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City of Los Angeles / Painter

Role across City of Los Angeles

Painter

Carry out the duties of this position in support of the agency's public mission.

104 people hold the Painter role across 8 departments in City of Los Angeles, with a median total compensation of $123,703. Among 28 jurisdictions where this role is reported, City of Los Angeles ranks #4 by median pay.

Employees
104
Median pay
$123,703
Departments
8
Cross-jurisdiction
#4 of 28

Compared with the local labor market

Painter pay vs. the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA area

Across all employers in the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA area, the median wage for Painters, Construction and Maintenance — about 12,100 people — is $59,080. City of Los Angeles pays a median base salary of $77,773 for this role, 32% above that figureabout the 83rd percentile of local pay for the occupation.

Where City of Los Angeles sits in the local pay range

10th
25th
Median
75th
90th
$42,130
$47,530
$59,080
$68,640
$85,130
City of Los Angeles median · $77,773

The bar is the range of annual wages for Painters, Construction and Maintenance across every employer in the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA area, from the 10th to the 90th percentile, with the middle 50% highlighted. The marker shows City of Los Angeles’s median base salary for this role. Both figures are base pay only.

And across the country

Nationwide, the median wage for Painters, Construction and Maintenance — about 225,190 people — is $49,400. City of Los Angeles’s median base salary is 57% above that national figure, about the 89th percentile of pay for the occupation nationally.

10th
25th
Median
75th
90th
$37,440
$44,640
$49,400
$61,660
$78,810
City of Los Angeles median · $77,773

Local and national wages differ for reasons beyond how well a job pays — cost of living, the mix of employers, and local demand for the occupation all move the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA range relative to the national one.

Computed over the 91 of 104 people in this role paid at least $25,000in base salary. The rest are part-year or part-time records, whose actual pay isn’t comparable to a full-time annual wage.

Median total compensation for this role at City of Los Angeles is $123,703, which includes overtime and employer-paid benefits. The benchmark above excludes both, so total compensation is deliberately not compared against it.

Benchmark: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (May 2025). BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) covers all employers in the area — private, non-profit, and government alike — so this is a comparison against the whole local labor market for the occupation, not against private-sector pay. OEWS wages are straight-time pay and exclude overtime, shift differentials, and employer-paid benefits, so the government figure shown here is base pay on the same basis. Total compensation is not comparable to it. Job titles are matched to the closest standard occupation, so the comparison is between similar work rather than an identical job classification.

Compare jurisdictions

Painter pay in other jurisdictions

Where Painters are paid most

City of San Jose
$135,243 · 5
Los Angeles County
$134,858 · 86
New York City
$123,012 · 475
City of Las Vegas
$116,338 · 20
City of Chicago
$112,944 · 73
City of Seattle
$103,438 · 14
Massachusetts
$75,585 · 10
Illinois
$74,800 · 22
City of Cincinnati
$71,934 · 7
City of Memphis
$71,898 · 11
California
$69,923 · 282
Minnesota
$68,695 · 39
Miami-Dade County
$67,396 · 18
New Jersey
$63,386 · 17
City of Milwaukee
$62,061 · 25
City of Baltimore
$42,109 · 44

Median total compensation for comparable Painterroles in other jurisdictions (highest first). Titles are matched by normalized name across sources, not by identical job classification, and pay is not cost-of-living adjusted. Each bar links to that jurisdiction’s page for this role.

Within City of Los Angeles

Departments with this role

Largest City of Los Angeles departments for this role

Water and Power
46 · $121,610
Recreation and Parks
20 · $126,676
Airports
14 · $124,459
Harbor
6 · $124,276
Zoo
2 · $64,145
Police
1 · $128,407

Departments in City of Los Angelesemploying the most people in this role. Each bar links to that department’s page for the role.