How Much Do Beauty Professionals Actually Make?

How much do beauty pros really make? The answer is, possibly much more than you think! Official U.S. government data of beauty professionals’ earnings are often bleak, with average annual full-time earnings topping out around the low $40,000 range. However, the methods and information used by the government researchers have limitations that make their estimates of earnings in the beauty industry questionable.

By contrast, a 2023 study by the Qnity Institute, a group of industry experts has gathered more representative information from tax records, found that full-time hairstylists actually average $79,807 per year!

There's confusion about beauty career pay because until the Qnity Institute study, there wasn't a lot of reliable data available, and even the Qnity Institute study focuses on hairstylists only. Many popular salary resources have shortcomings.

The huge discrepancy in reported salaries can really influence the decisions of individuals considering beauty careers. Through this article, we’ll delve into why we believe the Qnity data is the gold standard for measuring beauty professional salaries.

This analysis focuses mostly on hairstylist earnings. Though earnings data are also sparse and unreliable in other beauty careers such as estheticians, barbers, makeup artists, and more, the hairstylist earnings data can still help you understand which ballpark estimates are likely to be accurate.

Hairstylist Annual Earnings, According to Qnity Institute

Hairstylist Annual Earnings, According to Other Sources

Now that we've discussed the Qnity study, let's dig into other popular salary resources.

All salary information is the most recent available as of June 2024 and may not reflect the latest available.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is generally the go-to for salary data, as it's run by the federal government and attempts to gather information from every state. This source stands out both because of its official government nature as well as the frequency of publication and density of the data points it relies on. The Bureau sends out lots of requests for employer input, though responses aren't mandatory.

Unfortunately, the BLS doesn't ask beauty professionals to provide input on methodology and occupation categorization, which can present issues. For instance, hairstylists appear in two separate occupation categories, each with its own pay summaries.

As you might guess, the BLS' full methodology is intricate and complicated. If you want to learn more, jump to the bottom of this article.

ZipRecruiter Beauty Salary Data

ZipRecruiter gathers salary estimates from active job listings. It lets you compare salaries between locations and against the national average. This could be particularly valuable if you're trying to decide on a place to live!

Source

However, ZipRecruiter only scans its own database. Employers must pay to list jobs on the site, so the data is limited to those that use its service.

Glassdoor Beauty Salary Data

Glassdoor is a popular site for those hiring or seeking employment. This site gets its data from:

• Self-reported pay from hair professionals
• Company pages' salary estimates
• Job listings

Data is reported as a median. However, Glassdoor makes it easy to see their full range. For hairdressers, as of June 2024, it looks like this:

Source

Glassdoor is interesting because, just like in elementary school English, spelling counts. For instance, hairstylist and hair stylist are considered two different jobs! We recommend looking at the different spellings to understand your potential pay.

Indeed.com Beauty Pay Data

Indeed's salary estimates are taken from job listings over the previous year. As of now, this means it has details from nearly 45,000 sources!

Source

However, this goes back to the job listing data issue that ZipRecruiter also has. Not all employers list jobs in the listings accessed by Indeed, so results may be skewed.

Beauty Pay Information on Social Media

Questions about pay appear on Reddit, Quora, TikTok, Facebook, and other social media platforms. People in the industry answer with personal experiences.

An example of this information can be found if you search on Google using search phrases like "site:Reddit.com cosmetology pay".

You can also search for terms you're interested in on any social media platform. Here are a couple of videos that popped up when searching "How much I make as a cosmetologist" on TikTok.

Self-Employed and Freelance Beauty Pay

It's nearly impossible to gather widespread information about how much self-employed beauty professionals earn, and millions of people work in this capacity! For example, many people working in salons rent booths, and their earnings aren't included in popular pay sources.

The best way to find out how much you could make as a self-employed person is directly from people who already work this way. You can find them in your community or on social media, such as this TikTok by @investwithnat.

How Can I Earn a Lot of Money in Beauty?

When it comes to beauty pay, one thing is universal: You can get out what you put in.

You can invest in your beauty career and potentially raise your pay in many ways. Here are just a few of them.

1. Pick the right school for you.

This can affect take-home pay because of training quality, the school's reputation and career network, and for many people, paying back the cost of the school vs. wages you earn.

