$41.3bn
$X.Xbn
419k
252k
$XX.Xbn
The Painting industry has fared relatively well in the past few years, painting over the stain of COVID-19 and housing market fluctuations. When the economy fell apart in 2020, painting stood as one of the few in-person jobs without massive layoffs, owing to the industry's liberal use of personal protective equipment, respirators and ventilated workspaces. Construction crews experiencing similar conditions kept working as soon as restrictions allowed, cutting into a significant shortfall in residential properties and demanding paint services. Overall, housing demand proved enough to hold painting revenue to a 0.3% annual decline from 2018 to 2023, when painting's aggregate value will reach $40.2 billion.Painting work is defined by high labor use, low up-front costs and numerous nonemployer-run companies. One can become a painter after a trip to Home Depot, Lowe's or Walmart and spending less than $100, with no significant legal or technological barriers either. Nonemployers flocked to painting during layoffs in 2020, creating their own companies or joining existing teams. Per-contract costs are also low – painters use few utilities, require minimal rented space, market via word-of-mouth and travel short distances to job sites. Despite these low costs, aggregate business inexperience among many painting companies limits profit, measured as earnings before interest and taxes, to 8.3%.Nevertheless, the painting storm may not yet be fading. A recent collapse in the price of housing assets is scaring away investors and spiking mortgage values to record highs. New residential construction projects requiring painters are again being put on hold until the market stabilizes. In addition, the paint supply chain's dependence on oil caused per-gallon prices to rise multiple times, most recently during the Russia-Ukraine conflict and OPEC production cuts. Even consumers are growing wary, saving earmarked remodeling funds until after the feared recession, causing a 0.9% decline in 2023's income. Painters operating now must tread carefully and invest in more stable nonresidential and nonbuilding clients or include value-added services including paint logistics. Held against record inflation, the industry's 1.2% growth to $42.7 billion is a drop in the bucket, and paint teams both big and small will have to work harder than ever to hold on to any remaining profit.
Industry revenue has declined at a CAGR of 0.7 % over the past five years, to reach an estimated $41.3bn in 2024.
Market size is projected to grow over the next five years.
Company | Market Share (%)
2024 | Revenue ($m)
2024 | Profit ($m)
2024 | Profit Margin (%)
2024 |
---|---|---|---|---|
FD Thomas Inc. | 31.5 | 2.6 | 8.3 | |
Hartman Walsh Corp. | 29.3 | 2.4 | 8.3 | |
Techno Coatings Inc. | 11.6 | 1.0 | 8.3 |
To view the market share and analysis for all 4 top companies in this industry, view purchase options.
Industry revenue is measured across several distinct product and services lines, including General residential painting, General nonresidential painting and Paper hanging, wall covering and removal. General residential painting is the largest segment of the Painters in the US.
Residential painting explodes alongside housing expansion during COVID-19
The Painters industry includes operators primarily engaged in interior or exterior painting and interior wall covering. The painting and wall covering work performed includes new work, additions, alterations, maintenance and repairs. Enterprises in this industry perform activities ranging from bridge and ship painting to removing paint and wall coverings.
Purchase this report to view all 4 major companies in this industry.
NAICS 23832 - Painters in the US
Get an indication of the industry's health through historical, current and forward-looking trends in the performance indicators that make or break businesses.
Painters hid the stain of COVID-19 with additional coats on houses while the nonresidential market sagged. Now, as the market reverses, commercial contracts are ramping up.
Learn about an industry's products and services, markets and trends in international trade.
Residential and commercial interior painting jobs are interchangeable for most skilled professionals, balancing out dips in demand for each. Referrals and smaller contracts a...
Discover where business activity is most concentrated in an industry and the factors driving these trends to find opportunities and conduct regional benchmarking.
Low barriers to entry encourage painters to fill local market gaps, balancing out the distribution of painting services with urban activity.
Get data and insights on what's driving competition in an industry and the challenges industry operators and new entrants may face, with analysis built around Porter's Five Forces framework.
Competition among painters is highly localized and relatively weak. Building contractors will select painters based on reputation, team size and price.
Learn about the performance of the top companies in the industry.
No companies hold significant market share in the highly fractured Painters industry. Economies of scale are minimal, as is typical with highly labor-intensive jobs.
Understand the demographic, economic and regulatory factors that shape how businesses in an industry perform.
As an internally facing small business, painters receive minimal government assistance. Even during the pandemic, additional aid was prioritized to restaurants and retail own...
View average costs for industry operators and compare financial data against an industry's financial benchmarks over time.
Despite technological advancements, painting remains a highly manual job. Wages demand a significant portion of operator revenue, and increase for coating applicants, paperha...
Including values and annual change:
IBISWorld has been a leading provider of trusted industry research for over 50 years to the most successful companies worldwide. With offices in Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany and China, we are proud to have local teams of analysts that conduct research, data analysis and forecasting to produce data-driven industry reports.
Our analysts start with official, verified and publicly available sources of data to build the most accurate picture of each industry. Analysts then leverage their expertise and knowledge of the local markets to synthesize trends into digestible content for IBISWorld readers. Finally, each report is reviewed by one of IBISWorld’s editors, who provide quality assurance to ensure accuracy and readability.
IBISWorld relies on human-verified data and human-written analysis to compile each standard industry report. We do not use generative AI tools to write insights, although members can choose to leverage AI-based tools within the platform to generate additional analysis formats.
Each industry report incorporates data and research from government databases, industry-specific sources, industry contacts, and our own proprietary database of statistics and analysis to provide balanced, independent and accurate insights.
Key data sources in the US include:
Analysts also use industry specific sources to complement catch-all sources, although their perspective may focus on a particular organization or representative body, rather than a clear overview of all industry operations. However, when balanced against other perspectives, industry-specific sources provide insights into industry trends.
These sources include:
Finally, IBISWorld’s global data scientists maintain a proprietary database of macroeconomic and demand drivers, which our analysts use to help inform industry data and trends. They also maintain a database of statistics and analysis on thousands of industries, which has been built over our more than 50-year history and offers comprehensive insights into long-term trends.
IBISWorld’s analysts and data scientists use the sources above to create forecasts for our proprietary datasets and industry statistics. Depending on the dataset, they may use regression analysis, multivariate analysis, time-series analysis or exponential smoothing techniques to project future data for the industry or driver. Additionally, analysts will leverage their local knowledge of industry operating and regulatory conditions to impart their best judgment on the forecast model.
IBISWorld prides itself on being a trusted, independent source of data, with over 50 years of experience building and maintaining rich datasets and forecasting tools. We are proud to be the keystone source of industry information for thousands of companies across the world.
Learn more about our methodology and data sourcing on the Help Center.
Unlock comprehensive answers and precise data upon purchase. View purchase options.
The market size of the Painters in the US industry in United States is $41.3bn in 2024.
There are 252k businesses in the Painters in the US industry in United States, which has grown at a CAGR of 0.1 % between 2019 and 2024.
The market size of the Painters in the US industry in United States has been declining at a CAGR of 0.7 % between 2019 and 2024.
Over the next five years, the Painters in the US industry in United States is expected to grow.
The biggest companies operating in the Painters market in United States are FD Thomas Inc., Hartman Walsh Corp. and Techno Coatings Inc.
Bridge painting and Painting buildings or other structures are part of the Painters in the US industry.
The company holding the most market share in United States is FD Thomas Inc..
The level of competition is moderate and steady in the Painters in the US industry in United States.