Cost by metro
Painting Cost in St. Joseph
Painters in St. Joseph average $26.35 an hour, 8% above the national mean. A 2,000 square foot interior here runs roughly $2,250 to $3,350 for labour and materials, of which about 65% is labour.
| Job | Labour | Materials | Range |
|---|---|---|---|
| Interior, 2,000 sq ft | $1,822 | $990 | $2,250 to $3,350 |
| Exterior, 2,000 sq ft | $1,449 | $750 | $1,750 to $2,650 |
| Kitchen cabinets, 30 doors | $2,783 | $660 | $2,750 to $4,150 |
40 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 St. Joseph compares
St. Joseph lands just above the middle of the national wage ranking, at 104 of 361. The percentile band is narrow ($19.04 to $29.01), which usually means local painters price similarly, with less room for a surprisingly low or high outlier bid than in Great Falls.
Nearest by rank: Great Falls and Reno.
Within Missouri, St. Joseph pays 8% below the state average of $28.58, across 8 BLS-tracked metros in the state. See the full Missouri painting cost guide.
What it costs in St. Joseph
| Home size | Surface sq ft | Labour | Materials | Typical range |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1,000 sq ft | 2,750 | $911 | $495 | $1,100 to $1,700 |
| 1,500 sq ft | 4,125 | $1,366 | $743 | $1,700 to $2,550 |
| 2,000 sq ft | 5,500 | $1,822 | $990 | $2,250 to $3,350 |
| 2,500 sq ft | 6,875 | $2,277 | $1,238 | $2,800 to $4,200 |
| 3,000 sq ft | 8,250 | $2,733 | $1,485 | $3,350 to $5,050 |
| 4,000 sq ft | 11,000 | $3,644 | $1,980 | $4,500 to $6,750 |
At St. Joseph's own wage of $26.35/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 St. Joseph’s own wage, an exterior job on the same 2,000 square foot home runs $1,750 to $2,650. Cabinets, priced per door rather than by area, run $2,750 to $4,150 for an average 30 door kitchen.
The local trade
40 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 St. Joseph?
St. Joseph painters average $26.35 an hour, which a contractor bills at roughly $26.35 × 2.2 once payroll burden, insurance, overhead and profit are included.
How much does it cost to paint a house in St. Joseph?
A 2,000 square foot interior runs roughly $2,250 to $3,350 in labour and materials, and the exterior of the same house runs $1,750 to $2,650. Both are modelled from the local wage, not a national figure.
Is painting more expensive in St. Joseph than the rest of the state?
St. Joseph pays 8% below its own state average, and ranks 104 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.