Interior House Painting Cost 2026: $4,000–$9,500 Typical

Painting the walls, ceilings, and trim of a common US single-family house — about 2,000 square feet of living area, two coats of a standard interior paint, ordinary prep, ceilings about 8 feet, and furniture the crew can shift and cover — often clusters around $4,000–$9,500. That is the typical interior house painting cost, and the typical cost to paint the interior of a house of that size. Interior painting cost per square foot of living area, for that full scope and once the house is about that size, is typically $2–$4.75. Walls only on the same house is typically $3,000–$7,000, or $1.50–$3.50 per square foot of living area. The wider national spread, about $400–$22,000, covers one small bathroom at the low end and a large house with cabinet painting, a hard color change, and a two-story foyer at the high end. An exterior repaint, a kitchen remodel, or a bathroom remodel can clear that spread. These are typical planning ranges, not a survey and not a quote.

This page is paint on the surfaces you are keeping: walls, ceilings, trim, and, when the bid says so, cabinet doors. It is not the outside of the house, which is the exterior painting guide. It is not new cabinets, a moved sink, or a new counter, which is the kitchen remodel guide. It is not a new shower or a moved toilet, which is the bathroom remodel guide. It is not sanding the floor, which is the hardwood floor guide. It is not new hardwood, which is the hardwood flooring installation guide. It is not new wall-to-wall carpet, which is the carpet installation guide. It is not new vinyl plank, which is the vinyl plank flooring guide. A house that is painted inside and outside in the same season is two jobs. They are not one price.

The gallons are not the job. Paint for a common house is often a few hundred dollars of material, and a premium line can push that material toward about $1,000. The bid is the prep, the cutting in, the ceilings, the trim, the cover on the floors, and the time. Living-area square footage is also the wrong thing to multiply by a one-room wall rate. A 12×12 bedroom priced alone is a trip. A 2,000 square foot house is a different rate, on a different unit. Price the surfaces the bid names.

The rows below are ways to read one job. They are not added together. A house of about 2,000 square feet is one of the size rows. Walls only and walls, ceilings, and trim are two readings of that house, not two bills. The per-square-foot rows are the same reading as the size row they match, once the house is large enough. A room row is a visit for that room. Adding the bedroom, the living room, the kitchen, and the bathroom will not produce the house price, because each room row includes a trip the house row includes once. Use an add-on row only when the bid left that line out.

Scope	Typical planning range
Walls, ceilings, and trim, per sq ft of living area	$2–$4.75
Walls only, per sq ft of living area	$1.50–$3.50
Ceilings only, per sq ft of ceiling	$1–$2
About 1,000 sq ft, walls, ceilings, and trim	$2,500–$5,500
About 1,500 sq ft, walls, ceilings, and trim	$3,500–$7,500
About 2,000 sq ft, walls, ceilings, and trim	$4,000–$9,500
About 2,500 sq ft, walls, ceilings, and trim	$5,000–$12,000
About 3,000 sq ft, walls, ceilings, and trim	$6,000–$14,500
About 1,000 sq ft, walls only	$2,000–$4,000
About 1,500 sq ft, walls only	$2,500–$5,500
About 2,000 sq ft, walls only	$3,000–$7,000
About 2,500 sq ft, walls only	$3,750–$8,750
About 3,000 sq ft, walls only	$4,500–$10,500
Bedroom, about 12×12, walls only	$500–$1,050
Bedroom, about 12×12, walls, ceiling, and trim	$700–$1,400
Living room, about 15×20, walls only	$650–$1,400
Living room, about 15×20, walls, ceiling, and trim	$1,000–$2,000
Kitchen, cabinets staying, walls only	$600–$1,400
Kitchen, cabinets staying, walls, ceiling, and trim	$800–$1,800
Bathroom, walls only	$400–$800
Bathroom, walls, ceiling, and trim	$550–$1,100
Ceiling only, one room	$200–$500
Ceilings only, about 2,000 sq ft	$2,000–$4,000
Drywall repair, when the bid leaves it out	$200–$1,200
Color change or a dark color, extra coat	$400–$2,000
High ceilings or a two-story foyer	$400–$1,500
Furniture moving, when the crew hauls it	$200–$800
Kitchen cabinets	$1,800–$5,000

Walls, ceilings, and trim are typically $2–$4.75 per square foot of living area once the house is about 2,000 square feet. That rate is a typical planning rate. It includes two coats, ordinary prep, flat or easy ceilings about 8 feet, and furniture shifted and covered. It does not include a third coat for a dark color, a two-story foyer, a drywall rebuild, or cabinet doors. Two thousand times $2 is $4,000. Two thousand times $4.75 is $9,500. That is why the rate and the typical band describe the same house. A smaller house costs more per square foot than $2. Do not multiply a 12×12 room’s floor by this rate and expect the room row.

