Cost by metro
Painting Cost in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
Painters in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin average $34.00 an hour, 39% above the national mean. A 2,000 square foot interior here runs roughly $2,650 to $4,000 for labour and materials, of which about 70% is labour.
| Job | Labour | Materials | Range |
|---|---|---|---|
| Interior, 2,000 sq ft | $2,351 | $990 | $2,650 to $4,000 |
| Exterior, 2,000 sq ft | $1,870 | $750 | $2,100 to $3,150 |
| Kitchen cabinets, 30 doors | $3,590 | $660 | $3,400 to $5,100 |
5,480 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 Chicago-Naperville-Elgin compares
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin sits in the top quarter of the country by painter wage, rank 4 of 361, and the gap between a budget crew and a premium one here is unusually wide: the 25th percentile is $23.54, the 75th is $46.08. At this end of the market, shopping around genuinely changes the number, more than it would in a tighter market like Urban Honolulu.
Nearest by rank: Rockford and Urban Honolulu.
Within Illinois, Chicago-Naperville-Elgin pays 2% above the state average of $33.48, across 7 BLS-tracked metros in the state. See the full Illinois painting cost guide.
What it costs in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
| Home size | Surface sq ft | Labour | Materials | Typical range |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1,000 sq ft | 2,750 | $1,175 | $495 | $1,350 to $2,000 |
| 1,500 sq ft | 4,125 | $1,763 | $743 | $2,000 to $3,000 |
| 2,000 sq ft | 5,500 | $2,351 | $990 | $2,650 to $4,000 |
| 2,500 sq ft | 6,875 | $2,939 | $1,238 | $3,350 to $5,000 |
| 3,000 sq ft | 8,250 | $3,526 | $1,485 | $4,000 to $6,000 |
| 4,000 sq ft | 11,000 | $4,702 | $1,980 | $5,350 to $8,000 |
At Chicago-Naperville-Elgin's own wage of $34.00/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 Chicago-Naperville-Elgin’s own wage, an exterior job on the same 2,000 square foot home runs $2,100 to $3,150. Cabinets, priced per door rather than by area, run $3,400 to $5,100 for an average 30 door kitchen.
Dedicated cost pages, going deeper than the summary above: Interior, Exterior, Cabinets, Whole house.
The local trade
5,480 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 Chicago-Naperville-Elgin?
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin painters average $34.00 an hour, which a contractor bills at roughly $34.00 × 2.2 once payroll burden, insurance, overhead and profit are included.
How much does it cost to paint a house in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin?
A 2,000 square foot interior runs roughly $2,650 to $4,000 in labour and materials, and the exterior of the same house runs $2,100 to $3,150. Both are modelled from the local wage, not a national figure.
Is painting more expensive in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin than the rest of the state?
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin pays 2% above its own state average, and ranks 4 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.