House painting cost NH: a price autopsy for 2027
Our estimate of the house painting cost NH homeowners pay local crews: about $5,850 – $11,150 for the exterior of a 1,500 to 2,500 sq ft home, and about $4,150 – $8,600 for the whole interior of a 2,000 sq ft home. That is roughly 14 to 17% below Massachusetts, and below we show exactly why.
In this guide
The cost to paint a house in New Hampshire, job by job
Most guides to house painting cost NH homeowners find are pages a computer filled in for every town. We did the opposite: we started from a price list we actually quote from, then adjusted it for New Hampshire using public data, and we show every step. The left column is the Massachusetts ballpark from the price guides on our own site. The right column is our estimate of the house painting cost NH homeowners can expect from New Hampshire-based crews.
| Job | MA price guide | NH estimate |
|---|---|---|
| Exterior, home under 1,500 sq ft | $5,000 – $9,000 | $4,150 – $7,750 |
| Exterior, 1,500 – 2,500 sq ft | $7,000 – $13,000 | $5,850 – $11,150 |
| Exterior, 2,500 – 3,500 sq ft | $10,000 – $17,000 | $8,350 – $14,600 |
| Exterior, over 3,500 sq ft | $14,000 – $20,000+ | $11,700 – $17,150+ |
| Whole interior, about 2,000 sq ft | $5,000 – $10,000 | $4,150 – $8,600 |
| One bedroom (walls) | $600 – $1,200 | $500 – $1,050 |
| Living or family room (walls) | $1,000 – $1,700 | $850 – $1,450 |
| Bathroom (walls) | $250 – $650 | $200 – $550 |
| Kitchen cabinets, average kitchen | $2,000 – $4,500 | $1,650 – $3,850 |
Estimates rounded to the nearest $50. Full repaints with normal prep, two coats, standard heights. Not a quote; a written proposal after seeing the house is the only real price.
How we worked out house painting cost NH estimates
A painting bill has two parts: the people and the paint. Angi puts labor at 70% to 90% of a hired painting job (Angi). So the biggest question for house painting cost NH estimates is what painters earn there, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics answers it.
- Wages: painters in New Hampshire averaged $52,730 a year in 2025, against $64,080 in Massachusetts (BLS OEWS via America by Numbers). New Hampshire pay is 82% of Massachusetts pay.
- Tax: Massachusetts contractors pay 6.25% sales tax on the materials they install (mass.gov). New Hampshire has no general sales tax.
- Combine: the labor part shrinks by the wage gap and the paint part loses the tax.
NH price ≈ MA price × (labor share × 0.823 + paint share ÷ 1.0625)
with 90% labor → × 0.835
with 70% labor → × 0.858
That is where the 14 to 17% gap in house painting cost NH versus Massachusetts comes from. It is an estimate of the market, not a law of nature: a busy Seacoast painter in June will not discount because of a statistic, and a Massachusetts crew working in New Hampshire still pays Massachusetts wages. Painter rates NH crews charge also vary with insurance, experience and how booked they are.
Work out your own house painting cost NH estimate
Pick the job, then tell it about the house. The calculator applies the same math as the table, plus the add-ons from our price guides: about 15 to 30% more for a pre-1978 exterior done lead-safe, and about $300 to $800 for each extra color.
The lead-safe and extra-color add-ons apply to exteriors in our price guides; for interiors the calculator shows them only as a note.
One house, start to finish: a 2,000 sq ft colonial
Here is the house painting cost NH math on a common southern New Hampshire house: a two-story, 2,000 sq ft colonial with clapboard siding, white trim and a red front door.
- Start: our Massachusetts guide for 1,500 to 2,500 sq ft is $7,000 to $13,000.
- Adjust for New Hampshire: × 0.835 to × 0.858 gives about $5,850 to $11,150.
- Built in 1965? Lead-safe work adds about 15 to 30%, so about $6,750 to $14,500.
- A third color for the door and shutters adds about $300 to $800.
So the house painting cost NH homeowners should budget for this colonial sits between roughly $7,050 and $15,300 if it is pre-1978, or about $6,150 to $11,950 for a newer house with the same third color. The spread is wide because prep is the unknown: a house repainted eight years ago with sound paint needs far less scraping than one that was last painted in the 1990s.
When to collect quotes in New Hampshire
Exterior schedules fill early because the season is short. Getting quotes in winter for a May or June start gives you time to compare two or three, and painters are easier to reach. Interior jobs can be quoted and painted any month, and winter is often the easiest time to get a start date, which can help the house painting cost NH families pay for interiors.
Want a real number instead of an estimate? The visit is free.
Book a free visitWhy online exterior painting cost New Hampshire numbers look low
Search for exterior painting cost New Hampshire figures and you will find town pages that look precise. HomeAdvisor's Londonderry page shows an average of $4,985, a typical range of $2,869 to $5,000, and a low end of $955 (HomeAdvisor). The page does not say how many projects that is, or what they included.