Walls only are typically $1.50–$3.50 per square foot of living area at that same size. Two thousand times $1.50 is $3,000. Two thousand times $3.50 is $7,000. The row overlaps the typical band from $4,000–$7,000. A walls-only bid and a full bid can land in the same dollars. Ask which surfaces the bid names. Adding the walls-only rate to the ceilings rate prices the setup twice. The full rate is one crew, one cover on the floors, and every surface. $3.50 plus $2 is $5.50, which has left the $4.75 top. That is the double count.

Ceilings only are typically $1–$2 per square foot of ceiling once the ceiling is large enough to carry the crew. On a flat ceiling, that square footage is the living area under it. The cost to paint ceilings with the walls is not this rate added to the walls rate. It is the full row. A ceilings-only bid leaves the walls and the trim as they are.

About 1,000 square feet of walls, ceilings, and trim is typically $2,500–$5,500. One thousand times $2 is $2,000, under the floor, because the crew, the cover, and the trim do not shrink to half of a 2,000 square foot house. One thousand times $4.75 is $4,750. The top, $5,500, is $5.50 a square foot: a cut-up plan, or a house with more doors than the rate assumed. The row overlaps the typical band from $4,000–$5,500. The rest, $2,500–$4,000, sits under it. This is one small full interior. Adding the per-square-foot row on top of it double-counts the house.

About 1,500 square feet, full, is typically $3,500–$7,500. One thousand five hundred times $2 is $3,000, under the floor. One thousand five hundred times $4.75 is $7,125. The top, $7,500, is $5 a square foot. The row overlaps the typical band from $4,000–$7,500. The rest sits under the typical floor. A 1,500 square foot bid is one house. Do not add it to the 1,000 square foot row.

About 2,000 square feet, walls, ceilings, and trim, is typically $4,000–$9,500. That is the typical band, and it is the clean reading of the $2–$4.75 rate. One story, sound drywall, a light color over a light color, and open rooms sit toward $4,000–$6,500. More doors, a stair, and a deeper color that still covers in two coats sit toward $7,000–$9,500. Adding the per-square-foot row on top of this one double-counts the paint.

About 2,500 square feet, full, is typically $5,000–$12,000. Two thousand five hundred times $2 is the floor. Two thousand five hundred times $4.75 is $11,875. The top, $12,000, is that rate on a plan with more doors and a stair. The row overlaps the typical band from $5,000–$9,500 and leaves it above that. It stays inside the wider spread. Do not add it to the 2,000 square foot row.

About 3,000 square feet, full, is typically $6,000–$14,500. Three thousand times $2 is the floor. Three thousand times $4.75 is $14,250. The top, $14,500, is a cut-up plan or a stair past that multiply. The row overlaps the typical band from $6,000–$9,500. Most of it sits above $9,500 and inside the wider spread. Cabinet painting, a hard color change, and a two-story foyer, on top of this row, can clear $22,000.

About 1,000 square feet, walls only, is typically $2,000–$4,000. One thousand times $1.50 is $1,500, under the floor. One thousand times $3.50 is $3,500. The top, $4,000, is the trip, and it meets the typical floor. A small walls-only house and the cheapest full 2,000 square foot house can land on that same number. Ask which one the bid is. The whole row sits at or under the typical floor.

About 1,500 square feet, walls only, is typically $2,500–$5,500. One thousand five hundred times $1.50 is $2,250, under the floor. One thousand five hundred times $3.50 is $5,250. The top, $5,500, is a house with more cutting than the rate. The row overlaps the typical band from $4,000–$5,500. It also meets the 1,000 square foot full row across $2,500–$5,500. A walls-only house of this size and a smaller full interior can cost the same. Ask which surfaces are in the bid.

