Cost to Paint a House Exterior in 2026
Exterior painting costs $1.50 to $4 per square foot of home in 2026. See prices by house size, what raises them, and check a quote you got.
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An exterior paint job is one of the larger bills a homeowner pays every decade or so, and quotes for the same house can be thousands of dollars apart. Enter your home's size and you get a fair range for it. If you already have a quote, type it in and it tells you whether it sits inside, below or above the usual range.
The short answer
NerdWallet, using Angi's 2026 data, puts the average exterior paint job at about $3,177, with most homeowners paying roughly $1,800 to $4,500. Angi's own painter-pricing page gives a wider spread for exterior projects of $1,800 to $6,000.
Measured per square foot of living area, the range is $1.50 to $4:
| Home size | Typical exterior cost |
|---|---|
| 1,000 sq ft | $1,500 to $4,000 |
| 1,500 sq ft | $2,250 to $6,000 |
| 2,000 sq ft | $3,000 to $8,000 |
| 2,500 sq ft | $3,750 to $10,000 |
| 3,000 sq ft | $4,500 to $12,000 |
Living area is only a stand-in for the real thing, which is the area of the walls. A two-story house of 2,000 sq ft has less wall than a sprawling ranch of the same size, but it needs taller ladders. That roughly evens out, which is why per-square-foot pricing works well enough for a first estimate.
What moves the price
Height and stories. A second story means extension ladders, sometimes scaffolding or a lift, and slower work. Steep lots and houses on hills cost more for the same reason.
Siding type. Smooth vinyl or fiber cement goes quickly. Wood clapboard needs scraping and caulking. Stucco and brick soak up more paint and need thick rollers or a sprayer. Cedar shakes are slow because of all the edges.
Prep and repairs. On an older house, prep can take longer than painting: scraping peeling paint, sanding, replacing rotten boards, caulking gaps, spot-priming bare wood. If a quote seems high, this is usually where the hours went.
Trim and extras. Shutters, a front door, decorative trim, a porch ceiling or railings are often priced as extras.
Number of coats and paint quality. Two coats of a top-line paint can cost twice the materials of one coat of a budget product. The difference shows up a few years later in fading and peeling.
Lead paint. If the house was built before 1978, the paint may contain lead. Contractors who disturb it have to follow EPA lead-safe rules, and the EPA advises homeowners to hire a certified lead-safe firm. That adds containment and cleanup to the job.
Labor versus paint
Labor is most of what you pay for. Angi puts labor at 75% to 95% of a professional interior paint job. There is no separate figure for exterior work, but ladders and prep make it at least as labor-heavy. The paint itself is the smaller line: in the worked example on our exterior paint calculator, a 50 x 30 ft two-story house needed 17 gallons, about $1,020 at $60 a gallon.
That also means doing it yourself saves the most money of any home project, and carries the most risk. Working on a ladder two stories up is where most of the danger sits.
A worked example: checking a quote
Say your house has 2,000 sq ft of living area and you received a quote for $6,800.
- Low end: 2,000 × $1.50 = $3,000
- High end: 2,000 × $4 = $8,000
- Middle: $5,500
The $6,800 quote is inside the range, toward the upper side. That is reasonable if the house needs a lot of prep, has two stories or uses premium paint. Ask the painter to break it down. If the reply is "two coats of premium paint, full scraping and priming of bare wood, replacing three rotten trim boards," the price makes sense. If it is a one-line quote with no details, keep looking.
What a good exterior paint quote includes
- The surfaces: siding, trim, fascia, soffits, doors, shutters, porch, railings.
- Prep in plain words: power washing, scraping, sanding, caulking, priming bare wood, repairs.
- The paint brand and product line, the sheen, and the number of coats.
- How plants, decks and windows will be protected.
- A start date, a weather plan and cleanup.
- Proof of insurance, and lead-safe certification for pre-1978 homes.
If you are a painter putting together prices yourself, our painting estimate calculator builds a quote from labor hours, materials and margin.
When to paint
Paint needs dry weather and moderate temperatures to cure. Sherwin-Williams says the surface, the air and the paint all need to be at or above 35°F, and that the first 48 hours are the critical drying window. In practice that makes late spring and early fall the busiest seasons. Booking early in those seasons gives you more choice of painters.
Frequently asked questions
How much does it cost to paint a 2,000 sq ft house exterior?
About $3,000 to $8,000 at $1.50 to $4 per square foot. Simple single-story houses with smooth siding land at the low end.
How long does exterior paint last?
It depends on the paint, the prep and the climate. Consumer Reports tests exterior paints for nine years of simulated weather, and only some products held up well, which shows how much the product choice matters.
Can I paint my house exterior myself?
Yes, if the house is a single story and you have time to do the prep properly. For a second story, the cost of renting scaffolding or a lift, and the risk of the climb, change the math quickly.
Is it cheaper to paint in the off-season?
Sometimes. Painters have more openings outside the spring and fall rush, but the weather limits what can be done in winter in most places, so ask rather than assume.
Next step
Measure the outside of your house and run the exterior paint calculator to see how many gallons the job needs. For indoor rooms, see the cost to paint a room.
These are US national ranges for planning. Your local price can be lower or higher. Get at least three written quotes.
