Cost by metro
Painting Cost in Cedar Rapids
Painters in Cedar Rapids average $24.10 an hour, 1% below the national mean. A 2,000 square foot interior here runs roughly $2,150 to $3,200 for labour and materials, of which about 63% is labour.
| Job | Labour | Materials | Range |
|---|---|---|---|
| Interior, 2,000 sq ft | $1,666 | $990 | $2,150 to $3,200 |
| Exterior, 2,000 sq ft | $1,326 | $750 | $1,650 to $2,500 |
| Kitchen cabinets, 30 doors | $2,545 | $660 | $2,550 to $3,850 |
290 painters are employed in this metro. Wage source: BLS OEWS May 2025, SOC 47-2141. Billed labour rate is the mean wage × 2.2. Full method.
How Cedar Rapids compares
At 182 of 361, Cedar Rapids sits below the national midpoint, and the local market is a narrow one: $19.94 to $28.81. Most quotes here should land close together rather than swing widely, closer in pattern to Jackson than to a wide-spread metro.
Nearest by rank: Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk and Jackson.
Within Iowa, Cedar Rapids pays 4% below the state average of $25.04, across 8 BLS-tracked metros in the state. See the full Iowa painting cost guide.
What it costs in Cedar Rapids
| Home size | Surface sq ft | Labour | Materials | Typical range |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1,000 sq ft | 2,750 | $833 | $495 | $1,050 to $1,600 |
| 1,500 sq ft | 4,125 | $1,250 | $743 | $1,600 to $2,400 |
| 2,000 sq ft | 5,500 | $1,666 | $990 | $2,150 to $3,200 |
| 2,500 sq ft | 6,875 | $2,083 | $1,238 | $2,650 to $4,000 |
| 3,000 sq ft | 8,250 | $2,500 | $1,485 | $3,200 to $4,800 |
| 4,000 sq ft | 11,000 | $3,333 | $1,980 | $4,250 to $6,400 |
At Cedar Rapids's own wage of $24.10/hr. Change job type or home size in the calculator.
Exterior work costs more per square foot here for the same reason it does everywhere: slower coverage, heavier prep, and ladders instead of a flat wall. At Cedar Rapids’s own wage, an exterior job on the same 2,000 square foot home runs $1,650 to $2,500. Cabinets, priced per door rather than by area, run $2,550 to $3,850 for an average 30 door kitchen.
The local trade
290 painters are employed in this metro area, out of 201,860 tracked nationally across 361 metros. That headcount is a rough guide to how much choice you have locally: a deep local market usually means more competing quotes, a thin one means fewer and a longer wait for a good crew.
Every figure above uses the same method as the rest of this site: the metro mean wage multiplied by 2.2 for payroll burden, overhead and profit, then a coverage rate for the job type. Nothing here is specific to this metro beyond the wage itself. See the methodology page for the full chain and to check the arithmetic.
Common questions
What do painters charge per hour in Cedar Rapids?
Cedar Rapids painters average $24.10 an hour, which a contractor bills at roughly $24.10 × 2.2 once payroll burden, insurance, overhead and profit are included.
How much does it cost to paint a house in Cedar Rapids?
A 2,000 square foot interior runs roughly $2,150 to $3,200 in labour and materials, and the exterior of the same house runs $1,650 to $2,500. Both are modelled from the local wage, not a national figure.
Is painting more expensive in Cedar Rapids than the rest of the state?
Cedar Rapids pays 4% below its own state average, and ranks 182 of 361 nationally.
What this page does not tell you
- The wage is a metro-wide mean. A large metro can span suburbs with genuinely different local rates.
- This is a modelled range, not a quote, and nobody has seen your walls.
- Excludes repairs, wallpaper removal, lead-safe work and scaffolding.
- Wage data is the BLS May 2025 release and lags the current market.