READ MORE: Choosing a Cosmetology School with Delecia H.

READ MORE: How to Choose a Beauty School

READ MORE: How Much Does Cosmetology School Cost?

2. Have a great portfolio and resume.

These can make you more appealing to potential employers and clients. More employment or earning options can mean higher pay over time.

READ MORE: How to Create a Portfolio for the Beauty Industry

READ MORE: Creating Your Best Beauty Resume

3. Choose a workplace that suits you.

You should ensure the pay is fair, but that's not the only way to make sure a potential employer is worth it. Look at turnover, quality of benefits, training options, and more.

4. Consider side hustles.

Taking on additional beauty jobs can supplement your income, hone your skills, and strengthen your resume and portfolio.

READ MORE: Side Hustles for Beauty Professionals

5. Be a lifelong learner.

You should practice your existing skills and consider adding more services through additional training. Speed and offerings both affect how much you earn, as you may be able to see more clients per day.

6. Stick with it.

As in most careers, beauty professionals tend to make more money the longer they're in the field.

Ready to Learn More?

If you still have questions about how much you could earn in beauty, how to maximize your earning potential, or beauty careers in general, here are a few additional resources for you.

All About the Qnity Institute's Salary Data

Qnity Institute created its “A Career in Pro Beauty” compensation study (the “Qnity study”) after realizing there was a lack of accurate information and seeing how it harmed the field and those who want to enter it.

"In the absence of information, people make up their own stories."
- Qnity Institute, 2022

What Is the Qnity Institute?

Though the Institute was created by Qnity, Inc. to expand upon its years of work toward financial literacy in the industry, it operates as a separate entity.

People involved with the Pro Beauty Compensation Qnity study include but aren't limited  to, CPAs; PhDs; salon owners; diversity, equity, and inclusion experts; and even the Director of Government Affairs for the Professional Beauty Association.

Data Sources for the Qnity Study

For the Qnity study, Qnity Institute contacted salon owners with employees who get W2s. Researchers gathered data from nearly 3,400 service providers via verified W2s and completed surveys. The Qnity study's team communicated with the salon owners via phone, email, text, and in-person meetings. Only W2s from employees who had been at the salon for the whole year were considered.

The organization states there may be a sampling bias in terms of who has the time to complete the surveys and gather the information—an owner of a small salon that's just getting off the ground may be less available than the owner of a larger salon that's running like a well-oiled machine, for instance.

Beauty Careers Included in Qnity Study

Initially, the Qnity study looked at hair, massage, esthetics, and nail departments. Eighty-four percent of the participants were primarily hair professionals, so that's who was studied.

Here, we see an overlap between the BLS and Qnity Institute details. While the BLS attempts to divide careers into standard titles (cosmetologists, hairdressers, and hairstylists, in this case), Qnity Institute doesn't. However, both use qualitative information to look at the job duties more than the titles, asking what someone does to determine whether they fit under a particular job title.

Distribution of Compensation by Experience in Qnity Study

The Qnity study reports not just on broad averages but specific highest wages, pay vs. years of service, and part- and full-time earnings.

It found that hair professionals, when their pay is adjusted to a 40-hour workweek, made between just under $60,000 to just under $105,000 per year:

• 1-3 years of service: $59,946
• 4-5 years of service: $70,682
• 6-10 years of service: $81,838
• 11-20 years of service: $92,826
• 21-30 years of service: $104,758

When adjusted to 40 hours per week, 24% of respondents earned $100,000 or more per year ($48.08 per hour). Of these, 37 earned over $150k annually, and the highest-paid made $327,453 ($162.69 per hour). As you can see, this is considerably higher than the amounts reported by the BLS.

It'd be reasonable to assume these averages must be from high-cost areas. However, the Qnity study found this wasn't the case! In fact, of the top eight moneymakers studied, only one was from a top-ten cost-of-living city.

Limitations to the Qnity Institute's Pro Beauty Compensation Study Data

Though the Qnity study results in a stronger estimate of earnings than most, it has limitations regarding who was studied and the number of employers who responded.

First, it only focused on hair professionals, who may earn more on average than those in esthetics, nails, or massage based on its initial research. However, the Qnity study states the numbers could change if it looked at day spas as well as salons.

