American Coatings Association

Economic Contributions Print Ready Brochure

Paints and coatings provide real value and are necessary for protecting and preserving the objects to which they are applied. Coatings are applied to almost everything we own and use, prolonging usefulness and providing protection from scratches, rust and corrosion.

The industry makes significant contributions to the U.S. economy and to the people employed in it.

• The U.S. paint and coatings industry employed 274,100 workers in 2009.

• In 2009, product shipments by U.S. paint and coatings manufacturers totaled $18.4 billion.

• The U.S. paint and coatings industry had nearly 50,600 establishments in 2009.

• The payroll for the U.S. paint and coatings industry totaled $11.1 billion in 2009.

• The U.S. paint and coatings industry workforce earned an average annual wage of $40,600 in 2009, posting a slight increase over 2008, adjusted for inflation.

• The highest average annual wage was paid by the paint and coating manufacturing sector at $59,200 in 2009.

• California ranked first in the nation by paint and coatings industry employment with 34,000 workers in 2009; Texas ranked second with 22,800 paint and coatings industry jobs in 2009, a drop of nearly 8 percent from 2008, or a loss of 1,900 jobs.

• Florida followed Texas with almost 19,000 paint and coatings industry jobs in 2009; New York and Ohio rounded out the top five leading states by paint and coatings industry employment, with 13,995 and 13,992 jobs in 2009, respectively.

• The highest paid paint and coatings industry wages were those in Ohio, where the annual average wage for the state’s paint and coatings industry workforce (comprising 14,000 jobs) was almost $54,000 in 2009; New Jersey’s 7,100 paint and coatings industry workers received the second highest annual average wages at $51,600 in 2009, an increase of seven percent between 1999 and 2009, adjusted for inflation.

• California was also the leading state by paint and coatings industry payroll, at $1.3 billion in 2009, representing 12 percent of all paint and coatings industry payroll nationwide.

• Texas, Ohio, Illinois, and Florida completed the list of top five states in paint and coatings industry payroll in 2009.

Top 10 States with the Highest Number of Paint and Coatings Industry Employees

Top 30 States with the Highest Number of Paint and Coatings Establishments

U.S. Exports

• The United States exported $1.8 billion in paint and coatings products in 2010, up by 24 percent, or $343 million, from 2009.

• The U.S. paint and coatings industry posted a large trade surplus of $1.3 billion in 2010, rising 22 percent from 2009.

• U.S. paint and coatings industry exports totaled $860 million to Canada and $291 million to
  Mexico in 2010. These two NAFTA partners have consistently acted as the two largest export markets for the industry: 65 percent of all U.S. paint and coatings industry exports were sold to our NAFTA partners in 2010, totaling $1.2 billion.

• The third largest export market for U.S. paint and coatings products was China at $63 million in 2010.

• Japan and the United Kingdom rounded out the top five leading export markets of U.S. paint and coatings products in 2010, at $37 million and $34 million, respectively.

• Ohio lead the states with the most paint and coatings exports, with $261 million in 2010, an increase of 30 percent from 2009; Illinois came in second with $219 million in paint and coatings exports in 2010.

Sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages; U.S. Census Bureau's Annual Survey of Manufacturers, Value of Shipments.

Trade statistics were derived from U.S. Bureau of the Census data and are reported on a Census or Customs basis. State export statistics are drawn from the Origin of Movement (OM) series compiled by the Foreign Trade Division of the U.S. Census Bureau.