About 2,000 square feet, walls only, is typically $3,000–$7,000. Two thousand times $1.50 is the floor. Two thousand times $3.50 is the top. The row overlaps the typical band from $4,000–$7,000. Use this row or the full row. Adding them paints the walls twice.

About 2,500 square feet, walls only, is typically $3,750–$8,750. Two thousand five hundred times $1.50 is the floor. Two thousand five hundred times $3.50 is the top. The row overlaps the typical band from $4,000–$8,750. A walls-only house of this size can leave a smaller house’s full price without being a different kind of job. It is still walls only.

About 3,000 square feet, walls only, is typically $4,500–$10,500. Three thousand times $1.50 is the floor. Three thousand times $3.50 is the top. The row overlaps the typical band from $4,500–$9,500 and leaves it at $10,500, which stays inside the wider spread. The $10,500 sits inside the 2,500 square foot full row, which runs to $12,000. Ask whether the bid is walls only on the larger house or walls, ceilings, and trim on the smaller one.

The cost to paint a room is the room row, not the house rate divided by the number of rooms. A bedroom of about 12×12, walls only, is typically $500–$1,050. The floor is 144 square feet. Four walls at 8 feet are 384 square feet before openings, and about 350 square feet after a door and a window. Three hundred fifty times $1.50 is $525, near the floor. The $500 floor is a simple room in a lower-cost area, a little under that rate. Three hundred fifty times $3 is $1,050, the top, which is a closet to cut in or more brush work at the trim. One room includes the trip. One hundred forty-four times $2 is $288, and one hundred forty-four times $4.75 is $684. Both can sit under the walls row. The house rate is the wrong unit for one room.

That same 12×12, with the ceiling and the trim, is typically $700–$1,400. The step up from walls only is a few hundred dollars, not a second room. The ceiling is 144 square feet, and the crew is already there. The floor of this row, $700, is $200 over the walls floor. The top, $1,400, is $350 over the walls top. A ceiling-only visit on one room is typically $200–$500, because that visit pays the trip for a ceiling and nothing else. Adding that visit on top of the full room row double-counts the ceiling. Use the walls row or the full room row.

A living room of about 15×20 is 300 square feet of floor. The walls, after ordinary windows and a wide opening, are about 440 square feet. Walls only is typically $650–$1,400. Four hundred forty times $1.50 is $660. The row floor, $650, is a little under that rate. Four hundred forty times $3 is $1,320. The top, $1,400, is a fireplace or more cutting. Walls, ceiling, and trim is typically $1,000–$2,000. The step from the walls row is about $350–$600, which is a 300 square foot ceiling at about $1–$2 while the crew is already in the room. A living room priced alone can overlap a 12×12 full room from $700–$1,400 on the walls-only reading, and from $1,000–$1,400 on the full reading. The rooms are different. Ask which one the bid is. Do not add the two rooms to invent a house.

A kitchen, with the cabinets staying, is typically $600–$1,400 for the walls and $800–$1,800 for the walls, the ceiling, and the trim. The open wall is often smaller than a living room, and the cutting around cabinets, a backsplash, and a window is why the price does not drop with the square feet. Those rows do not include the cabinet doors. A kitchen at $1,400 can be walls only or a 12×12 with the ceiling and the trim. Ask which room, and whether the cabinets are in the number. Paint inside a kitchen remodel is part of that remodel. It is not this row added on top of a new kitchen.

A bathroom, walls only, is typically $400–$800. That $400 is the floor of the wider spread: one small hall bath, walls only, in a lower-cost area. It is not a house someone discounted. Walls, ceiling, and trim is typically $550–$1,100. A bath has less wall than a bedroom and more cutting at a vanity, a mirror, and a wet area, so the two can land in the same dollars. The bathroom row is paint. A new surround, a moved toilet, or a vanity that is being replaced is the bathroom remodel guide.

Ceiling only, one room, is typically $200–$500. One hundred forty-four times $1 is $144, under the floor. The trip does not shrink to one ceiling. About 2,000 square feet of ceilings only is typically $2,000–$4,000. Two thousand times $1 is the floor. Two thousand times $2 is the top. The top meets the typical floor of a full interior. A ceilings-only house and a full paint at $4,000 can be the same dollars. Ask which surfaces are in the bid. The full size rows already include the ceilings. Adding this row on top of them paints the ceilings twice.