Secondly, it only collected data from about 3,400 employers with 10 or fewer locations each. Large national brands may have different pay scales.

Finally, some of the data included—such as passion—is more qualitative than quantitative. It's hard to figure out the dollar value of loving your job.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics Beauty Salary Data Details

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has the unenviable job of digging through every industry and, to the greatest possible extent, individual careers to figure out pay, employment rates, and more. If it's an essential piece of data related to the workforce, the BLS must find it.

What Is the Bureau of Labor Statistics?

The Bureau of Labor Statistics is the main fact-finding branch of the US Department of Labor and part of the US Federal Statistical System. It investigates "the broad field of labor economics and statistics" to compile, analyze, and publish relevant data. Employers, other government organizations, policymakers, educators, job seekers, and others use that information for various tasks and decisions.

Senior staffers primarily include economists and statisticians, with field economists conducting study research and interviews. According to a listing from USAJobs.gov, BLS economists need at least a bachelor's in economics or must have completed coursework equivalent to an econ degree, plus relevant work experience or additional coursework. Work experience of at least one year in specific fields or higher education is also required.

Where Does BLS Salary Data Come From?

The BLS gathers salary information and other data from employers across the US, all of which need to meet strict requirements and respond to an optional survey. This results  in a sample size of about 1.1 million business establishments responding to the survey over three years—including all sorts of occupations, not just beauty.

For an employer to be involved with the BLS data gathering, they must:

• Have unemployment insurance
• Be considered a nonfarm business establishment
• Be in one of the 50 states, Washington DC, Puerto Rico, Guam, or the Virgin Islands
• Answer the Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey, which is voluntary in most states
• Beauty industry participants must be working in commission salons, not booth renters or other self-employed beauty pros

The respondents are divided into industries determined by the primary services offered, which boils down to about 830 individual occupations. This means a spa employing estheticians and a doctor's office employing medical estheticians are classified differently—even though both types of workers need the same license.

How Is the BLS Salary Survey Conducted?

Oddly, the BLS—the preeminent resource for salary data—doesn't have a particularly formal or controlled way of collecting salary information. Where Qnity Institute gathered W2s and had a formal 50-question survey, the BLS' field economists go in a drastically different direction.

The Qnity Institute adds to this, further clarifying that the BLS only relies on qualitative information.

In other words, the field researchers have conversations with employers rather than allowing them to sit with questions on paper (or a screen), verify answers, etc. In fact, the BLS says, "At the initial and subsequent contacts, field economists attempt to gather" specific information, including employee tasks, job titles, pay, and knowledge and training. While some employers will undoubtedly have a pile of hard data ready, it doesn't appear to be a requirement.

How Beauty Careers Are Grouped by the BLS

The BLS' field economists use their best judgment to determine job titles and groupings. In conversations with employers, they must figure out the following:

• What type of business it is using the North American Industry Classification System
• Which job title(s) to use for that business' employees
• Where to place each employee under those job titles

There are two ways in which the field economist gathers data: With an employee count and either an employee list or job titles. With an employee list, the economist uses equal probability to select samples. Essentially, every employee's name "goes into a hat," with each name having the same chance of being drawn. The ones pulled dictate the job sampled. This is probably most useful when everyone in a location has the same job title or duties.

A "probability proportional-to-size sampling" is used with job titles and employee counts. In this scenario, the number of people employed in a position determines how many of that job title gets "put in the hat." The economist then uses the occupation(s) pulled out to determine the final job(s) studied.

Imagine this: Person A buys 100 raffle tickets, and Person B buys one. While Person A is likelier to win, Person B can still win the raffle, right? That's how the proportional sampling plays out—chances are the economist will draw the most common job title. But even that isn't guaranteed! They study the one that's drawn.

This becomes incredibly confusing when we look at three overlapping categories.

Using median vs. mean, combining or separating categories, and adding another job title to the final dataset? No wonder people get confused!

