How To Become An Interior Painter: What It Is and Career Path

What is an interior 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 an interior painter. For example, did you know that they make an average of $19.2 an hour? That's $39,931 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 1% and produce 4,900 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreInterior PainterUS Average

Salary

3.1

Avg. Salary $39,931

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability Level

5.4

Growth Rate 1%

Growth Rate 0.3%

Diversity

8.4

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.87%

Asian 2.04%

Black or African American 8.44%

Hispanic or Latino 27.55%

Unknown 4.58%

White 56.53%

Gender

female 23.67%

male 76.33%

Age - 42

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 - 42

Stress Level

5.4

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity Level

7.7

Complexity Level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work Life Balance

6.5

Work Life balance is good

6.4 - fair

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Key steps to become an interior painter

Explore interior painter education requirements

Most common interior painter degrees

High School Diploma

38.8 %

Bachelor's

31.2 %

Associate

18.4 %

Start to develop specific interior painter skills

Skills	Percentages
Drywall Repair	16.77%
Caulking	13.10%
Coats	8.94%
Door Frames	6.60%
Exterior Surfaces	5.19%

Complete relevant interior painter training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-2 years on post-employment, on-the-job training. New interior 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 an interior painter based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real interior painter resumes.

Research interior painter duties and responsibilities

Manage painting crews in both commercial and industrial environments from swing stage to high boom work.
Remove and installation of drywall, wall texturing and plastering.
Apply caulking, primer and paint to indoor areas and services.
Assist the lead in touch up painting, caulking, taping and covering doorways, cleaning and garbage disposal.

Prepare your interior painter resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your interior 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 an interior 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 Interior Painter Resume templates

Build a professional Interior 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 Interior Painter resume.