Statewide pay Government data
Painters in Iowa earn a statewide median of $49,710 a year, 4% above the typical U.S. metro, ranking #24 of 50 states and DC. About 1,770 people work in the trade statewide.
Statewide pay range
States ranked near Iowa
See all states on the painters nationwide.
Pay by city Government data
BLS publishes painter pay for 8 Iowa metros: Ames, Cedar Rapids, Davenport, Des Moines, Dubuque, Iowa City, Sioux City and Waterloo.
| Metro | Median pay | Real pay | Jobs |
|---|---|---|---|
| DavenportIOWA · IA | $57,870 | $64,965 | 210 |
| Des MoinesIOWA · IA | $57,410 | $62,606 | 620 |
| WaterlooIOWA · IA | $55,000 | $63,177 | 110 |
| DubuqueIOWA · IA | $47,400 | $54,278 | 40 |
| Sioux CityIOWA · IA | $46,760 | $54,087 | 90 |
| Cedar RapidsIOWA · IA | $46,190 | $51,920 | 290 |
| Iowa CityIOWA · IA | $44,960 | $49,132 | 90 |
| AmesIOWA · IA | $44,780 | $50,411 | 70 |
Pay: BLS OEWS, May 2025 (metro-level). Real pay: BEA price parities, 2024. How we calculate
Pay outside the cities Government data
BLS also reports pay for Iowa's rural (nonmetropolitan) regions.
BLS OEWS nonmetropolitan areas, May 2025.
The job (national)
Paint walls, equipment, buildings, bridges, and other structural surfaces, using brushes, rollers, and spray guns. May remove old paint to prepare surface prior to painting. May mix colors or oils to obtain desired color or consistency.
Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 3.0% from 2025 to 2035, with about 24,900 openings a year. Typical training: moderate-term on-the-job training.
Nationally, painters have 124 injuries or illnesses serious enough to miss work per 10,000 full-time workers, 1.4× the rate for all jobs (87). The most common cause is overexertion and repetitive strain.
What the work is like Government data
How often painters deal with each condition, from surveys of workers in the job.
Getting started usually takes some preparation (high school plus months of training).
O*NET 31.0 Work Context and Job Zones (U.S. Department of Labor), national.
Registered apprenticeships Government data
Of painter apprentices in Iowa who finished or left a registered program in fiscal years 2020–2024, 28% completed (U.S.: 32%), about 4 graduates a year. The typical program runs 8,000 hours, about 4 years of full-time work. Union programs had a 46% completion rate, compared with 3% for non-union programs. Search open registered programs near you on the official Apprenticeship Finder.
U.S. Department of Labor, RAPIDS apprentice records (Completion Rate Analysis), FY2020–2024 exits.
Serious injuries & deaths reported to OSHA Government data
Iowa runs its own workplace-safety program (an OSHA State Plan), so its injury reports aren't in the federal dataset. Nationally, in states federal OSHA covers, painting contractors filed 352 severe injury reports from 2015 to 2024; the most common cause was falls, slips and trips (63%).
OSHA Severe Injury Reports, January 2015–December 2024 (states under federal OSHA only).
Fatality investigations: OSHA Fatality Inspection Data, events 2015–2024, all states.
Licensing in Iowa Official source
The main state licensing office in Iowa is the Iowa Department of Inspections, Appeals and Licensing. It can point you to the right license for painters.
Official Iowa licensing site ↗
Requirements for painters vary by state and sometimes by city; always confirm with the official agency.
Union membership
In 2025, 6.8% of wage and salary workers in Iowa were union members, below the U.S. rate of about 10% (#28 of 51 states and D.C.), and 8.2% were covered by a union contract. These figures cover all jobs in the state, not only painters.
BLS Union Members, 2025 (Current Population Survey), table 5.
Cities in Iowa
All trades in Iowa.