No full repaint of a two-story colonial costs $955. Numbers like that mix small jobs (one side, a front door, trim touch-ups) with whole houses, which pulls the average down. Auto-generated calculators have the same problem from the other side: they multiply a national per-square-foot rate by your living area and skip prep.
Use per-job ranges for a full repaint, like the table above, and compare quotes that list the same scope.
What pushes the cost to paint a house in New Hampshire up
The wage gap pulls house painting cost NH figures down. These four things push them back up, and they explain why two quotes for the same house can be thousands apart.
Pre-1978 homes
New Hampshire is not an EPA-authorized state, so federal lead-safe rules govern pre-1978 work (NCHH). Containment and cleanup add time, and lead matters here: NH reported record child lead-poisoning levels in 2025 (NHPR).
A short paint season
Standard exterior latex needs 50°F, low-temperature paints 35°F, and both need about 48 hours above the dew point (Sherwin-Williams). Fewer good weeks means booked calendars in late spring and early fall.
Seacoast exposure
Salt air and wind off the ocean mean more washing and prep, and often a higher-grade coating, than the same house inland.
Height and access
Two-story colonials, steep lots and mill-building condos need ladders, staging or lifts, and condo boards set the schedule.
Paint is the small part
One gallon covers about 350 to 400 sq ft per coat (Angi), so about 2,000 sq ft of siding takes roughly 10 to 12 gallons for two coats. Even premium paint is a small share of the house painting cost NH homeowners pay; switching to a cheaper can saves little and costs years of wear.
How to read a New Hampshire painting quote
Interior painting cost NH quotes and exterior quotes should answer the same questions, and a clear quote is the best protection against a surprise in your house painting cost NH bill. If a quote is one number on a card, ask for these in writing:
- Scope: which rooms or sides, ceilings and trim included or not.
- Prep: washing, scraping, sanding, priming bare wood and caulking.
- Paint: the paint line and number of coats.
- Lead: how pre-1978 surfaces will be handled.
- Money: the deposit and payment schedule. The NH Attorney General warns about down payments above 50%.
Where Fine Coat Painters fits
We are based in Burlington, MA and paint in southern New Hampshire as well. We use one price list in both states, the same itemized proposal and a 10% deposit, so a New Hampshire quote from us will sit near the Massachusetts column of the table. What you get for that house painting cost NH homeowners pay us: one owner-led crew, full prep written out, EPA lead-safe practices on older homes and calls answered 7 AM to 8 PM every day.
See our New Hampshire painters page, the rules when you hire a painter across the NH and MA line, or the Massachusetts exterior cost guide.
House painting cost NH: questions people ask
How much does it cost to paint a house in New Hampshire?
For a full exterior repaint of a 1,500 to 2,500 sq ft home, our estimate of the New Hampshire market is about $5,850 to $11,150, and about $4,150 to $8,600 for the whole interior of a 2,000 sq ft home. These are derived from Massachusetts price guides and public wage data, explained on this page.
Is painting cheaper in New Hampshire than in Massachusetts?
Usually somewhat. Painters' average pay in New Hampshire is about 18% lower than in Massachusetts (BLS, 2025), and New Hampshire has no sales tax on the paint. Since labor is most of a painting bill, that works out to roughly 14 to 17% less for the same job from a local crew.
Why do online cost sites show such low numbers for NH towns?
Many mix small jobs with whole-house repaints. HomeAdvisor's Londonderry page, for example, shows an average of $4,985 but a low end of $955, which can only be a small job. Use per-job ranges for a full repaint instead.
What are typical painter rates NH crews charge per hour?
Angi puts painters at $25 to $100 an hour nationally (Angi). Most NH painting companies quote by the job, which is easier to compare than hourly rates.
Does a pre-1978 home cost more to paint in New Hampshire?
Usually yes. Federal lead-safe rules apply to pre-1978 homes in New Hampshire, and the containment, dust control and cleanup add time. Our price guides put that at about 15 to 30% more on an exterior.
Do you charge New Hampshire or Massachusetts prices?
We use one price list in both states, written into an itemized proposal before any work starts. This guide shows the wider New Hampshire market so you can compare any quote, including ours.
Sources
- Painters, construction and maintenance: annual mean wage by state, BLS OEWS 2025, via America by Numbers
- Angi: cost to paint a house interior and exterior (labor share, paint coverage, hourly rates)
- Massachusetts DOR: contractors pay sales tax on materials
- HomeAdvisor: Londonderry, NH siding painting costs
- NCHH: states authorized by EPA to run the RRP rule
- NHPR: NH lead poisoning levels highest since routine testing began (2025)
- Sherwin-Williams: exterior product application temperatures
- Fine Coat Painters: Massachusetts price guides (the MA column)
Get a real number for your New Hampshire house
House painting cost NH estimates are a starting point. The owner will measure, check the prep and write one itemized price. Call or text (603) 943-3336, 7 AM to 8 PM every day.
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