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Painting, Coating, and Decorating Workers pay in New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ and St. Louis, MO-IL
The May 2025 BLS OEWS median for Painting, Coating, and Decorating Workers is $72,610 per year in New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ. It is $49,440 per year in St. Louis, MO-IL. New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ is 46.9% above St. Louis, MO-IL on the published median.
Both rows use SOC 51-9123 and the same annual wage metric. Median means the middle of each area's published wage spread. It is not one worker's pay. The larger median is not proof that one place gives a better job or a better result. It is one wage fact from one source period.
BLS lists 180 wage and salary jobs in New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ and 50 in St. Louis, MO-IL. Those are survey job counts, not open posts. Read pay, job scale, local share, and price level as separate facts before you make a choice.