Statewide pay Government data
Painters in Illinois earn a statewide median of $61,260 a year, 29% above the typical U.S. metro, ranking #2 of 50 states and DC. About 6,820 people work in the trade statewide.
Statewide pay range
States ranked near Illinois
See all states on the painter overview.
Pay by city Government data
BLS publishes painter pay for 7 Illinois metros. The highest-paying is Champaign at $84,370, followed by Rockford and Peoria.
| Metro | Median pay | Real pay | Jobs |
|---|---|---|---|
| ChampaignILLINOIS · IL | $84,370 | $91,010 | 160 |
| RockfordILLINOIS · IL | $72,700 | $78,890 | 130 |
| PeoriaILLINOIS · IL | $64,450 | $70,645 | 110 |
| SpringfieldILLINOIS · IL | $63,930 | $68,931 | 110 |
| ChicagoILLINOIS · IL | $61,740 | $59,597 | 5,480 |
| DecaturILLINOIS · IL | $48,510 | $54,862 | 50 |
| BloomingtonILLINOIS · IL | $46,570 | $49,788 | 120 |
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 Illinois'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 Illinois who finished or left a registered program in fiscal years 2020–2024, 47% completed (U.S.: 32%), about 53 graduates a year. The typical program runs 6,000 hours, about 3 years of full-time work. Union programs had a 46% completion rate, compared with 59% 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
From 2015 to 2024, painting contractors in Illinois filed 17 severe injury reports (a hospital stay, amputation or loss of an eye), 3 of them involving an amputation. The most common cause was falls, slips and trips (53% of reports). These cover everyone at those employers, not only painters. OSHA also opened 6 fatality investigations at painting contractors in Illinois over the same years (federal and state programs).
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 Illinois Official source
The main state licensing office in Illinois is the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation. Most trades (including general contractors and electricians) are licensed locally; plumbers are licensed by the state health department. It can point you to the right license for painters.
Official Illinois licensing site ↗
Requirements for painters vary by state and sometimes by city; always confirm with the official agency.
Union membership
In 2025, 13.1% of wage and salary workers in Illinois were union members, above the U.S. rate of about 10% (#12 of 51 states and D.C.), and 14.0% 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 Illinois
All trades in Illinois.