Stamped concrete cost: national prices and local ranges

Reviewed Nov 4, 2026.

US range (400 sq ft)

$3,250 – $7,950

Per sq ft

$8 – $19

materials and labor

Cheapest metro

$4,550

McAllen, TX

Priciest metro

$8,150

Kahului, HI

Stamped concrete runs $3,250 to $7,950 nationally for 400 sq ft, or $8 to $19 per sq ft for materials and labor. Where you live moves that number a lot: across 300 metros the midpoint runs from $4,550 in McAllen, TX to $8,150 in Kahului, HI.

Cost breakdown for 400 sq ft in the US

What basic, standard and premium mean

Cost by size and quality level

How a stamped concrete job goes, step by step

1. Choose the pattern and color. Ask to see a finished job locally, not only a sample board. The color you see wet is not the final color.
2. Pour a normal slab with color. Base and reinforcement are the same as a plain slab. Integral color goes into the truck or a color hardener is applied after the pour.
3. Stamp while the concrete is workable. Timing is everything. A crew has a short window to press mats and texture skins into the surface before it sets.
4. Cut joints, cure, and seal. Stamped slabs are normally sealed once cured, and reseal every few years to keep color and stop staining.

What changes the price of stamped concrete

• Pattern and color

  Basic to average coloring runs $8-$19 per sq ft. A 2-car stamped driveway runs $12-$18 per sq ft (HomeGuide); Estimators.us puts decorative slabs at $15-$30.

• Specialist labor

  Stamping has to be done before the concrete sets, so crews arrive in larger teams and charge for it.

• Sealing and vapor barrier

  Sealer is usually quoted separately; vapor barrier material is $0.20-$1.50 per sq ft depending on thickness (HomeGuide).

• Not included

  These prices don't include site prep that depends on the project: demolition, grading, or a thicker base.

Wages behind the national estimate

Cement masons and concrete finishers (47-2051) do the largest share of the work, about 60% of the weighting. Their national median is $27.41 an hour. Among 281 metros with a published figure, the median runs from $17.71 in Lynchburg, VA to $50.22 in Kahului, HI, and the middle metro sits at $27.51. That ratio between the high and low end is 2.84 to 1, and it feeds straight into the labor line of the estimate.

Add-ons and extras

Extras are quoted nationally and then scaled to the US by the average of the local wage index (1.00) and goods index (1.00), a factor of 1.00. Tick any of them in the estimator above to add them to your total. Treat these as planning figures: an add-on touches different trades than the main job, so the scaling is an approximation.

Does the season matter for stamped concrete?

We checked NOAA 1991-2020 normals for 300 metros and counted the months with no freezing or heat problem for pouring concrete. 10 metros have all 12 months comfortable; the median metro has 6. The shortest seasons are in Anchorage, AK (3), Grand Junction, CO (3), Kennewick, WA (3) and Pueblo, CO (3). The wettest metro is Pensacola; the driest is El Centro at about 3 inches a year.

Local pages show a month-by-month table for each metro. We do not change prices by month, because there is no reliable published seasonal price series.

How much the price varies by city

Across the 300 metros we cover, the midpoint for 400 sq ft runs from $4,550 in McAllen to $8,150 in Kahului, a gap of 78%. The median metro is $5,450, which is −2% against the national midpoint of $5,600. 37 metros are 10% or more above the national figure, 65 are 10% or more below, and 198 sit within 10% of it.

Most expensive metros for stamped concrete

Least expensive metros for stamped concrete

Stamped concrete cost by state