Painters prepare surfaces and apply coatings on the inside and outside of buildings, across residential, commercial, and industrial work. It is a skilled trade, and pay reflects the certification and the range of coatings and settings a painter can handle. This guide sets out what it pays.
The official wage band
Job Bank classifies this trade under NOC 73112, Painters and decorators, except interior decorators. That exclusion matters: this is the building-trade painter, not an interior decorator, an auto-body refinisher, or an art painter. These are the official hourly wages for the trade in Canada, low to high, updated November 19, 2025.
| Level | Hourly |
|---|---|
| Low | $20.00 |
| Median | $28.00 |
| High | $40.99 |
In Alberta the average is around $25.50, and a journeyperson runs roughly $21 to $42.
Reading the band
The band is wide because it spans a first-year apprentice near the floor and a certified journeyperson working commercial and industrial coatings at the top. Read the upper end as the Red Seal and industrial-coatings end, where surface prep, spray application, and working at heights are part of the job.
What lifts your pay
- Red Seal certification and journeyperson status
- Commercial and industrial coatings: metal coating, fire-retardant, and heavy-duty finishes
- Surface prep skills: scraping, sanding, sandblasting, and hydro-blasting
- Spray application and working safely at heights and on scaffolding
Reading the ranges
These bands cover NOC 73112, the building-painter trade, which excludes interior decorators (NOC 52121), auto-body refinishers, and art painters. Apprentices and newer painters sit near the floor. Certified journeyperson painters with commercial and industrial coatings experience sit toward the ceiling, and Quebec, where the trade is compulsory, shows one of the highest bands in the country.
Sources: Job Bank Canada wage data (NOC 73112, updated November 19, 2025) and the Red Seal program.
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