Exterior House Painting cost: Aurora vs Longmont (2026)
Budget-wise, exterior house painting in Aurora ($3,550) runs 9% more than in Longmont ($3,250), a roughly $300 spread.
Aurora CO
Typically around $3,550
Longmont CO
Lower costTypically around $3,250
Aurora vs Longmont: full breakdown
| Factor | Aurora | Longmont |
|---|---|---|
| Typical 2026 cost | $3,550 | $3,250 |
| Estimated range | $2,000–$5,050 | $1,850–$4,600 |
| Labor index (vs US) | ×1.1 | ×1 |
| Climate zone | Cold | Cold |
| Climate factor | ×1.02 | ×1.02 |
| Local permit | None | None |
| Labor share | $2,500 | $2,300 |
| Materials/equipment | $1,050 | $950 |
Exterior house painting numbers here are 2026 planning ranges, adjusted per city — useful for budgeting, not a substitute for an actual quote.
How much should this gap actually matter?
A 9% spread (roughly $300) is significant enough to plan around, but not fixed — off-peak timing and sharper bidding in Aurora typically recover some of it.
Exterior house painting by type: Aurora vs Longmont
We localize each exterior house painting type separately for both metros, applying the same labor, climate and permit adjustments each time, so you're comparing like for like.
| Type | Aurora | Longmont |
|---|---|---|
| Vinyl siding | $1,900–$4,500 | $1,750–$4,100 |
| Wood siding | $2,150–$5,050 | $1,950–$4,600 |
| Fiber-cement | $2,450–$5,750 | $2,250–$5,200 |
| Stucco | $2,450–$5,600 | $2,250–$5,100 |
| Brick | $2,800–$6,200 | $2,550–$5,600 |
Exterior house painting numbers here are 2026 planning ranges, adjusted per city — useful for budgeting, not a substitute for an actual quote.
Exterior house painting by home size: Aurora vs Longmont
Exterior painting is priced by the siding area, which tracks home size and the number of stories. Expect roughly $1–$4 per square foot of wall area; prep — scraping, sanding, and washing — often costs as much as the paint itself.
| Size | Aurora | Longmont |
|---|---|---|
| 1,000 sq ft home (1 story) | $1,700–$3,950 | $1,550–$3,550 |
| 1,500 sq ft home | $2,000–$5,050 | $1,850–$4,600 |
| 2,000 sq ft home | $2,450–$6,200 | $2,250–$5,600 |
| 2,500 sq ft home (2 story) | $3,350–$7,850 | $3,050–$7,150 |
| 3,000 sq ft home | $4,250–$9,550 | $3,900–$8,650 |
| 3,500+ sq ft home | $5,050–$11,250 | $4,600–$10,200 |
Exterior house painting numbers here are 2026 planning ranges, adjusted per city — useful for budgeting, not a substitute for an actual quote.
What painting pros earn in each metro
About 70% of a exterior house painting bill goes to labor, so wage differences between these two metros matter more than almost anything else. These are real, government-sourced (BLS OEWS) installer wages, not estimates.
Denver-Aurora-Centennial metro · about 15% above the US average installer wage.
No BLS metro wage series for Longmont; we use Colorado regional price parity instead.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS metro wages for HVAC installers (used as a trade-labor index).
Cheapest time for exterior house painting in either city
There's a hard weather floor for exterior work (50-85°F), which crowds all that demand into summer. Interior jobs dodge that limit, so winter — when painters are otherwise slow — is when they cost the least.
What are you really paying for in a paint job?
Paint is the smallest line item in a painting budget — prep and labor are where the real cost sits. Our editors on where to actually spend.
The timing case
Interior work in the trade's slow winter season catches the best crews at the best price. Save exterior jobs for dry weather — rushing paint onto a damp or cold wall guarantees a redo.
The prep-first case
Surface prep — patching, sanding, caulking, washing — is most of a lasting finish. A bid that's cheap because it skips prep will peel within a year. Pay for the prep, not the brand name.
The coverage case
One-coat quotes win on price by putting less paint on the wall, and you see the difference within months as the old color ghosts through. The defensible standard is primer plus two finish coats. Get coat count and primer named in the contract so a lower number can't quietly mean thinner coverage.
The headline price on a painting bid tells you almost nothing — ask about prep and coat count instead. Two coats over primer, done in the right season, consistently outperforms the cheapest quote.
Aurora vs Longmont
Is exterior house painting cheaper in Aurora or Longmont?
Longmont wins on price: exterior house painting runs about $3,250 there versus $3,550 in Aurora, a gap of roughly $300 (9%) as of 2026.
Why does exterior house painting cost more in Aurora than Longmont?
It comes down to labor: Aurora indexes at 1.1 against Longmont's 1. The cold-vs-cold climate difference adds to the gap.
How much is exterior house painting in Aurora, CO?
Aurora homeowners can expect $2,000 to $5,050 for exterior house painting in 2026, with $3,550 the typical number.
When is the cheapest time to buy exterior house painting — and does it differ by city?
The best window is the same in both Aurora and Longmont: Winter for interior; dry spring/fall for exterior, when demand drops and installers discount to keep crews busy — typically 10–20% (interior, off-season) off peak pricing. The most expensive time anywhere is an emergency replacement during mid-summer (exterior peak).
Should I choose where to live based on exterior house painting cost?
Probably not. Yes, $300 is a real gap, but it's a one-time cost you can partly offset in Aurora with off-season timing and tighter bids. Long-term factors like energy prices and home condition matter more than this one number.
Compare exterior house painting in other cities
Updated June 2026 · By Serhat Özçelik