Adjustment Factor | Adjusted Range | Typical Repaint (paint + adjusted labor) | Two-Story Premium (+40% labor) | vs. National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chicago, IL | 1.33 | $2,395–$8,645 | $4,790 | $6,385 | +33% |
| Seattle, WA | 1.29 | $2,320–$8,385 | $4,670 | $6,220 | +29% |
| New York, NY | 1.23 | $2,215–$7,995 | $4,490 | $5,965 | +23% |
| Denver, CO | 1.07 | $1,925–$6,955 | $4,010 | $5,295 | +7% |
| Atlanta, GA | 0.92 | $1,655–$5,980 | $3,560 | $4,665 | −8% |
| San Antonio, TX | 0.85 | $1,530–$5,525 | $3,350 | $4,370 | −15% |
Paint held flat at the national figure; only the labor share is scaled by the metro factor. The two-story column applies the access premium described above to the labor half only.
Labor adjustment factors are derived from BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (May 2025): the median ratio of local to national hourly wages across the trades that do this work. How this is calculated.
The access premium and the metro factor compound: a two-story home in an expensive-labor metro is the case where an exterior repaint runs furthest above the national mid-point.
DIY vs Professional
A DIY exterior repaint reduces the cash cost to materials and equipment — roughly $300 to $900 for paint, primer, brushes, rollers, drop cloths, and ladder rental. The trade-off is time and risk: an average home takes 30 to 50 hours of prep and application, much of it on a ladder. Because labor is most of the professional price, DIY savings are largest on simple single-story homes and smallest on tall or heavily weathered ones.
How to Reduce Exterior Painting Cost
- Schedule in the off-season (late fall or early spring) when crews have more availability.
- Handle simple prep yourself — pressure-washing and minor scraping — before the crew arrives.
- Keep to a single color to avoid two-coat and cut-in labor.
- Bundle exterior painting with other exterior work to share setup and access costs.
- Collect at least three written quotes so you can compare prep scope, not just the headline number.
Related Painting Costs
Exterior and interior painting are quoted on different bases, which is why a whole-house painting budget assembled from two quotes rarely looks coherent. Exterior work is priced against the envelope — surface area, siding condition, stories, access — and lands at $1,800 to $6,500 for a typical home.
Interior painting is priced per room, at $300 to $1,200 each, because the labor is driven by cut-in work, trim and the number of surfaces rather than by area alone. Both are roughly 79% labor, so both track the local labor market almost undiluted — but the exterior job carries an access premium the interior one does not, and that premium is what makes a two-story repaint the more expensive of the two per square foot of coverage.
Full ranges for every project in this trade sit on the exterior painting hub; the calculator adjusts them for a specific metro, and the methodology explains what the adjustment is measured from.