BLS Hairdresser, Hairstylist, and Cosmetologist Tasks

As mentioned, the BLS determines which job titles qualify to be hairdressers, hairstylists, or cosmetologists based on the tasks performed. The most recent tasks were published in 2022, with barbering added in:

• Inspect and analyze hair, scalp, and skin to recommend services or treatment
• Discuss hairstyle options
• Shampoo, color, lighten, and condition hair
• Chemically change hair texture
• Cut, dry, and style hair
• Trim facial hair
• Receive payments from clients
• Clean and disinfect all tools and work areas

List directly copied from the Bureau of Labor Statistics

The site says that hairstylists, hairdressers, and cosmetologists specifically provide all types of hair services, wig and hairpiece work, facials, makeup, skincare, nail services, and more.

Here's the thing: Unless a state uses the term "hairstylist" to be synonymous with "cosmetologist" in its licensure, hairdressers and hairstylists train in haircare alone—no skin or nail treatments allowed! So, we can see where determining a job title by the specific tasks involved can cause hiccups. And that's without getting into the weeds of dual-licensed workers (like licensed hairstylists and estheticians who perform both jobs).

The Qnity study also uses qualitative task data to determine whether to study someone's salary. However, it's clear to them that hair must be the primary focus of a person's job when describing hair stylist pay, while how the BLS weighed things is unclear.

How the BLS Determines Earnings

The BLS uses salary reports from employer interviews to figure out average pay. After gathering this data, the Bureau takes the details (e.g., hourly pay) and raises or lowers it to a 40-hour workweek. So, $10 per hour at 20 hours per week, which equals $200 total, is expanded to $10 per hour or $400 total. If someone works 45 hours per week at $10 per hour ($450), their hours are lowered to 40.

Further, each position's pay and time worked are expanded to 52 weeks per year as needed. If someone started working at a salon 10 weeks ago, their pay is assumed to remain steady for the remaining 42 weeks.

It's worth noting that the BLS doesn't always underestimate how much a field could average. As of June 2024, it reports that Theatrical and Performance Makeup Artists made a mean salary of $68,590 per year, with some making over $140k. However, most film and theatre makeup artists aren't employed full-time by any organization; instead, they operate on a freelance or gig basis, and the salary information only comes from five states. In short—while you can make a good living in this field, the jobs are hard to get, and getting to these pay levels requires years of hard work, dedication, and luck.

Limitations to BLS Salary Data

The BLS doesn't say precisely why beauty career data may be skewed, but we can make some educated guesses. Complications may include the number of employers vs. non-employee firms, unclear job titles, how the survey is conducted, and the voluntary nature of the data gathering.

The BLS uses the most comprehensive and efficient data collection methods possible. But with millions of businesses and even more workers, it's impossible to account for every single employment data point.

More specifically, if the BLS wanted to have all workers and businesses accounted for, it would have to figure out how to include:

• Over 33 million small businesses, employing almost 62 million people. Over 27 million of these small businesses are non-employee firms—more commonly known as self-employment or independent contracting
• Over 20,000 large businesses
• Over 167 million people in the civilian workforce
• Innumerable job titles, even for the same types of work

We need to take special notice of the 27 million non-employee firms. The BLS doesn't include self-employed workers in its datasets. This means most cosmetology and esthetics businesses aren't even accounted for! However, there are good reasons for this omission:

• Since non-employee firms don't have employed staff, they don't have W2s and may not have traditional accounting methods.
• Researchers need to talk to millions of individuals about their unique experiences and determine how that translates across the board.

Is Other Salary Data Skewed by the BLS?

It's reasonable to assume nearly all career fields' salaries are skewed for the same reasons as beauty. However, it's hard to determine if BLS estimates of earnings are overestimated, underestimated, or accurate.

This could affect you if you're choosing between two careers that, on the surface, have drastically different salaries. For instance, many people consider nursing and beauty careers simultaneously, and the BLS says that, in 2023, registered nurses made a median salary of $86,070. When comparing that to the alleged cosmetology and barber median annual earnings of just over $35,000, it seems there's no contest! But knowing there could be inaccuracies in both options can (and possibly should) make a difference.

Where Can I Learn More?

All sources for this article were accessed in June 2024. Information comes from:

• BLS - Occupational and Wage Statistics
• BLS - OEWS: FAQs
• BLS - OEWS Respondents: FAQs
• BLS - About May 2022 National, State, Metropolitan, and Nonmetropolitan Area Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates
• Bamboo HR - An HR Glossary for HR Terms: SUI (State Unemployment Insurance)
• Hairdresser Career Development Systems – Booth Rental: Is it Right for You?