Quick answer
Exterior painting costs $1.50–$4.50 per square foot of siding surface in 2026, with a national average around $3/sqft. Measured against home footprint instead of siding surface, that's $2–$5/sqft for a single-story home or $3–$8/sqft for a two-story.
The main driver of the range is siding material — vinyl sits at the low end ($1.50–$3) because it's easy to prep and spray; wood, stucco, and brick sit at the top ($2.50–$5) because they need more prep, primer, and paint.
Cost per sqft by siding material
| Siding | Cost per sqft | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Vinyl | $1.50–$3.00 | Easiest surface — wash, prime, spray |
| Fiber cement (Hardie Board) | $1.50–$3.50 | Comes primed; recoats cleanly |
| Metal siding | $1.75–$4.00 | Rust treatment + specialty primer |
| Stucco | $1.75–$4.50 | Textured; more paint per sqft; crack repair |
| Wood (cedar, redwood, T1-11) | $2.00–$5.00 | Sanding, priming, possible rot repair |
| Brick (painting) | $2.50–$5.00 | Masonry primer + specialty paint. Permanent — think twice. |
Interior vs. exterior per-sqft: why exterior is often cheaper per surface sqft
Buyers are often surprised that interior painting ($2–$6/sqft floor area) can cost more per sqft than exterior ($1.50–$4.50/sqft siding). Reasons:
- Exterior painters spray body coats; interior painters mostly roll and cut. Spraying is 4–6× faster on open siding.
- Exterior surfaces are larger and less broken up. One 40x8 wall is faster per sqft than the same area split across 4 rooms with corners, doors, and outlets.
- Interior is measured against floor area, which understates the actual surface (walls are 3× the floor area). Exterior is measured against siding surface directly.
Apples-to-apples, they cost similar per square foot of actual painted surface. The framing is different because that's how buyers search.
What's actually in each $/sqft
For a typical $3.00/sqft exterior job (2,000 sqft siding = $6,000):
- Labor: ~65% ($1.95/sqft). Prep, wash, prime, cut, spray body, second coat, cleanup.
- Paint + primer: ~18% ($0.54/sqft). ~15–25 gallons at $50–$85/gal for 2,000 sqft of siding.
- Other materials: ~5% ($0.15/sqft). Caulk, patching, masking, tarps.
- Overhead + profit: ~12% ($0.36/sqft). Truck, ladders, sprayer, insurance, margin.
How we know: BLS cross-check
According to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics OEWS 2025 data, the national median wage for a painter is $23.75/hr. Exterior painters cover 150–250 sqft of siding per hour when spraying (much faster than the 100–150 sqft/hr interior rate) but need 20–30% more prep time. At $52–$71/hr fully-loaded labor cost (median × 2.2–3.0 for overhead + burden + profit), that's $0.30–$0.65/sqft in labor on straightforward siding. Add materials ($0.40–$0.75/sqft), overhead + profit at 12–18%, and prep for problem surfaces — the $1.50–$4.50/sqft range every major cost publisher (HomeGuide, Angi, Homewyse) cites lines up.
What pushes the per-sqft rate UP
- Second-story work: +25–40%. Ladder time, safety time, slower cutting around windows.
- Heavy prep (peeling, wood rot, lead paint): +$500–$4,000 flat, spread across the sqft rate.
- Overspray-sensitive site (close neighbors, cars, mature plantings requiring brush instead of spray): +30–50% per sqft on the affected areas.
- Premium paint (15–20 year lifespan vs. 8–12 for standard): +$0.25–$0.75/sqft.
- High-cost metros (SF Bay, NYC, LA, Boston): +30–50%.
How to compare quotes fairly per sqft
- Confirm the quote is a per-sqft rate on siding surface, not on home footprint. A $2/sqft quote on 2,000 sqft of siding is a $4,000 job; the same $2/sqft on a 2,000 sqft home footprint is roughly $6,000 (two-story) to $4,000 (single-story).
- Confirm the scope — body + trim + doors? Just body? Body + trim + shutters + garage door? Each surface changes the sqft base.
- Confirm pressure washing, prep, and 2 coats are included. Cheap quotes usually skip one of these.
- Confirm the paint brand + line + gallons. "Sherwin-Williams" isn't enough — SuperPaint ($55/gal) and Emerald ($95/gal) are the same brand, very different products.
FAQ
What is the average cost per square foot to paint the exterior of a house?
In 2026, the national average is $2.50–$3.50/sqft of siding surface for a standard 2-coat repaint. Vinyl and fiber cement sit at the low end ($1.50–$3); wood, stucco, and brick sit at the top ($2.50–$5).
How many square feet is exterior siding on a 2,000 sqft house?
Roughly 2,000–2,500 sqft of siding on a single-story 2,000 sqft home (roughly equal to the footprint due to soffits/overhangs). A two-story 2,000 sqft home has ~3,000–3,500 sqft of siding because the walls go up twice as far.
Is spraying cheaper than brushing?
Yes — spraying is 4–6× faster than brushing on open siding, so a spray quote is typically 30–50% cheaper than an all-brush quote on the same job. Most professional painters spray body and brush trim ("spray-and-back-brush" technique) which combines speed with paint penetration into the surface.
Do painters charge per sqft or per project?
Most exterior quotes are per-project (a single flat price), but the painter calculates from per-sqft internal rates. Ask for the per-sqft breakdown to compare quotes apples-to-apples — or if the total quotes vary widely, ask each painter what per-sqft rate they used.
Why does brick painting cost so much per sqft?
Two reasons: (1) masonry primer is required and adds a coat plus a specialty product ($75+/gal), (2) brick's texture uses roughly 2× the paint per sqft compared to smooth siding. Also worth knowing: painted brick is essentially permanent — removing paint from brick is expensive and often damages the brick, so you're committing to a 5–8 year repaint cycle forever.
Related
See the full cost to paint the exterior of a house guide for total project pricing by house size. For interior: interior painting cost per square foot. See what painters earn on our painter rates pages (all 51 states).
Updated August 2026. Sources: BLS OEWS 2025 (472141 Painters), Angi, HomeGuide, Homewyse, TaskRabbit.