Drywall repair, when the bid leaves it out, is typically $200–$1,200. Nail holes, a hairline crack, and a spot of sanding are ordinary prep, and they are already inside the size and room rows. This row is a hole, a popped seam, a stain that needs a patch and a spot prime, or a sheet that has to be replaced in one room. The floor is a few patches. The top is one room that needs a skim or a new sheet. A hang of about 500 square feet of new board is the drywall guide, typically $1,000–$1,750, and it replaces this repair row rather than sitting on top of it. Damage across the house can leave $1,200. Do not paint over a stain that is still wet, and do not treat a soft wall as a paint line.

A color change or a dark color, when it takes a coat the bid did not include, is typically $400–$2,000. The floor is one room, or an accent wall that still needs the extra coat. The top is a whole house going from a deep color to a light one, or to a deep color that will not cover in two coats. The size rows assume two coats on a wall that is already a paintable light or mid color. If the bid already says three coats, do not add this row. An accent wall in a color the two coats will cover can sit under $400. It is part of the room, not a second project.

High ceilings or a two-story foyer, when the bid leaves the height out, is typically $400–$1,500. The size rows assume ceilings about 8 feet that a roller can reach from the floor. This row is the tall part: a stair hall, a great room over about 10 feet, or a two-story entry. The floor is a single tall wall the crew can still ladder. The top is a foyer that needs a lift or a lot of cutting along a stair. The rest of the house does not become this row. Only the tall volume does. $9,500 plus $1,500 is $11,000, which leaves the typical band and stays inside the wider spread.

Furniture moving, when the crew hauls it out of the room, is typically $200–$800. The size and room rows assume the crew can slide pieces to the center and cover them, or the owner has cleared the walls. The floor is a few rooms carried to a garage that is close. The top is a house of furniture. A piano, a large aquarium, or a full pack-out can leave $800. Covering a sofa where it sits is not this row.

Kitchen cabinets are typically $1,800–$5,000. That is the doors, the frames, and the drawers of a common kitchen, painted. It is not a new cabinet, and it is not inside the kitchen room row or the $4,000–$9,500. The floor is a smaller kitchen brushed or sprayed in place. The top is doors removed, sprayed, and rehung on a larger kitchen. $9,500 plus $5,000 is $14,500, the top of the 3,000 square foot full row and still inside the wider spread. $14,500 plus $5,000 is $19,500, still inside $22,000. A bathroom vanity is typically $250–$700, and it is not the kitchen cabinet row. A reface of solid boxes is the cabinet refacing guide. New boxes are the kitchen remodel guide.

What the range includes

The typical band assumes an existing single-family house of about 2,000 square feet, walls and ceilings and trim painted, two coats of a standard interior paint, and ordinary prep. Ceilings are about 8 feet. The crew can shift furniture and cover it. An open one-story house in a lower-cost area, with a light color over a light color, sits toward $4,000. More doors, a stair, and a color that still covers in two coats sit toward $9,500. A single room can land under that floor. A 3,000 square foot house, cabinet doors, and a two-story foyer can leave the top.

Ordinary prep is in the rows. That means dusting or washing a grimy wall, filling nail holes and small dents, sanding the fills, caulking a gap at trim that has opened, and spot-priming patches, stains, and bare drywall or bare wood. It includes masking the floors and the hardware, and covering what the crew did not move. Recaulking every joint in the house, stripping wallpaper, or skim-coating a room takes longer than the gallons suggest and is how a common house leaves the typical band. Wallpaper that is still stuck is not a paint bid until someone says who is taking it off.

How long the work takes depends on the rooms and the prep, and the bid’s schedule is the one that counts. A 12×12 room is often a day. The second coat may be the same day or the next, depending on what the can allows. A 2,000 square foot house, walls, ceilings, and trim, with ordinary prep, is often three to five days. A 1,000 square foot house can still take two days, because the setup does not shrink in half. Drywall repair, a dark color, or cabinet doors often stretch the job toward a week. These are typical planning spans.

Living in the house during the work is the usual plan. The crew takes a room at a time. You need a path, a place to sit, and the pets and the paint kept apart. That stay is not a line in the painting bid.

