Here's everything you need to know about the costs of painting your home’s exterior and interior.

Average Cost to Paint a House

Cost to paint a house (both exterior and interior):

• 1-story 1,000 square feet: $2,500-$6,000
• 2-story 2,500 square feet: $6,750-$12,500
• 3-4-story 4,000 square feet: $10,000-$19,000

In addition to being affected by a home's square footage, painting costs can vary based on the type of paint the chosen, the paint's finish, the type of paint primer used, local labor rates, and the type of exterior siding.

How Much Paint Costs

What type of paint materials you choose has a big impact on how much it's going to cost to paint your home — not to mention how it looks and how long it lasts. To determine how much paint will cost, you first need to understand the different types, finishes, and quality of paint, and if you'll need primer, too.

Paint Types

Generally, there are two types of paint: latex-based paint and oil-based paint.

Latex paint (also known as water-based paint) is the most common type of paint for home use, since it rolls on smoothly, dries quickly, is environmentally friendly, and tends to have less of an odor than oil-based paint. The main drawback of latex paint, though, is it's less durable than oil-based paint, meaning it's more prone to scratches.

Oil-based paint is commonly used for high-moisture areas, such as bathrooms and kitchens, and floors, trims, and moldings, since these areas take more abuse over time than walls do. Typically oil-based paints are less expensive than latex paints, take longer to dry, can create bad odor while drying, and contain more volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which essentially means they're less environmentally friendly.

Here's the cost breakdown for latex- and oil-based paints:

• Latex-based paint: $20 to $70 per gallon
• Oil-based paint: $20 to $70 per gallon

Paint Finishes

A paint's finish can also affect its price tag. There are five main types of finishes: flat/matte, matte enamel, eggshell, satin, semi-gloss, and high-gloss. Each finish has its pros and cons, and their costs vary. Both latex-based paints and oil-based paints offer the full range of finishes.

Two aesthetic things to consider when selecting a finish are how shiny you'd like the surface to be and whether or not you want to hide any imperfections on the surface to be painted. Generally, higher-gloss paint finishes reflect light better than lower-gloss finishes, like eggshell and matte. That makes them shiny, and also causes them to highlight flaws in walls and ceilings.

High-gloss paint is the most durable and easiest to clean of all paint sheens. It's ultra-shiny, light-reflective, and hard (think appliance-paint tough). High-glass paint has too much shine for interior walls; you'd find the reflections and drywall flaws distracting. It is a good choice for areas that sticky fingers touch, though, such as cabinets, trim, and doors.

Semi-gloss paint, which is slightly less durable than high-gloss paint, is well suited for rooms where moisture, drips, and grease are common and need to easily wipe away. This makes it appropriate for kitchen walls, bathrooms, and trim.

Satin paint has a lovely luster that, despite the name, is often described as velvety. Because it's easy to clean, it's suitable for high-traffic areas—including kitchens, bathrooms, trim, and chair rails—though it reveals application flaws, such as roller or brush strokes.

Eggshell paint falls between satin and flat on the sheen and durability scale. It's essentially a flat, low-shine finish with little luster, like a chicken's egg. Eggshell covers wall imperfections well and is a great finish for gathering spaces that don't get a lot of bumps and scuffs.

Flat, or matte finish on the no-shine end of the finish spectrum. A friend to walls that have something to hide, flat or matte paint (the terms are interchangeable) soaks up — rather than reflects — light, has the most pigment, and provides the most coverage. It's good for adults' bedrooms and other interior rooms that won't be roughed up by kids. That's because it's tough to clean without taking paint off.

Generally, the higher the shine, the higher the cost:

• Flat/Matte: $20 to $50 per gallon, depending on brand
• Eggshell: $1-$5 more per gallon than flat of same brand
• Satin: $1-$5 more per gallon than eggshell of same brand
• Semi-gloss: $1-$5 more per gallon than satin of same brand
• High-gloss: $1-$5 more per gallon than semi-gloss of same brand

of your home. Here are their estimated averages:

• 1,000 square feet: $1,500-$3,000
• 2,500 square feet: $3,750-$7,500
• 4,000 square feet: $6,000-$12,000

Average Cost to Paint the Exterior of a House

Likewise, exterior painting costs will vary depending on the size of your home:

• 1-story 1,000 square feet: $1,000-$3,000
• 2-story 2,500 square feet: $3,000-$5,000
• 3-4-story 4,000 square feet: $4,000-$7,000

However, those figures don't account for siding materials—and some sidings cost more to paint than others because of their texture and the type of paint required to properly cover them.

Here are painting estimates for the five most common types of siding, in order of least to most expensive:

• Metal siding: $1,500 per 1,000 square feet
• Concrete siding: $2,000 per 1,000 square feet
• Vinyl siding: $2,000 per 1,000 square feet
• Wood siding: $2,000 per 1,000 square feet
• Stucco siding: $3,000 per 1,000 square feet