Cost by metro
Painting Cost in Charlottesville
Painters in Charlottesville average $22.89 an hour, 6% below the national mean. A 2,000 square foot interior here runs roughly $2,050 to $3,100 for labour and materials, of which about 62% is labour.
| Job | Labour | Materials | Range |
|---|---|---|---|
| Interior, 2,000 sq ft | $1,583 | $990 | $2,050 to $3,100 |
| Exterior, 2,000 sq ft | $1,259 | $750 | $1,600 to $2,400 |
| Kitchen cabinets, 30 doors | $2,417 | $660 | $2,450 to $3,700 |
180 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 Charlottesville compares
At 232 of 361, Charlottesville sits below the national midpoint, and the local market is a narrow one: $18.47 to $26.11. Most quotes here should land close together rather than swing widely, closer in pattern to Idaho Falls than to a wide-spread metro.
Nearest by rank: Prescott Valley-Prescott and Idaho Falls.
Within Virginia, Charlottesville pays 3% below the state average of $23.61, across 7 BLS-tracked metros in the state. See the full Virginia painting cost guide.
What it costs in Charlottesville
| Home size | Surface sq ft | Labour | Materials | Typical range |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1,000 sq ft | 2,750 | $791 | $495 | $1,050 to $1,550 |
| 1,500 sq ft | 4,125 | $1,187 | $743 | $1,550 to $2,300 |
| 2,000 sq ft | 5,500 | $1,583 | $990 | $2,050 to $3,100 |
| 2,500 sq ft | 6,875 | $1,978 | $1,238 | $2,550 to $3,850 |
| 3,000 sq ft | 8,250 | $2,374 | $1,485 | $3,100 to $4,650 |
| 4,000 sq ft | 11,000 | $3,165 | $1,980 | $4,100 to $6,150 |
At Charlottesville's own wage of $22.89/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 Charlottesville’s own wage, an exterior job on the same 2,000 square foot home runs $1,600 to $2,400. Cabinets, priced per door rather than by area, run $2,450 to $3,700 for an average 30 door kitchen.
The local trade
180 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 Charlottesville?
Charlottesville painters average $22.89 an hour, which a contractor bills at roughly $22.89 × 2.2 once payroll burden, insurance, overhead and profit are included.
How much does it cost to paint a house in Charlottesville?
A 2,000 square foot interior runs roughly $2,050 to $3,100 in labour and materials, and the exterior of the same house runs $1,600 to $2,400. Both are modelled from the local wage, not a national figure.
Is painting more expensive in Charlottesville than the rest of the state?
Charlottesville pays 3% below its own state average, and ranks 232 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.