Cost by metro
Painting Cost in Morgantown
Painters in Morgantown average $17.01 an hour, 30% below the national mean. A 2,000 square foot interior here runs roughly $1,750 to $2,600 for labour and materials, of which about 54% is labour.
| Job | Labour | Materials | Range |
|---|---|---|---|
| Interior, 2,000 sq ft | $1,176 | $990 | $1,750 to $2,600 |
| Exterior, 2,000 sq ft | $936 | $750 | $1,350 to $2,000 |
| Kitchen cabinets, 30 doors | $1,796 | $660 | $1,950 to $2,950 |
60 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 Morgantown compares
Morgantown is among the more affordable metros in the country for painting labour, ranking 356 of 361. The spread is still wide locally though, $12.16 to $20.42, so the cheapest metros are not always the most predictable ones to get a quote in.
Nearest by rank: Laredo and Myrtle Beach-Conway-North Myrtle Beach.
Within West Virginia, Morgantown pays 21% below the state average of $21.53, across 5 BLS-tracked metros in the state. See the full West Virginia painting cost guide.
What it costs in Morgantown
| Home size | Surface sq ft | Labour | Materials | Typical range |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1,000 sq ft | 2,750 | $588 | $495 | $850 to $1,300 |
| 1,500 sq ft | 4,125 | $882 | $743 | $1,300 to $1,950 |
| 2,000 sq ft | 5,500 | $1,176 | $990 | $1,750 to $2,600 |
| 2,500 sq ft | 6,875 | $1,470 | $1,238 | $2,150 to $3,250 |
| 3,000 sq ft | 8,250 | $1,764 | $1,485 | $2,600 to $3,900 |
| 4,000 sq ft | 11,000 | $2,352 | $1,980 | $3,450 to $5,200 |
At Morgantown's own wage of $17.01/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 Morgantown’s own wage, an exterior job on the same 2,000 square foot home runs $1,350 to $2,000. Cabinets, priced per door rather than by area, run $1,950 to $2,950 for an average 30 door kitchen.
The local trade
60 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 Morgantown?
Morgantown painters average $17.01 an hour, which a contractor bills at roughly $17.01 × 2.2 once payroll burden, insurance, overhead and profit are included.
How much does it cost to paint a house in Morgantown?
A 2,000 square foot interior runs roughly $1,750 to $2,600 in labour and materials, and the exterior of the same house runs $1,350 to $2,000. Both are modelled from the local wage, not a national figure.
Is painting more expensive in Morgantown than the rest of the state?
Morgantown pays 21% below its own state average, and ranks 356 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.