NYC Apartment Painting Cost Calculator
A budgeting tool, not a quote. Answer the questions below and get a realistic range for painting a New York City apartment — built from the same published guides behind our limewash cost guide and our pre-war co-op painting guide. Final price always follows an on-site visit.
Rule of thumb: a 12-by-12 room has roughly 350–400 sq ft of wall once doors and windows are subtracted. This is wall area, not floor area.
Wall area scales with height: a 10 ft ceiling means about 25% more wall than an 8 ft ceiling in the same room.
In Manhattan, expect the upper half of the range: labor costs more, and buildings compress the workday into elevator windows and weekday-only hours. Pre-war plaster usually needs attention before any finish goes on.
This is a budgeting estimate, not a quote. For an exact price, we visit, measure, and check the plaster.
How the number is built: wall rates are standard paint $2–$6.50 per sq ft of wall by condition, anchored to Thumbtack's NYC single-room guide ($612–$2,400 per room); limewash $1.50–$15 per sq ft by condition, per Angi ($1.50–$6) and Decorilla (up to $15 with heavy prep). Ceiling height scales wall area (height ÷ 8). Ceilings add a 20% allowance and trim a 15% allowance on the wall cost; doors $100–$200 each and closets $75–$150 each; a furnished apartment adds 10% for moving and protecting furniture; primer adds 10%. Those allowances are typical job-structure allowances, not quoted rates. Paint coverage uses the 350 sq ft per gallon rule of thumb at two coats; material prices from Benjamin Moore Regal Select ($80–$90/gal) and Aura ($100–$130/gal), limewash from Portola ($84/gal).