The floor of the national spread, near $400, is one small bathroom, walls only. The top, toward $22,000, is where a large house, kitchen cabinets, a hard color change, and a two-story foyer can land together. $14,500 plus cabinets at $5,000 is $19,500. That plus a color change at $2,000 and a foyer at $1,500 is $23,000, which clears the spread. Lead-safe containment on a pre-1978 house, and a kitchen or bath remodel, can clear it too. Treat a number above it as a different scope and ask which driver caused it.

None of the bands include an exterior repaint, a kitchen remodel, a bathroom remodel, or sanding a hardwood floor. If the same season includes the floors, keep the sanding and the paint as two scopes, and ask which crew finishes last so sanding dust and paint drips are not a surprise. If the same season includes the outside, the ladder and the rooms are still two bids. Paint after a remodel’s drywall is finished, so you are not paying to coat a wall the remodel is about to open.

Houses built before 1978 may have lead in older paint layers. The typical band assumes ordinary prep, not lead-safe containment. Disturbing that paint — sanding, scraping, or a heat gun — is a different scope. This page does not put a dollar figure on lead-safe work, because how much paint you disturb, and the rules where you live, change the bid. It can leave the typical band. Ask the painter what they will do if the paint is lead-based. Treat a bid that says “we just sand it” on an older house as incomplete.

Standard interior paint, two coats, is the paint in every size and room row. Flat or matte hides a ceiling and a wall you do not wash. Eggshell is the usual wall in a bedroom or a living room. Satin is a hall, a kitchen wall, or a room that gets wiped. Semi-gloss is trim, doors, and a bathroom. The sheen is a choice inside the row, not a second price, as long as the product is a standard line and the coat count stays two. A better gallon moves the material. On a common house that line is still often a few hundred dollars, sometimes near $1,000 for a premium product, against a bid of several thousand. Ask which product, which sheen, and how many coats. A one-coat bid on a color change is not comparable to a filled, primed, two-coat job. The sheen should match on a wall you are only partly repainting, or the patch will flash.

Season matters less inside than it does on an exterior wall, because the room is not in the weather. You still need the temperature on the can, and you need the coats to dry before the furniture goes back. Region is about labor. The same scope in a lower-cost area sits toward the floor of the row. The same scope in a high-labor city sits toward the top and can leave it. These ranges do not subtract a coupon.

As a cross-check, not a bid: 2,000 square feet at $2–$4.75 is $4,000–$9,500. The same house, walls only, at $1.50–$3.50 is $3,000–$7,000. A 12×12 at the house rate can sit under the room row, because the trip does not shrink. If a bid and those readings are far apart, the bid is a different set of surfaces, a third coat, cabinet doors, or repairs the reading left out.

What moves the price

Driver	How it changes the bid
Surfaces	Walls, ceilings, and trim on about 2,000 square feet is $4,000–$9,500. Walls only is $3,000–$7,000. Ceilings only is $1–$2 a square foot, or $2,000–$4,000 on that house. They are not added.
House size	One thousand square feet, full, is $2,500–$5,500. Two thousand is the typical band. Three thousand, full, is $6,000–$14,500. A short house does not get the $2 rate.
The room	A 12×12 is $500–$1,050 for the walls and $700–$1,400 with the ceiling and the trim. A living room is $650–$1,400 or $1,000–$2,000. A kitchen, cabinets staying, is $600–$1,400 or $800–$1,800. A bathroom is $400–$800 or $550–$1,100. A room is not a slice of the house.
Prep	Nail holes are inside the rows. Drywall repair left out is $200–$1,200. Wallpaper, a wet stain, and a soft wall are not a paint coat.
Color and sheen	Two coats of a standard color are assumed. A color change or a dark color that needs another coat is $400–$2,000 when the bid left it out. Sheen, on a standard line, stays in the row. Match it if you paint only part of a wall.
Height	Ceilings about 8 feet are in the size rows. A high ceiling or a two-story foyer left out is $400–$1,500 for that volume.
Furniture and cabinets	Shifting and covering furniture is in the rows. Hauling it is $200–$800. Kitchen cabinets are $1,800–$5,000. A vanity is $250–$700.
Other work	Exterior paint, a kitchen remodel, a bathroom remodel, and a hardwood refinish are separate invoices. Paint does not replace a cabinet or a floor.
Access and region	An open house in a lower-cost area sits toward the floor of the row. Occupied rooms, a stair, or a high-labor city sits toward the top and can leave it.

