How To Become A Car Painter: What It Is and Career Path

What is a car painter and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a car painter. For example, did you know that they make an average of $20.2 an hour? That's $42,013 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 2% and produce 2,700 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreCar PainterUS Average

Salary

3.3

Avg. Salary $42,013

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

7.0

Growth rate 2%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

8.2

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.58%

Asian 3.70%

Black or African American 11.03%

Hispanic or Latino 23.66%

Unknown 4.14%

White 56.88%

Gender

female 9.09%

male 90.91%

Age - 41.5

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 41.5

Stress level

7.0

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

9.2

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

6.4

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a car painter

Explore car painter education requirements

Most common car painter degrees

High School Diploma

71.9 %

Diploma

18.8 %

Bachelor's

3.1 %

Complete relevant car painter training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-2 years on post-employment, on-the-job training. New car painters learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a car painter based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real car painter resumes.

Research car painter duties and responsibilities

Paint and/or refinish repair areas on vehicle to achieve a better than factory finish.
Paint steam and water treatment piping using scaffolding, safety harnesses, and follow refinery safety protocols
Entrust to paint luxury cars, including Ferrari, BMW, and Maserati.

Prepare your car painter resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your car painter resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a car painter resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable car painter resume templates

Build a professional car painter resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your car painter resume.