Painter Salary in Chicago, IL (2026)

What painter pay in Chicago really looks like

Chicago is a standout-pay market for painters. The local median of $61,740 a year runs $12,340 (25%) above the national median of $49,400, one of the widest premiums in the country for this occupation. Offers benchmarked to U.S.-wide averages will read far too low here — hold out for the local number, and treat the metro median as your floor, not your target.

Pay is spread wide across the metro: BLS puts the 25th percentile at $48,970 and the 75th at $95,850. A band that broad usually reflects a real mix of employers, shifts, and seniority — which means where you apply changes your pay as much as the job title does. The same painter role can pay very differently across two Chicago employers, so it pays to target the top of the band deliberately.

This is a substantial local market: BLS estimates roughly 5,480 painter jobs across the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN metro area (a count of metro employment, not a survey of reported salaries). A deep employer base is good news for pay — it means more openings to compare side by side, more turnover creating vacancies, and more leverage to hold out for an employer at the top of the local range instead of settling for the first offer that lands.

Right now, Jobeezy is tracking 24 open painter jobs in Chicago against the BLS $61,740 benchmark — the live listings and the employers hiring are below, so you can see which openings actually clear the metro median before you apply.

Put it together and the picture for Chicago is concrete: a metro median of $61,740 with most painters landing between $48,970 and $95,850. The practical move is to aim for the upper half of that band. Jobeezy fit-scores local painter openings, surfaces the employers posting toward $95,850, and applies for you — so your time goes to the jobs that clear the Chicago median, not the ones that sit under it.

How we know this — Chicago sources

Wage figures for Painter in Chicago, IL are the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics OEWS May 2025 estimate for the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN metro area (MSA code 16980) (SOC 47-2141), released 2026-08-25. Suppressed cells are shown as an em dash, never a zero.

Reviewed by Dalton Metzler · Jobeezy Compensation Data

How we source & label these figures →

Painter pay in Chicago, IL — common questions

How much does a Painter make in Chicago, IL?

The median Painter salary in Chicago, IL is $61,740/year ($12,340 (25%) above the national median), with a typical range of $48,970–$95,850 (25th–75th percentile). Figures are BLS OEWS May 2025, released 2026-08-25.

Is Chicago a strong pay market for Painters?

At a $61,740 median, Chicago is $12,340 (25%) above the national median. The U.S. median is $49,400. Jobeezy shows you which local employers actually pay at the top of that band before you apply.

How can I earn more as a Painter in Chicago?

Target employers paying toward the $95,850 (75th-percentile) mark and anchor your negotiation to the BLS band. Jobeezy fit-scores Painter openings in Chicago and auto-applies, so you reach more high-paying employers fast.

How many Painters work in Chicago?

BLS estimates roughly 5,480 painter jobs across Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN (May 2025 metro employment — a count of jobs, not of salaries reported).