Paint quality is the product and the coat count, not a brand story. A cheap one-coat promise on a dark wall is a different bid from two coats of a paint that can be washed. Primer on every wall is the right scope when the drywall is new, the patches are large, or the color is moving from dark to light. Spot primer is what the ordinary rows already include. Ask which one you are buying so a “primer included” line is not counted twice.

The same color on the walls and the ceiling is the cheaper way to paint both, and it sits toward the floor of the full row, because the cut line goes away. A white ceiling against a wall color is still one visit. The cost to paint ceilings does not become its own house price just because the ceiling color changes. A third coat is the color-change row.

If you are also refinishing hardwood, the sanding dust and the new finish need a sequence. Painters should not drip on a floor that was just coated, and a sander should not grind a fresh wall. If a kitchen remodel or a bathroom remodel is the reason the walls are open, paint after the new drywall, and keep the remodel’s price on that guide. The outside of the same house is the exterior painting guide. A crew that says “the whole place” should list the interior surfaces and the exterior surfaces as two scopes.

DIY or hire

A careful owner can paint a room they can reach from the floor when the drywall is sound, the patches are small, and they are willing to fill, sand, prime, cut in, and put on two coats. That is the room row, and the labor is the owner’s. Match the sheen if the rest of the wall is staying, or the patch will flash. Brush the edges even if you roll the field. Cover the floor. The risks are a lap mark, paint on the trim, and a coat that fails because the wall was never cleaned.

Hire the whole house. The savings on a 2,000 square foot interior are real, and so is a week of occupied rooms, ceilings, and trim. Hire a stair hall and any ceiling you cannot reach from the floor. Hire cabinet doors. Spraying without masking is how floors, hardware, and a neighbor’s car in an open garage get painted. Renting a sprayer does not remove the prep.

Hire, even more clearly, if the house was built before 1978 and sanding could disturb lead paint, if the wall is soft or actively stained, or if the job is really a kitchen or a bath. Those are not weekend techniques. An owner can still move furniture, fill a nail hole, and keep the pets out. That is help. It is not a whole-house bid.

Repair or replace

Repaint when the drywall and the trim are sound and the problem is color, scuffs, a dull sheen, or a room you are tired of looking at. That is the typical band on a common house, and it is the room row on a single room. Nail holes and a hairline crack are part of that paint job.

Repair the wall before you paint it when there is a hole, a popped seam, a stain, or a patch of paper that has let go. Limited repair is the $200–$1,200 row when the bid left it out. A stain that comes back is a leak, not a thin coat. Find the water before you pay for the color. Soft drywall, a soft ceiling, or trim that has swollen is the repair, and the paint comes after.

Replace the room, in the sense of a remodel, when the cabinets, the counter, or the shower are the actual project. Dated paint on a kitchen you are keeping is this page. A kitchen you are gutting is the kitchen remodel guide. A bath with a failed pan is the bathroom remodel guide. Painted cabinet doors are the cabinet row. New boxes are the remodel. A worn hardwood floor is not fixed by the wall color. Paint on the outside is the exterior guide, and it does not come with the interior.

How to use this number

Ask for a written price that names the rooms, whether the price is walls only or walls, ceilings, and trim, the number of coats, the product and the sheen, who moves the furniture, and what happens if the drywall is damaged. Compare about 2,000 square feet of walls, ceilings, and trim with $4,000–$9,500. Compare walls only on that house with $3,000–$7,000. Compare the full rate with $2–$4.75 a square foot of living area and the walls-only rate with $1.50–$3.50. Compare a 12×12 with $500–$1,050 or $700–$1,400. Compare ceilings only with $1–$2 a square foot, and kitchen cabinets with $1,800–$5,000. Keep an exterior repaint, a kitchen remodel, a bathroom remodel, and a hardwood refinish as their own lines.

A very low bid on a whole-house interior is a reason to ask whether it is one coat on unprimed patches, not a reason to celebrate. A quote near $400 should say one small room. A high bid should point at square feet, ceilings and trim, a dark color, height, drywall, or cabinets. Two or three local bids on the same rooms and the same surfaces are the number that matters. How this site sets the band is explained on the methodology page.